Friday, February 15, 2008

Happy Birthday to my 4 year old!!


Happy Birthday peanut, you are such a blessing to your daddy and I. You can always make me laugh with the silly little things you do. I just wish you would stop taking your clothes off all the time. I love you Allison and cannot believe that it has been four years already. It seems like yesterday we were driving to the hospital to have our little girl and now you are writing your name. Have a wonderful birthday little one. I love you with all my heart.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

McCain Conservative Commitment

Dear Friend:

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I know how important it is for our president to appoint men and women to the court who will not legislate from the bench.

We've seen the consequences of overreaching judges who have created a right to same-sex marriage and even a right to abortion.

The presidential election will determine nothing less than the future of the Supreme Court. We can go from being one justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade to being two or even three justices away. There are also so many other important issues in front of the court- property rights, the Second Amendment, faith in the public square - just to name a few.

I have fought these battles in the Senate with John McCain. He is no recent convert to the cause - John McCain is a consistent conservative you can trust. John McCain and I stood side-by-side to confirm John Roberts and Sam Alito to the Court, and I know that as president, John McCain will appoint justices with a strict constructionist view of the Constitution.

When I raised my concerns at the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court in 2005, few other Republican Senators would join me at that critical time. John McCain was one of them.

John McCain knows that among a president's most lasting legacies are the men and women he appoints to the courts. John McCain knows that we must have judges committed to interpreting the law, not creating it. A sampling of the names McCain supported for confirmation to the federal bench are as follows: Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Miguel Estrada, Charles Pickering, Janice Rogers Brown, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito. This record of supporting conservative judges speaks for itself.

John McCain made his first major speech after the midterm election losses to The Federalist Society on November 16, 2006. Commenting on the recent election losses suffered by the Republican Party, McCain stated:

'Nor do I believe Americans rejected our values and governing philosophy. On the contrary, I think they rejected us because they felt we had come to value our incumbency over our principles, and partisanship, from both parties, was no longer a contest of ideas, but an ever cruder and uncivil brawl over the spoils of power... The genius of our founding fathers wasn't that they were better people than those who came before them; it's that they realized precisely that they did not have a greater claim to virtue, and that the people who followed them weren't likely to be any more virtuous than they were. That critical insight led them to realize something important about power: if its exercise isn't limited, it will become absolute.

'Power always tries to expand. It's a law of nature, of human nature... Why has the appointment of judges become such a flashpoint of controversy in the past twenty years or so? When you understand our system in the way I've just described, when you see the wisdom in it and the humility it requires of public servants, it's easy enough to understand why we are so concerned that the judges we appoint share that understanding of the nature and limits of power.'

During my campaign for president last year, I expressed my deep concern that America is becoming a less democratic nation as unelected judges dictate more and more of our nation's laws and social policy.

I have talked at length with John McCain about these issues, and he not only shares this concern but has actively promoted a conservative view for the judiciary and the nominees we need to get confirmed and onto the bench.

Not only does John McCain stand strong on the issues, but he can win in November. More so than any other Republican candidate, the polls show that John McCain can beat Hillary or Obama in the general election.

I am proud to support John McCain for President, and I urge you to stand with me to send Senator McCain to the White House. John McCain will help us bring to an end to the federal courts' sad chapter of judicial activism.

Sincerely,



Sen. Sam Brownback, Co-Chairman
McCain for President Judicial Advisory Committee