Note to presidential hopefuls: Know your QBs

updated 5:54 p.m. ET May 12, 2007

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. - Note to Sen. Sam Brownback: When in Packerland, don’t diss Brett Favre.

The Kansas Republican drew boos and groans from the audience at the state Republican Party convention Friday evening when he used a football analogy to talk about the need to rebuild the family.

“This is fundamental blocking and tackling,” he said. “This is your line in football. If you don’t have a line, how many passes can Peyton Manning complete? Greatest quarterback, maybe, in NFL history.”

Oops.

Realizing what he had said, Brownback slumped at the podium and put his head in his hands as the crowd expressed its displeasure.

“That’s really bad,” he said. “That will go down in history. I apologize.”

His apology brought a smattering of applause and laughter. He tried to recover, saying former Packer Bart Starr may be the greatest of all time, but the crowd was still restless.

“Let’s take Favre then,” Brownback said. “The Packers are great. I’m sorry. How many passes does he complete without a line?”

“All of them!” more than one person yelled from the back.

“I’m not sure how I recover from this,” Brownback said. “My point is we’ve got to rebuild the family. I’ll get off this.”

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He recovered to finish his speech, which also touched on Iraq, abortion and his run for the presidency. Another presidential candidate, but one who knows how to cater to a Wisconsin crowd, was scheduled to address the convention on Saturday.

After all, the Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996 when Tommy Thompson was governor. And he often famously worked into his speeches a plug for Packer fans all over cheesehead land: “Wisconsin, where eagles soar, Harleys roar and Packers score.”

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