Urbandale, Iowa – Bachmann for President Communications Director Alice Stewart has issued the following statement in response to Bachmann’s statements about Iran:
“Congresswoman Bachmann is a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and is fully aware that we do not have an embassy in Iran and have not had one since 1980. She was agreeing with the actions taken by the British to secure their embassy personnel and was speaking in the hypothetical, that if she was President of the United States and if we had an embassy in Iran, she would have taken the same actions as th…
And I stopped there. Haven’t picked on this lady in a while. As a quick reminder….my initial reaction to the news…
Reprising a line that Pawlenty had often used on the campaign trail, Bachmann noted that she is from Minnesota: “It’s not a conservative state; it’s more of a liberal state—”
“But a conservative district,” Crowley interrupted.
“It’s a swing district and it’s a district that elected Gov. Jesse Ventura, and so I’ve been able to attract a lot of people to vote for me who are Democrats and independents,” Bachmann said.
“That’s what we have to do. This won’t be just a conservative election, this is really going to be an economics election.
People will want to know who can turn the country around; that will be the big question.”
Here’s the thing, ‘Stop Obama’ might work, and people might see that as a coherent policy position, at Tea Party Rallies…but everyone else thinks you are quite crazy.
Take a loooong look in the mirror Republicans, this is the face of your party.
UPDATE: Here’s the results of the Iowa Straw Poll….
Bachmann took first place Saturday in the straw poll, with 28 percent of the nearly 17,000 votes cast. That was enough to beat close challenger Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who finished with 27 percent of the vote.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third at 13 percent, more than 2,500 votes behind Bachmann, leading him to drop out of the race. Bachmann wished Pawlenty well, saying he had been a “very good competitor.”
I’m pretty sure Rick Perry can outcrazy that. Let’s get it on!!!
HARLESTON, S.C. — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas announced Saturday that he was running for president, declaring it was “time to get America working again” as he sought to offer the Republican Party a candidate who appeals to both fiscal and social conservatives.
I’m totally cool with this, AS LONG AS HE RESIGNS AS MY GOVERNOR FIRST! I really don’t want to be governed by a guy that lost to Michelle Bachmann in any type of poll, straw or otherwise.
BTW, I would like to see a compare and contrast on the hair-styling prowess of Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman. *That* is a tough one to call.
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann remained tight-lipped when asked about controversial therapy methods reportedly practiced at her husband’s Minnesota clinic on Monday.
Local Iowa station WQAD asked Bachmann about the matter ahead of the release of an ABC News investigation offering an inside look at treatment offered at the center. Brian Ross reports:
A former patient who sought help from the Christian counseling clinic owned by GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, told ABC News he was advised that prayer could rid him of his homosexual urges and he could eventually be “re-oriented.”
Watch the video over there of her dealing with this issue. And by “dealing with it”, I mean staring straight into the camera and repeating talking points and ignoring the questions.
My guess is that she’ll next issue a press release saying that talking about spouses is off-limits while attacking Michelle Obama’s initiatives to not have perfect spheres for children.
Seriously, y’all, there are ACTUALLY a number of women in the Republican party that are not walking jokes. To be sure, many of them wouldn’t win any beauty pageants, but that’s not any reason to pick a…oh…right…
Anyway, here’s the latest from this election season’s gaffe machine.
Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo’s own John Wayne.
The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo’s John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer.
Mrs. Bachmann grew up in Waterloo, and used the town as the backdrop for her campaign announcement, where she told Fox News: “Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.” (Someone has already posted the clip to YouTube under the name BachmannLovesGacy)
That’s something good to know before you read the Bachmann puff piece. Stephen Moore will *always* pimp anyone who says the best way to deal with the deficit is bigger and deeper tax cuts. Michelle Bachmann happens to be good enough at math to believe this….
“In my perfect world,” she explains, “we’d take the 35% corporate tax rate down to nine so that we’re the most competitive in the industrialized world. Zero out capital gains. Zero out the alternative minimum tax. Zero out the death tax.”
And that’s how she’d pay down the debt. Really, you couldn’t make up people like this if you started with banal, spliced in stupid, mixed in some political instinct, poured on the hot sauce, and then convinced the resulting concoction it was actually God’s gift to the world.
