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The Good and the Bad of Senator Brownback
At the end of last week, Senator Sam Brownback (a Kansas Republican) did two things - as this entry’s title suggests, one was good (great, actually). And the other, not so much.
The good, first. Senator Brownback, along with Senator Wyden (D-OR), has introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007 into the Senate. Back in March, we told you about the terrible decision of the Copyright Royalty Board which would basically neuter all internet radio (the current drop-dead date is July 15). Wyden and Brownback’s bill would put the kibosh on the Board’s decision, overturning the new royalty rate and implementing a flat rate of 7.5% of a site’s total revenues (which is the rate paid by satellite broadcasters). This is a companion to a similar piece of legislation currently pending in the House, and hopefully this new scheme gets through Congress (and gets a Bush signature) before July 15, saving internet radio.
Now Senator Brownback’s “bad” isn’t so much “bad” as it is a serious error in judgment. On Friday, Brownback was giving a talk at the Wisconsin Republican Party convention. He decided, in talking about the need to focus on families, to turn to a football analogy. Now anyone who knows the first thing about football (or who’s just seen There’s Something About Mary) knows that in Wisconsin, “football” equals “Brett Favre.” So Brownback did not earn much love when he compared the focus on families to an offensive line in football:
He said if you didn’t have that line, “how many passes can Peyton Manning complete? … Greatest quarterback, maybe, in NFL history?”
Whoops! Not only do you not say that in Wisconsin, but even ignoring Favre, that’s just not a true statement anyway (Mr. Dan Marino is the best quarterback in NFL history, followed closely by Elway and Unitas, in my humble opinion … and you can take your “Marino doesn’t have any rings” argument and shove it). Brownback tried to save face by referencing former Packer QB Bart Starr, but that didn’t help any, so he gave it one more shot:
Brownback tried again. “Let’s take Favre then … How many passes does he complete without a line?”From the back one person yelled, “All of them!”
This assessment from the candidate: “I’m not sure how I recover from this.”
Comments
“I’m not sure how I recover from this.”
I don't think you can, Sam.
Posted by Andre | May 14, 2007 12:43 PM
While I'm sure that the Honorable Senator has his good points, he's still a slimy ho, droppin' his pants to take it from Dobson, Falwell et al.
Anybody that epouses that view oughta get chain whipped.
Posted by Bill Weldon | May 14, 2007 1:58 PM