Associated Press: Brownback Working To Persuade Christian Conservatives To McCain
From Associated Press:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain may be on the verge of wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination, but Sen. Sam Brownback says his colleague still needs to work on warming up to Christian conservatives.
Since his own presidential campaign fizzled out last year, Brownback, R-Kan., has played a key role in easing suspicion on the religious right, where some leaders have openly questioned whether McCain embraces their social agenda.
Besides campaigning for the Arizona Republican in at least a half dozen states, Brownback has held strategy talks with leading Christian activists, reached out to Catholic voters and advised McCain to share publicly the personal experiences that have brought him closer to God.
"He just needs to reach out and get to know the faith community more and they need to get to know him more," Brownback said in an interview. "Clearly, I think we need to continue to work at that."
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One of the Senate's most prominent abortion foes, Brownback trumpets McCain's "24-year pro-life voting record" in Congress, his support of the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman and McCain's pledge to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
Brownback said he also has encouraged McCain to talk more about the little girl he and his wife adopted in 1993 from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh. And how McCain's faith grew as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, when a Vietnamese prison guard loosened his ropes and drew a cross in the dirt with his sandal.
"They're just gorgeous statements of experience on his part and I think he ought to speak about that just to show people he identifies," Brownback said.
[More]
Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
How the Catholic Left Will Tackle McCain
Brownback: “Pro-Lifers Can Trust McCain”
National Catholic Register: "McCain Sits Down for Life"
National Catholic Register on Candidate Endorsements by Pro-Life Catholics
Sam Brownback Lobbying John McCain on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
McCain Gets Help from Brownback to Lure Catholics
Labels: "Religious Right", Brownback, McCain, Pro-Life, Social Conservatives, The Catholic Vote, Voting Your Values
posted by Pro Ecclesia 3:45 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
"He just needs to reach out and get to know the faith community more and they need to get to know him more," Brownback said in an interview. "Clearly, I think we need to continue to work at that."
What? No, no! We need to be browbeaten, insulted, threatened, belittled, our motives impugned, our values maligned.
Only thus can we pro-lifers be brought to vote for John McCain.
At least Brownback deserves credit for taking a different approach than the browbeaters.
That's my point, Jay, Brownback is advising McCain to do what ought to be done.
Evidently, he's the only one saying this.
But I note that Brownback also appears to understand that he, Brownback, cannot make the case on McCain's behalf. McCain himself must be the one to reach out.
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