“I am a Christian as is my husband. I became a Christian at 16 years old, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ and since that time I’ve been a person of prayer.
When I pray, I pray believing that God will speak to me and give me an answer to that prayer, and so that’s what a calling is. If I pray, a calling means that I have a sense from God which direction I’m supposed to go.
It means I have a sense of assurance about the direction I think that God is speaking into my heart that I should go.”
There you have it, Michelle Bachmann says that God tells Michelle Bachmann she should run for President. BTW, for those that didn’t get that from the quoted context…well…you can’t. That’s one of the fun things about saying you are doing what God wants, no matter what you do. The same exact speech can be used for the alternative. (it’s a bit like Huckabee’s “Aww, shucks I know where this ride ends (New Hampshire)” bow out speech…the difference…Huckabee has learned to blame his own heart for his own choices).
So we’ll see who God wants to be President when the world ends in 2012 in 2012. Unless Obama wins again, then, according to some of Bachmann’s most avid fans, Satan will have won again (yes, they are this crazy).
[1] Crazy, attractive (to 50-60 year old males mind you), conservative lady somehow pushed to the forefront of the Repbulicans who constantly embarasses the country with a disconcerting lack of basic knowledge about stuff and things and crazy ideas and constant pitch-perfect right-wing talking points.
First up a is a quick video I made the other day. It’s got a couple of those “gotcha” basic, simple questions that illustrate the fundamental issues with the Republican worldview in the 21st century. That’s here…
NEVER, EVER, HIRE SOMEONE FOR A JOB THAT HATES THE JOB.
You wouldn’t hire a dogcatcher that hates dogs, why elect a President that hates government? A window washer afraid of heights? No.
I’m watching this “who can hate government the most contest”…and then I’m thinking…all of these people are running for a government job…and they hate government…this is insane. It does explain most of their positions, though.
RobotPirateNinja: Hermain Cain is going to put 13,000,000 people to work…by not spending a dime. He’ll tell you how right after he’s elected.
RobotPirateNinja: Why do these folks want to keep sending money to the private sector, when private profits have never been higher, and public debt is the same (never higher)?
My god, Romney just said we need to return money to the private sector…THEN TALKED ABOUT THE DEBT. These people don’t even get the basics…or maybe it’s the people they are trying to appeal to that don’t understand.
RobotPirateNinja: oooh, fun, the Ryan Plan….Pawlenty…we’re just screwing over your kid, it’s all right.
RobotPirateNinja: Check that, Pawlenty has his OWN plan…the rush from Ryan begins.
RobotPirateNinja: John King is pathetic…”uh…uh….uh…..uh…….uh…….uh.” Just cut their dang mic.
RobotPirateNinja: Newt points out that the Ryan Plan is toxic….oh…but he’s killing Medicaid. (which largely goes to poor…old people).
RobotPirateNinja: Santorum jumps in with two feet. Ryan Plan all the way. This is why he’s not a serious candidate.
RobotPirateNinja: Herman Cain, the reason we have problems is because they haven’t been solved yet. Yes…Herman…the Ryan Plan *does* throw that grandkid out the chair…ummm…you just railed against your own idea.
Debt Limit question…lady asked it wrong (we’ve already hit it, did a month ago, we are currently smashing piggy banks to pay bills)
Romney…we won’t raise it unless Obama stops being all socialisty….but not leading like his hair would. … Romney goes on to bash the U.S. economy and our debt….never mentions the word Taxes…or how the budget was balanced 10 years ago. I wish a questioner would mention how Bush said his tax cuts in 2001 would wipe out the deficit by 2009. [or how his 2005 Budget would “cut it in half” by 2009].
RobotPirateNinja: Bachmann on debt ceiling – I voted to default…and will again.
RobotPirateNinja: Bachmann: “Pay the interest first, the soldiers and seniors later.”
RobotPirateNinja: Wow…Pawlenty…first amendment says nothing about keeping religion out of Government. Really…wow…
[Pawlenty quote: “Well, the protections between the separation of church and state were designed to protect people of faith from government, not government from people of faith.”
This statement says a great deal about the current state of the Republican party. They really do think imposing religion on government is o.k., it’s just the opposite that is bad (oh, and Muslims are bad).]
