News of this series of Bachmann statements (made during the course of a single interview) was published yesterday. I suppose that by tomorrow morning you will be able to find headlines about these statements in news outlets all over the country.
But we need a copy of this particular Bachmann grand slam for the archives here, so...
Michele Bachmann, from an audio recording of an interview given to an attendee of the GOP Youth Convention, July 22:
Transcript follows...
INTERVIEWER: I may be putting the cart before the horse here, but assuming the Republicans win the House back this next cycle: how do you feel about the chances for a little oversight and a little accountability now that the Republicans would have the subpoena power, how aggressive do you--
BACHMANN: Oh, I think that's all we should do...I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another. And expose all the nonsense that is going on. And it's very important when we come back that we have constitutional conservative leadership because the American people's patience is about this big...
...So we have to make sure that we do what the people want us to do because one thing that you should is that the most dramatic story that's happened in the last 18 months is that the federal government - before 18 months ago, the private economy was 100 percent held in private hands. But today 65 percent of the economy is now held in government's hands - either in direct ownership or in control we're talking about. So we got to unravel that and we got to get the private sector back to being private and the government back to being government.
...This is the year - this is it. All of our chips are on November. If we don't get it back and then starve the beast - the House, we have the power of the purse - so we can starve ObamaCare. We don't have to fund any of these programs and that's exactly what we need to do - defund all of this nonsense and then unwind it.
So: you got that? The Republican agenda next year, as Bachmann sees it: take back Congress, defund Obamacare in order to kill it, reverse "the government takeover of 65 percent of the economy that started when the Obama administration came into office"--and devote the entire focus of the United States Congress to a never-ending investigation of Republican political opponents.
These are the priorities: nothing in there about cleaning up the oil spill, nothing in that agenda about the war in Afghanistan, the occupation of Iraq, the war on terror around the world, nothing in there about controlling energy prices, nothing in that agenda about the economy and job creation. Instead: all investigations of Republican political opposition, all the time...the kind of government you see from corrupted "republics" in Central and South America and various failed democracies throughout the world.
Proto-fascism; in this case using the power of law and government to demonize, harass and stop any significant political opposition.
You think she's "just" a nut because she adopts this stand publicly? She's not "just" a nut: as of July 22 forty other members of Congress have signed up to join her Tea Party Caucus (that's up five from the total listed two days ago.) A British newspaper just identified her as the queen of the American right; she's got more money than any other member of Congress for re-election--and that money is being sent in in small amounts by people from all over the country who agree with her.
The agenda she's talking about is nuts, and she is nuts (as I've always maintained)-- but if you think that a nut must be irrelevant in politics simply by virtue of the fact that he/she is a nut: I would direct you to the history books to check out that opinion. Don't tell me that that can't happen here--it's happening here. She's announcing that it's happening here.
This will hurt her, because it will send money into the Tarryl Clark coffers. But it will help her as much as it will hurt her, because she is advocating what tens of millions of Americans believe should happen. They will be proud of her for advocating what they want. Bachmann represents them, and she has the support of a national conservative evangelical machine that is so powerful that it is able to veto Republican presidential candidacies.
If she wants, she can back up on the statements, she can evade or change the subject when she's asked about the statements in follow-up--but it doesn't matter: her supporters and mentors know that she means it. They know that this is how Michele Bachmann would change American government if she and her mentors and supporters are ever given the chance to do so.
What can I say; this is the story, this is why I devoted all these years to covering the career of this particular politician and the political movement that mentored her. It's horrible and fascinating. McCarthy on a pedestal, McCarthy sober and successful, McCarthy proceeding under the banner of Christ, nationally popular and on the rise...
Not too many congressmen, and practically no Democrats.
From the Minneapolis City Pages:
About a month after (Michele Bachmann) introduced the single-page piece of legislation (to repeal health care reform), just 52 House Republicans and one Democrat have joined her as of this writing...
That means that there are 127 Republicans in the House who won't sign on to Bachmann's call for complete repeal. The one Democrat (out of 254 Democrats in the House) is Parker Griffith of Alabama--and he's a very complicated guy. He contributed money to Howard Dean, then ran as a Blue Dog, then voted for Nancy Pelosi to serve as Speaker, and now he's switching to run as a Republican, and I suppose if the trend continues, by fall he'll be transgendered.
