The Occasional Observer

Sam Brownback, every SoCons favorite potential President--until he went soft on the illegal immigration issue--may be seeking redemption with the America First crowd (and just as a side note, does any American believe our government should serve America Second? Or Third? Or Thirty-eighth?). A recent piece in the The New Republic by Noam Scheiber offered this tantalizing tidbit:

Then there is the immigration issue, which is either a colossal political miscalculation or the policy equivalent of Catholic self-flagellation. In 2005, Brownback signed on as a co-sponsor to the relatively moderate Kennedy-McCain bill. The reaction from rank-and-file Republicans has not been kind. Steve Scheffler, the head of a conservative evangelical group in Iowa, told me, "The biggest thing [Brownback would] have to address is why did he vote for that horrendous bill?" Kensinger says Brownback's answer is simple: "The Bible says you will be judged by how you treat the widow, the orphan, the foreign among you. That's the end of it." He believes the key is how Brownback manages his position--not the position itself. But Chuck Hurley, a Brownback law school classmate who runs the influential Iowa Family Policy Center, has hinted a shift could be in the works. "I understand he's been doing some consulting about that issue," Hurley told me conspiratorially, citing an upcoming meeting with a local anti-immigration politician.

If Sen. Brownback gets back on the right side of Sens. Kyl & Cornyn on the illegal immigration issue, he would immediately grab the mantle of the best conservative option, IMHO. If he continues to support guest-worker-amnesty, not so much.