RobotPirateNinja: Pawlenty – Founders were all the same religion as me.
RobotPirateNinja: Frothy Mixture – I use faith and reason…when reason backs up my faith, otherwise, faith all the way.
RobotPirateNinja: Frothy Mixture was going for a standing ovation…he got silence.
RobotPirateNinja: Ron Paul – People can’t learn to be moral. Jeez, you can’t make this stuff up.
[Note: I missed Ron Paul’s other stunning revelation about the Constitution of Paultard land…there is no separation of Church and state, and the first amendment was written specifically to protect Christians:
Ron Paul: “But the Constitution addresses this by saying — literally, it says no theocracy. But it doesn’t talk about church and state. The most important thing is the First Amendment. Congress shall write no laws — which means Congress should never prohibit the expression of your Christian faith in a public place.“]
RobotPirateNinja: Herman Cain informs there are two types of Muslims, peaceful and THOSE THAT WANT TO KILL US. He doesn’t like the second one. He will NOT IMPOSE SHARIAH LAW. Jeez…
[Actual exchange:
“Q:Are American-Muslims as a group less committed to the Constitution than, say, Christian or Jews?
CAIN: First, the statement was would I be comfortable with a Muslim in my administration, not that I wouldn’t appoint one. That’s the exact transcript.
And I would not be comfortable because you have peaceful Muslims and then you have militant Muslims, those that are trying to kill us.
And so, when I said I wouldn’t be comfortable, I was thinking about the ones that are trying to kill us, number one.”]
RobotPirateNinja: Romney – Rational one about Muslims…comes from being in a cult, and knowing how it feels to be looked down on for that.
RobotPirateNinja: Woah…Newt goes out on a “limb” and would require loyalty oaths…cause, you know…Muslims lie.
[Actual derp: GINGRICH: “I just want to comment for a second. The Pakistani who emigrated to the U.S. became a citizen, built a car bomb which luckily failed to go off in Times Square was asked by the federal judge, how could he have done that when he signed — when he swore an oath to the United States. And he looked at the judge and said, “You’re my enemy. I lied.”
Now, I just want to go out on a limb here. I’m in favor of saying to people, if you’re not prepared to be loyal to the United States, you will not serve in my administration, period.”
It should be noted that lying on loyalty oaths is totally not cool in a time of war, which is why they work so good.]
RobotPirateNinja: Herman Cain on pizza preference – “Deep Dish”…first thing he’s said tonight that was a clear answer.
RobotPirateNinja: Bachman – I would support an Amendment banning state marriage, but I’m not going to mess with states. She was able to contradict herself in a single question.
[BACHMANN: John, I do support a constitutional amendment on — on marriage between a man and a woman, but I would not be going into the states to overturn their state law.]
Herman Cain – I wouldn’t have let gays die openly for our country, but I wouldn’t change it.
Pawlenty – As CinC I would let me generals tell me what do to.
Paul – We shouldn’t have an army.
Romney – DADT should be kept until we “win” the War on Terror.
Newt – Blah, blah, blah, no answer.
Bachmann – I would go back to DADT, and Newt’s answer.
[Note: Bachmann “would want to confer with our commanders-in-chief and with — also with the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Note for the non-idiots: Bachmann is actually running to *become* Commander-in-Chief (hint: there’s only one).]
Can we vote her off this show?
RobotPirateNinja: Santorum – I hate gays, and we should go back and punish everyone who came out under the new, fair, policy.
RobotPirateNinja: Look at Santorum’s record….you lost your last election by 18%. You are off the island.
RobotPirateNinja: Bachmann – I’m so pro-life I think woman who are raped and get pregnant should be thankful God blessed them with that LIFE.
RobotPirateNinja: Legal vs. Illegation softball question….here comes the derpfest…
RobotPirateNinja: Santorum – Jesus said to love and care for everyone, except illegal immigrants, who we should kick out of hospitals.
[Santorum: A lot of folks run for president as pro-life and then that issue gets shoved to the back burner. I will tell you that the issue of pro-life, the sanctity and dignity of every human life, not just at birth, not just on the issue of abortion, but with respect to the entire life, which I mentioned welfare reform and — and the dignity of people at the end of life, those issues will be top priority issues for me to make sure that all life is respected and held with dignity.
vs.
