Libby Copeland struggles today in the Washington Post as she profiles Sen. Sam Brownback and just gets love-bombed too much to write a poison-pen profile. (It is a fascinating thing to see unfold.) But aren’t conservative Christians supposed to be prophets of hate? In the middle of the piece, Copeland finally breaks out and does the usual nail-the-nut routine, using lots of paraphrasing, sort of a literary burst of liberal-reporter Tourette’s syndrome:

Because of his emphasis on compassion, Brownback does not fit the stereotype of the angry Christian conservative. This persona was embodied sensationally by “Pitchfork Pat” Buchanan and his talk of America’s “religious war,” by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who once imagined “rampant” lesbianism in his state’s schools, by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who said abortionists, feminists, gays and pagans helped cause the 9/11 terror attacks. (Falwell later took it back.)