Submitted by jill, Aug 15, 2007 23:31

via Penraker: Did you know Sam Brownback says that in every speech? That creeps me out, to tell you the truth. So sayeth Ryan Sager: The face of the Republican Party in Iowa is the face of a losing party, full of hatred toward immigrants, lust for government subsidies, and the demand that any Republican seeking the office of the presidency acknowledge that he's little more than Jesus Christ's running mate. The pandering from the stage told the story. Mr. Romney promised not a chicken in every pot, but "a button on every computer" for parents to block obscene material. My Oh My! How horrible those republicans are! Protecting kids from smut. How low will they go? Anti-immigrant ranter Tom Tancredo nearly brought the house down decrying the fact that Americans sometimes have to "Press 1" for English. Mr. Huckabee earned his second-place finish in part by making the specious claim that farm subsidies safeguard America's food independence. (You think it's bad depending on foreign oil, Mr. Huckabee asked? "Wait until our country messes up and has to depend on foreign food.") Senator Brownback of Kansas, the third-place finisher, declared as he often does in his stump speech: "All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus." Man, that Brownback. Those creepy Christians, imposing their religion on everyone. But Byron York clarifies: One correction to Ryan Sager's description of Sam Brownback's speech at the Iowa Straw Poll. Sager wrote, "Senator Brownback of Kansas, the third-place finisher, declared as he often does in his stump speech: 'All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus.'" I have to confess that I had gone outside to follow Huckabee and Romney during the Brownback speech. But you can watch it, and all the others, on C-Span's website. In the portion of the speech that Sager cited, Brownback explained that he met Mother Teresa once, when she came to Congress, and he was given the assignment of accompanying her to her car: "As I put her in the car, she grabbed my hand, she looked me in the eyes and said three words four times: 'All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus.' It was her faith that powered her to help millions. Faith is a good thing, not a bad thing." Now, you can argue one way or the other about whether Brownback was saying a president should govern by Mother Teresa's words. But "All for Jesus" was his quotation of her statement to him. Here are Brownback's remarks, in context, from his Iowa stump speech: Ensuring our nation's security also means ensuring the security of our borders. We need to fund and build a fence on our border, and we need do more enforcement at the work site. We also need to encourage faith, not litigate it out of existence! We should be able to say "one nation under God" in our flag salute without someone threatening to sue us. Faith is a good thing, not a bad thing. I don't know how you understand America without understanding faith. Study the Founders, they were people of faith. Abraham Lincoln was a man of faith. Martin Luther King was a man of faith. Faith is what powered them. I met Mother Teresa once, just months before she died. As I put her in her car to leave, she grabbed my hand, stared me in the eyes and said three words, four times: "All for Jesus, All for Jesus." Hers was a simple faith that worked through her to help millions. Part of being a strong nation is to be a rule of law nation. I am committed to appoint strict constructionist judges who will stand by the Constitution, not rewrite it. I want to be the president to appoint the justice who will provide that fifth vote, to overturn Roe vs. Wade and end this night of wrong. America is best when she is looking up. Let us lift our heads up and see how blessed we are. We are a great land of many people, diverse, beautiful, full of hope. Hope for the future is inherently part of who we are. Let us never lose our hopefulness, nor our goodness. Let us always practice justice and righteousness. With goodness the guide for our greatness, let's be the "shining city on a hill." Sager says Sam Brownback "declared" "All for Jesus...All for Jesus...All for Jesus" And they wonder why nobody trusts them anymore

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