SANTORUM: Well, I’m the son of a legal immigrant in this country and — and believe in legal immigration. That is a great wellspring of — of strength for our country.
But we cannot continue to provide — the federal government should not require states to provide government services. [note: like HOSPITALS]
RobotPirateNinja: 5-year old kid walks into a hospital…should the priority be to check his green card…Ron Paul…Yes, he should not get healthcare if he’s not American.
RobotPirateNinja: ”Freedom has SOLVED these problems before!?!” – Ron Paul
[Actual derp:
KING: A 5-year-old child of an illegal immigrant walks into an emergency room. Does the child get care?
PAUL: [Random derp about what Paul calls “freedom”.]
KING: But should they get care? Should they get care? Should taxpayers have to pay for that care?
PAUL: No, they should not be forced to, but we wouldn’t — we shouldn’t be penalizing the Catholic Church, because they’re trying to fulfill a role. And some of the anti-immigrants want to come down hard on the Catholic Church, and that is wrong.
PAUL: (making it absolutely clear that Doctors should first check greencards) “But, no, if you have an understanding and — and you want to believe in freedom, freedom has solved these kind of problems before. You don’t have to say, oh, you’re not going to have care or there won’t be any care and everybody is going to starve to death and — and die on the streets without medical care. That’s the implication of the question. That’s just not true, and you shouldn’t accept it.”
See folks?! Who need medical care when you have FREEDOM from medical care?]
RobotPirateNinja: Birthright Citizenship…should be change the entire nature of this country and what it means to be American?
Cain – Immediately.
Pawlenty – Supports Alabama and Arizona law. No more birthrights for citizens.
RobotPirateNinja: Newt – Blames America’s problems on the hyperbole of partisans. Really, he does this with a straight face.
RobotPirateNinja: Newt – Put DHS people…I guess the BSA…like the TSA (i.e. created “small government Republicans”) on the Border.
RobotPirateNinja: Paul – Right now we don’t own our land, get off my yard, really, get off my yard!
RobotPirateNinja: Romney – Drill, drill, clean coal….clean coal? Has that been invented yet? No…then why did he…oh…
RobotPirateNinja: Sanatorum – 5 more years of ethanol subsidies (Hi Iowa!) but then no more…just enough to get him elected twice…
Question from soldiers dad: Bin Laden is Dead…should we leave Afghanistan…(guessing no one will slam Obama for killing him.)
Romney – Gives effuse praise to…the guy asking the question. Wants the Afghanistanis to fight against the Ta…liban by themselves, I wonder if he knows where the Taliban is from.
[Actual Derp: ROMNEY: Let me — let me continue. That is I think we’ve learned some important lessons in our experience in Afghanistan. I want those troops to come home based upon not politics, not based upon economics, but instead based upon the conditions on the ground determined by the generals.
But I also think we’ve learned that our troops shouldn’t go off and try and fight a war of independence for another nation. Only the Afghanis can win Afghanistan’s independence from the Taliban. Thank you. ]
Paul – Actually says, and probably doesn’t realize it because he’s on a rant…that he would “spend that money” here. (No he wouldn’t, he’s against spending money here, or there or anywhere there might be green eggs and ham)
Bachmann – We should have watched Quadaffi slaughter them. She wouldn’t “lead from behind” by not even being involved. FRANCE! That’s all we need to know. “I deal with the nation’s classified secrets…which I will now casually reveal to you…oh…um…Al Qeada was there, which is why I wouldn’t have not led from behind.”
[Actual Derp: KING: Congresswoman Bachmann, should the president have supported and jointed more U.S. presence, but now a NATO operation? Was that the right thing to do? Is that in the vital national interest of the United States of America?
BACHMANN: No, I don’t believe so it is. That isn’t just my opinion. That was the opinion of our defense secretary, Gates, when he came before the United States Congress. He could not identify a vital national American interest in Libya.
Our policy in Libya is substantially flawed. It’s interesting. President Obama’s own people said that he was leading from behind. The United States doesn’t lead from behind. As commander in chief, I would not lead from behind.
