The Republicans' actions and words at this weekend's Values Voter Summit prove one thing: the party simply refuses to evolve. Editor Andrew Belonsky explains why the Grand Old Party needs to embrace change, look beyond the walls of social conservatism and expand its definition of family values.

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Realizing that he doesn't have a chance in hell of being our next president, right wing senator Sam Brownback will rescind his candidacy tomorrow.

Why not today? Because it's supposed to be a secret. Oops!

Republican Sam Brownback may be backing out of the presidential race. The Kansas senator, who calls gay marriage a "social experiment", says his campaign's relying on Iowa to decide his fate:

…Brownback said Wednesday he will drop out of the race for president if he finishes lower than fourth place in the Iowa caucuses.
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In response to a questioner who asked whether Brownback planned to end his bid if he places outside the top four contenders, Brownback said, "That is correct. I need to finish in that group to move on forward."

Recent polls show that only two percent of Iowans are voting for Brownback, so he'd might as well just quit now.

The Republican presidential hopefuls took to a Fox News stage last night to debate our nation's most pressing issues. And, not surprisingly, gay marriage came up.

When asked about his opinion on the matter, Senator Sam Brownback offered a long-winded, short-sighted and all around absurd explanation.

Read it and weep at his idiocy, after the jump…

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Lane Hudson's at it again. The former HRC staffer behind Foleygate just filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against potential presidential contender Fred Thompson.

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The politically-devoted folk over at Baptists for Brownback (as in anti-gay presidential hopeful Sam Brownback) must win Box Turtle Bulletin's righteous, riotous LaBarbera Award for this letter to their "gentle readers":

Last night one of our astute members sent me the link to a disturbing article written by “Joe” at a blog called Joe.My.God. Joe, as it would seem, enjoys a semi-celebrity status in the homosexual circle for his irreverent and profane take on our Conservative and Christian America. Joe’s blog, a profane left-wing farce read if I ever saw one, left me speechless. It is hard to fathom that even the worst of our society, the sodomites, would consider the vulgar and often blasphemous tone of Joe’s ramblings entertaining. Then again, given that his target audience has turned their back on decency and natural law, and chosen a sinful lifestyle, I really shouldn’t be surprised.

So, what did these pious politicos entitled this lovely missive? "Homosexual Blog Joe.My.God. Should Be Deleted and the Author Arrested". Because blogs can be arrested.

Congratulations, Sam Brownback, you've got the dumb fuck vote!

(PS: Two things. First, Baptists For Brownback also have a list of "Hell Bound" folk. Second, we've got some bad news…)

With the Judge Janet Neff scandal behind him, Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback's apparently spending his grumbles on another nemesis, fellow GOP hopeful Mitt Romney.

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Janet Neff can breathe a sigh of relief. The Senate voted 83-4 yesterday to confirm the judge's nomination for Michigan's federal court. You can be sure one of the dissenting votes came from Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback.

Brownback's made it his personal - and nonsensical - mission to block Neff's nomination after Neff attended - and spoke at! - a lesbian civil union. Obviously that's judicial blasphemy, thus Brownback made an - er - impassioned speech to stop the Senatorial process. We've included a video after the jump, but here's a taste:

I think she has an activist view on this issue. The fact that Judge Neff feels the court has to weigh in before this issue is settled suggests a misunderstanding of the role of the judiciary.

Brownback's speech came after months of feet-dragging and the unconstitutional suggestion that Neff pick and choose her cases, avoiding "gay" cases, lest her unAmerican acceptance cloud her judgment. The Senate scoffed at Brownback's suggestion and waved him away. Yesterday proved to be Brownback's last bid and it failed. Let's hope the same will be said about his run for president.

Check out his speech, after the jump.

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Senator Sam Brownback rivals Michael Savage's savage stupidity this weekend when he spoke at the National Catholic Men's Conference. The Republican presidential candidate claims true politicians rule with their faith, defended his pro-life stance, and, yes, insisted gays should remain second-class citizens.

Brownback also talked about keeping marriage between a man and a woman, saying nations that have allowed same-sex marriages were engaging in bad social experiments, with bad results.

He also encouraged married couples to stay together, saying unspecified studies have shown that if couples weather hard times for five years, their marriages tend to last. After five years, "people are happier than those who have had a divorce," Brownback said.

Wasn't democracy at one point a social experiment? Also, we'd like to hear about these so-called "bad results"? Are their droughts? Have cities been overrun by locusts? Do demons spring up from hell and devour children? Or is he just trying to scare people straight to the voting booth.

Republican presidential contenders Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee pulling out the social conservative stops in their improbable bids for the White House. Both men made appearances this weekend at the Christian-leaning Florida Family Policy Council's awards dinner in Orlando. And rest assured the boys took some time to resurrect that old political wedge: gay marriage.

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Meanwhile, in actual news, our favorite sappho-journo (her suggestion), Kerry Eleveld sent us this link to an article she penned for this week's The New York Blade. In said article, Eleveld dissects the effectiveness (and, in fact, necessity) of gay politics in the run-up to the 2008 election.

Launching her piece, Eleveld notes that noted conservative candidate Sam Brownback has side-stepped the "gay" debate, skirting the issue with political precision. Why? Well, considering their trampling in the last election, Republicans are steering away from the controversial issue. So, what about the Democrats?

According to Eleveld, all the potential candidates have planted themselves firmly in the middle, lauding the importance of civil unions, but refusing to go the extra step to endorse gay marriage. So, what does this mean for the politically-minded homo? Dive into that there jump and read for yourself…

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney may want people to think he's the most conservative candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, but Senator Sam Brownback thinks otherwise.

Speaking to Christian Broadcasting Network, Brownback insisted he's the only staunch pro-life candidate and said of Romney:

I think you have to look at where he stood on the issues and what he said publicly. At times he's said different things on these issues. I think that's all going to come out during a long campaign… [W]hen we get out on the campaign trail and when the campaign really gets fully engaged, there's going to be a lot of discussion about where do people actually stand on the issues and where have they been and where are they now and how reliable are they to stay that way.

Oh, snap!

As you may recall, poor Mitt's past pro-gay statements have come back to haunt him, leading many social conservatives to wonder if he's got the Biblically-proportioned balls to lead our country. Brownback, meanwhile, has the complete support of people like Focus on The Family. Sorry, Romney, but we don't think you're long for the running.

Related: Brownback Hopes To Be A Winner

According to a piece in Rolling Stone, conservative, bible-thumping Kansas Senator Sam Brownback had found some choice words for countries that support gay marriage. The Washington Post picked up on it, and as they say, a scandal was born:

Deep in Rolling Stone's 7,000-word profile of Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, the conservative Kansan picked a startling bit of Scripture to explain his opposition to homosexuality.

"You look at the social impact of the countries that have engaged in homosexual marriage," he said, citing the example of Sweden to writer Jeff Sharlet before adding: "You'll know 'em by their fruits." An awkward silence followed, in Sharlet's telling.

Well, now Sen. Brownback has released a statement of publicist-wrought clarification:

“When quoting Matthew 7:16, 'Ye shall know them by their fruits,' I was in no way referring to sexual orientation. While this biblical passage was pertinent to our overall conversation about faith and deeds, it apparently led the writer to believe I was making a joke; I was not and would never do so with such a personal and sensitive issue.”

Yet, he’d use gays to polarize his base and help him win elections. Is there a verse in the bible that goes something like “Ye shall know morons by the dumb crap that comes from their mouths?” No? Well, there should be.

On a Roll at Wendy's Window (Second item) [Washington Post]
Senator Brownback Engages in Fruit-ful Dialogue [Wonkette]