Anyway: how do we explain the fact that 127 Congressmen from a party that condemns HCR as "socialism" won't sign on to Bachmann's call for repeal?
(CONTINUED)
A rare event happened in Minnesota journalism happened today. A media institution actually fact-checked Michele Bachmann. The only place to have ever done it before is WCCO's Reality Check (and they've done it on several occasions).
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hosted a private fundraiser last night for Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and the Minnesota Republican Party.
Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008, also attracted thousands to an afternoon campaign rally that featured several speakers. We looked at some of the statements made by those speakers, as well as DFLers who held their own rally earlier in the day, to test their accuracy.
(MPR)
At this point, I am unable to ascertain why MPR performed actual journalistic analysis concerning Michele Bachmann, but it is definitely welcome. What's interesting is that while Tom Scheck states that the DFLers stretched the truth, he does note that Bachmann was simply factually wrong.
Let me help, Tom: She lied. She lies all the time. I've organized all of her lies here.
You can watch and judge for yourselves after the fold.
Congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, pleading with the Republicans and conservatives on Redstate.com to ignore the big government conspiracy theories and complete the census:
The unstated concern: An under-representation of conservatives could mean fewer Republicans in Congress and state legislatures for the next 10 years.
"It's your constitutional duty to respond to this," Mr. McHenry said in an interview. "It's often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census."
McHenry, the poor bastard, is the top Republican on the House subcommittee overseeing the census. Which is kind of like being the ghost of Yasser Arafat showing up at a Haddassah meeting--because the right is now officially teaching that the federal government is staffed by murderous totalitarian secret policemen. In the minds of too many members of the talk radio audience, compliance with the census is about as wise as volunteering your name, address, and family information to Joseph Stalin.
McHenry tried to dial the conservative paranoia back in order to save GOP districts. But his plaintive cries are like those of the poor little monkey who tried to stop an elephant's on-going bowel movement by re-inserting a cork. Among the conservatives he courts, McHenry is outranked in influence and honor by...
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.), who is admired by many tea-party activists and ultra-conservatives, has said she will refuse to provide information about anything except the number of people in her household.
We are no seeing the fruition of years and years of the hatred and lies that Michele Bachmann has been spreading. African-American Congressmen spit upon and called n****r by teabaggers, an openly gay Congressman called f****t by teabaggers, the propane gas line cut to a Congressmen's brother's house (they mistook the brother's address for the Congressman's), death threats to other members of Congress and now this:
The FBI is warning police across the country that an anti-government group's call to remove governors from office could provoke violence.
The group called the Guardians of the free Republics wants to "restore America" by peacefully dismantling parts of the government, according to its Web site. It sent letters to governors demanding they leave office or be removed.
Investigators do not see threats of violence in the group's message, but fear the broad call for removal of top state officials could lead others to act out violently. At least two states beefed up security in response.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he received one of the letters but wasn't overly alarmed.
As an aside, Pawlenty isn't worried because we've found it nearly impossible to track where he is from day to day. One thing is for sure, he's rarely in Minnesota.
Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and right wing radio across this country have been sowing the seeds for a long, long time now. Those seeds are starting to produce. I don't follow Beck, Limbaugh and right wing radio closely, but you can find out what they've been saying at Media Matters.
On Monday I wrote a post about WCCO letting Rep. Michele Bachmann lie on their morning show with Esme Murphy and then Liz Collin giving her a pass that evening. Well ... Liz Collin responded to my email:
Thank you for your e-mail. I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, on a Sunday with only a couple of hours to work with we couldn't get answers to some of her claims in the story but we had been planning on doing a reality check with her and here is the link to that story from Pat Kessler.
Thank you, Liz, for replying. While I would hope ya'll could start using Teh Google, better late than never. Pat Kessler finds that 3 of her 4 claims are false and the 4th has a "kernel of truth, but is OUT OF CONTEXT."
Health care reform is complicated enough on its own, but Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has made numerous claims that are at least misleading.
On CBS' "Face the Nation" last Sunday, Bachmann claimed several times the federal government now controls most of America's economy.
"Now we have the federal government taking over ownership or control of 51 percent of the American economy," she said. "This is stunning. Prior to September of 2008, 100 percent of the private economy was private."
