EvacationGate: Brownback Not High-Falutin', In Fact One Helluva a Guy
He's a slightly nutty intelligent design-spouting, family-values grandstander, but Senator Sam Brownback did not, it turns out, pull a "DYKWIA" at the Capitol evac. Earlier reports had him waving off police pleas to stay back. NOT TRUE. An eyewitness closer to the scene reports:
i was with him throughout the evacuation, because we happened to be leaving the dirksen building at the same time and i wanted to see what he was getting over his blackberry. he absolutely DID NOT give the cops a "don't bother me" wave. he had gotten the all-clear on his blackberry, and the cops offered to take him back into the hart building because he was a senator, but he declined special treatment. then he realized he had an appointment off campus and headed off to it.
in fact, he made me walk farther than union station, where i was originally planning to stay, and then he went to a park that he had designated his staff's meeting point to make sure everyone in his office had gotten out. that's when he got the all-clear on his blackberry.
We admit we're impressed: He's got an evacuation planandhe's just a regular guy. He's totally going to heaven.
RELATED: The Evacuation Gate Debate Continues [Wonkette]