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has been repeating the claim that health care reform will "bankrupt" companies or "cost them millions/billions." The truth is different than what she claims.
AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. have all said that the reform will cost them "millions, if not billions of dollars" because of a change in the subsidy employers have received from the government to provide retirees prescription drug coverage plans in Medicare part D. The clearest explanation, and debunking, comes form MarketWatch:
s explained in plain English in today's Wall Street journal, "companies that provide this [Medicare Part D] benefit, as AT&T does, receive a federal subsidy, plus they can deduct the value of this subsidy from their taxes. The health overhaul cancels the deductibility of the subsidy."
Let me ask a question of readers here in even plainer English: Can anybody actually be upset about the fact that giant corporations have to stop taking tax deductions for welfare checks they get for providing health care to their employees and retirees?
Imagine if you will, the government sending you a check to pay for your prescription drugs and then you getting to deduct that amount from your income tax statement. HEY, BIG GOVERNMENT, KEEP YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF MY SUBSIDIES AND ENTITLEMENTS!
So it ends double-dipping for these huge corporations. And of course someone can be upset about the fact that giant corporations have to stop taking tax deductions for the subsidies they receive--it's the perfect issue for John Boehner to express his outrage over. Because, of course, subsidies and tax breaks to the nation's behemoth corporations is more important than not increasing the deficit while expanding health insurance coverage.
(Daily Kos)
This worst part for Bachmann and her fellow Republicans is that Henry Waxman is going to give these corporations the opportunity to come before his committee and submit testimony (most likely under oath) about how much money they'll lose.
Why Minnesota journalists are complicit in electing and reelecting Bachmann
WCCO's Esme Murphy interviewed Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on her morning show. As usual, it was apparent that Murphy hadn't done any research or hadn't been paying attention. If she had she might have asked some tough questions about the lies that Bachmann told her. Instead, Murphy let Bachmann lie.
Do "journalists" have an obligation to confront politicians who lie to them? Do "journalists" have an obligation to analyze the truth of what a politician claims?
Murphy must not believe so. She will let any Republican on her show and let them tell any lie they'd like to tell. And, apparently, not Collin, either. WCCO's Reality Check is sadly a rare example of actual political journalism in MN.
Here's my point. The Minnesota media has never confronted Bachmann on her lies, conspiracy theories and ties to the national evangelical movement.
Judging by Murphy's continued behavior, they never will.
Here's an example of actual journalists doing there job (strangely enough at nat'l CBS):
Video of the Evita moment, when Rep. Bachmann reveals herself to the crowd on the balcony. Life imitates art; I drew this as a panel in my comic book biography of Bachmann long before it happened.
The video gives you a good idea of what American government would like if the tea party guys ran it. Lots of shouting over the leaders so that even the guys that you like can't be heard. The government of the Planet of Apes looks like Plato's Republic in comparison. It's the "Axis of Eedjits!" At one point Rep. Steve King of Iowa promises that they will dismantle Washington, D.C. so that it no longer threatens the nation. Christ!
Next:
Bachmann caught lying, again, this time about abortion:
(CONTINUED)
Everybody has this one, but here it is for context:
After Health Care Vote, Threats on Democrats
New York Times
By CARL HULSE
Published: March 24, 2010
WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers have received death threats and been the victims of vandalism because of their votes in favor of the health care bill, lawmakers and law enforcement officials said Wednesday, as the Congressional debate over the issue headed toward a bitter and divisive conclusion...
And now this, also for context:
Bachmann also said that her controversial remarks of more than a year ago - in which she called Obama "anti-American" and suggested members of Congress be investigated for "anti-American activities" - have proven prophetic.
"I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views," she said. "And now I look like Nostradamus."
That's at the end of a Politico story; Ken Avidor at the Dump Bachmann blog caught that because Ken is the kind of guy who reads all the way to the end of the story to find the headline stuff that Politico would rather not run as a headline.
So do you get what these two items mean, when you read them side-by-side? Bachmann, other Republican politicians, and media conservatives have been working for years to create a climate of hatred in America. In the minds of millions of conservative voters who listen to their garbage: liberal means anti-American, an enemy of America. That's gospel, to those millions of Americans and it's been spread as gospel by conservatives for decades. As the night follows the day, it's a sure thing that some of those conservative media believers are going to "act out" on the hatred that is circulated by Bachmann, Beck, Limbaugh...hundreds of conservative leaders with access to the media who tell their fans that liberals are out to destroy liberty and freedom.
It's nothing new; the Southern Poverty Law Center tracks hate crimes by the right--thousands of them--and Bachmann and Beck's names figured in their last report. The only new development is that this "hatred that leads to violence" rhetoric is now acceptable to supposedly mainstream politicians who continue to honor Bachmann:
Pawlenty and Bachmann were very complimentary of each other - Pawlenty called Bachmann "one of the finest leaders in this country..."
Remember that Tim Pawlenty said that, at the same time that Michele Bachmann was calling the President of the United States "anti-American." Remember that Pawlenty said that, because violent crimes against the government and public inspired by the kind of lying smears that Michele Bachmann has spread throughout her career--are not going to go away. Once the hatred is turned on--and the people spreading the hatred are honored by the Republican Party--you can't just turn it off. And the careers of conservatives like Michele Bachmann depend on the creation and preservation of a climate of hatred.
(CONTINUED)
When I opened my Minneapolis Star Tribune to the editorial page yesterday morning, I saw their editorial demanding Congress pass health care reform. I thought it was high time these chowderheads came to their senses. Then I realized that they were up to their usual shenanigans. The gave Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) the space below their editorial to counter their well-reasoned argument with lies, fear-mongering and shameless innuendo.
The blatant disregard for public opinion and the arrogance of this Congress and White House are threatening the integrity of our country with parliamentary tricks and backroom deals under misleading claims of bipartisanship.
This is her opening sentence. In this single sentence I find four lies and two instances of hypocrisy.
Lie #1: ...blatant disregard for public opinion... - public opinion polling by respected polling firms has indicated that a large majority of Americans want health care reform. Polls even showed that a majority of Americans wanted the public option which is not (as of this time) in the bill. There is an outside (very outside) chance that the PO might make it in via reconciliation.
Lie #2: ...the arrogance of this Congress and White House... - Barack Obama, Harry Reid and, to a lesser extent, Nancy Pelosi have tried bipartisanship and Republicans have met it with lies and slander. Death panels and birthers are not honest debate. Furthermore, Republicans have used every trick they know to obstruct health care reform. Only after nearly 9 months of attempting to craft a bipartisan solution are they abandoning it.
Lie #3: ...threatening the integrity of our country with parliamentary tricks and backroom deals... - these parliamentary ploys did not threaten America when the Republicans used them. This is simply fearmongering with no basis in fact.
Lie #4: misleading claims of bipartisanship. - I don't know why Obama and Reid tried to work with y'all on this. You Republicans were never going to negotiate in good faith on this. I'm glad we're scrapping the shabby veneer of bipartisanship and pushing this through on a party line vote.
Hypocrisy #1: ...the arrogance of this Congress and White House... - If any Administration was arrogant, the George W. Bush Administration was. Bachmann calling the Obama Administration arrogant is definitely the pot calling the kettle black.
Hypocrisy #2: ...threatening the integrity of our country... - the Bush Administration truly threatened our country. They got rid of the writ of habeaus corpus, passed the Patriot Act, committed war crimes by torturing prisoners, ran up such a massive debt that our national solvency is still in danger, ran the economy off the cliff ... need I go on?
And this was just the first sentence.
The Star Tribune have always let Bachmann get away with lying. On the one hand they've always printed whatever she submits without the slightest care that the vast majority of what she's said on their pages are lies. On the other hand, they've never asked her anything but softball questions without any follow-up questions regardless of how insane or blatantly false those statements are.
Bachmann is on a mission from God. I mean that literally as he has said that God told her to run for office. Since she is fighting such a righteous cause, there are no gray areas. There are the righteous, the sheep and there are the minions of evil. And Democrats are not the sheep.
Consequently, she doesn't simply disagree with Democrats, liberals and progressives -- we must be evil. It's simpler this way. If we are intent on destroying America, the righteous are justified in whatever they do. This also meshs nicely with the evangelical concept that the "saved" cannot commit sin. This justifies her lying.
As month by month her rhetoric intensifies, she has gone beyond claiming on the Chris Matthews Shows that members of Congress hold "anti-American views." To exhort their followers to action, they seem to need to claim that each perceived transgression is worse than the last and that things have never been this bad (regardless of the truth of their claim).
Right wingers like Bachmann and Palin have always talked about the "real America" and the "real people." The Righteous are the only ones who love their country. There is a dangerous pattern here. If we're not children of God just like they are, if we don't love our country, if we are lesser humans than they are, it justifies whatever means they use to achieve their ends.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is at it again. She repeated her stance that she would abolish social security and medicare if given the chance. ThinkProgress has the details:
Speaking to a small group of conference attendees and ThinkProgress during lunch on Saturday, Bachmann outlined how the Republican Party and its 2012 nominee must address the national debt. Bachmann referenced Glenn Beck, who falsely warned about a $107 trillion in supposed "unfunded liabilities" from Social Security and Medicare. She then called for a "reorganization" of entitlements where people "already in the system" would continue to receive benefits, but "everybody else" would be weaned off:
BACHMANN: Is the country too big to fail? No, the country can fail. We can, we're not invincible. And we're so close now to being at that point because the thing is, as Glenn Beck said last night, it is true. The $107 trillion that he put on the board. We're $14 trillion in debt, but that doesn't include the unfunded massive liabilities. That's $107 trillion, and that's for Social Security and Medicare and all the rest. You add up all those unfunded net liabilities, and all the traps that could go wrong we're on the hook for, and what it means is what we have to do is a reorganization of all of that, Social Security and all. We have to do it simply because we can't let the contract remain as they are because the older people are going to lose. So, what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system, that don't have any other options, we have to keep faith with them. But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off. And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet, we can't do it. So we just have to be straight with people. So basically, whoever our nominee is, is going to have to have a Glenn Beck chalkboard and explain to everybody this is the way it is.
Rep. Michele Bachmman (R-MN) has got ideas on how to save America from Obamacare. She's going to stop those death panels and socialists from ruining America. She's apparently going to announce her very own Bachmann-care! Unfortunately, her secret plans of how to save America were leaked.
It appears that Bachmann-care won't cover anyone without health insurance or ... actually ... do much of anything at all except score her political points with the knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers who will likely mistake this for policy.
A GOP source passes along an embargoed copy of Michele Bachmann's "Declaration of Health Care Independence" - an alternative blueprint for health care that is supposed to shed the party of its "party of no" label by giving voters an option.
The declaration was circulated to GOP staffers with the prohibition, "PLEASE DO NOT SEND THIS TO ANYONE. The document is to be embargoed until after the press conference on Wednesday. Let me know if you any questions!"
The document turns out to be less than specific - mostly a litany of Bachmann's favorite pledges to fight socialized medicine and uphold the Constitution.
It makes no mention of goals articulated by many in Republican leadership, including health care portability, removal of coverage caps and scrapping coverage denial based on pre-existing conditions.
It does contain a vow to hit Democrats on three wedge issues by coaxing signees to back abortion bans, blocking benefits to undocumented immigrants and a prohibition on the public option.
(Politico)
Detailed examination of her silliness after the break.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had quite a year. In 2009, she stepped even further to the forefront of the conservative movement. She appeared frequently on Fox News and right wing radio and often headlined conservative rallies. She was nominated for Lie of the Year and featured on Keith Olbermann's World's Worst Person segment 10 times. The only people Olbermann featured more frequently were nationally-known figures like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly.
While there were many candidates for her most astounding moment, the jaw dropper was her behavior at a anti-healthcare reform rally in Colorado. She thought nobody would be paying attention as she was so far from DC and her home district.
"This cannot pass," the Minnesota Republican told a crowd at a Denver gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute. "What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn't pass."
So join me at the intersection of Bizarro Blvd and False Witness Lane for an in-depth review of 2009 for Michele Bachmann.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had quite a year. In 2009, she stepped even further to the forefront of the conservative movement. She appeared frequently on Fox News and right wing radio and often headlined conservative rallies. She was nominated for Lie of the Year and featured on Keith Olbermann's World's Worst Person segment 10 times. The only people Olbermann featured more frequently were nationally-known figures like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly.