We are the head. We are not the tail. The president was wrong. All we have to know is the president deferred leadership in Libya to France. That’s all we need to know. The president was not leading when it came to Libya. ”
She goes on to imply that Quadaffi is fighting Al Qaeda…I’m not sure at this point if she thinks we should be on *his* side.]
RobotPirateNinja: Newt – 10 years from 9/11 our intelligence is so innaccurate…we got Bin Laden you jackass.
[Actual Derp: “But I think what Congresswoman Bachmann just said ought to really sober everybody about how much trouble we’re in. Ten years after 9/11, our intelligence is so inadequate that we have no idea what percent of the Libyan rebels are, in fact, al Qaeda. Libya was the second largest producer of people who wanted to kill Americans in Iraq.”
Looks like Newt is warming up to Quadaffi as well. Truly, this is bizarro world.]
RobotPirateNinja: Newt – would cut and run as quickly as possible from everywhere. Then he’d gather intelligence.
Cain – Again says we didn’t understand the problem. We don’t know. Grandma says “they are are not simple situations, it’s an absolute mess. And we can’t make a decision until we learn from the commanders in the field whether or not to deploy commanders to the field.”
[Actual derp: KING: Mr. Cain, take 30 seconds, please. People might say he’s a businessman. He has no experience in government. How would you look at your responsibilities, draw that line, vital U.S. national interests as commander in chief?
CAIN: It starts with making sure we understand the problem, which I don’t think we did. We didn’t have the intelligence. Number two, is it in the vital interest of the United States of America? If the answer is no, then we don’t go any further. If it’s not in the vital interest of America, To paraphrase my grandmother, with the situation in Libya and many of these other situations, they’re not simple situations. It’s a mess. It’s just an absolute mess.
And there’s more that we don’t know than we do know, so it will be very difficult to know exactly what we do until, like others have said, we learn from the commanders in the field. [NOTE: Q: When you don’t have commanders in the field, like we didn’t in Libya…what do you do? A: Derp!]]
Santorum – Clinton did that…but anyway…we need a strategy, to, uh, asymmetric terrorism, so we need that base, and attack, anywhere and everywhere. The Soviets might attack at any time.
RobotPirateNinja: Santorum – Everybody in the world hates us, which is why we had to go it alone in Libya.
RobotPirateNinja: Missed the weak field question…kinda been pointing that out all along.
Pawlenty – Laughs, slams Biden, repeatedly…some something that isn’t happening. Palin is qualified to be President. And we’re done there…
Romney – We’d all be better than Obama. Obama doesn’t have a foreign policy…nice sarcastic contratulations on getting Bin Laden…that will be a headline tomorrow.
RobotPirateNinja: Ron Paul – Can you stomach any of these people? No. FEDERAL RESERVE!!
RobotPirateNinja: Frothy Mixture impressed. Bachmann learned more in two hours about the goodness of the American people (she never finished the “than” part of that butt-kissing).
Paul – We can be civil slamming the President for everything he’s done and hasn’t done.
RobotPirateNinja: Hermain Cain – It’s about the children and grandchildren…which is why I want to get rid of Medicare for them. …..
And we’re done here…it’s spin time.
PREDICTION: Romney’s sarcastic praise of Obama for killing Bin Laden will be the lede.
UPDATE: I was wrong…seems lot of other media folks don’t like pointing out obvious logical contradictions and think Bachmann did well. Wild.
This is just so spot on, had to call attention to it. As per, emphasis mine.
Dear Representative Bachmann,
My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.
Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.
Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:
I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.
Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.
Bachmann acts like a complete idiot to make her constituents feel smart. Or at least that’s my working theory, this debate would be a good test case for it. On the one hand, Bachmann as a law degree…on the other, it’s from Oral Roberts University. Steer the debate towards science, history, or any set of verifiable facts and it should be a slaughter.
I would also sincerely like to see an igneous rock debate Ron Paul on economics. While it would be one-sided, I can guarantee the rock would say less false, misleading, or easily disprovable things.
Two years ago, when Barack Obama became our President, unemployment was 7.8 percent and our national debt stood at what seemed like a staggering $10.6 trillion dollars.
Here are unemployment rates over the past ten years. In October 2001, our national unemployment rate was at 5.3 percent. In 2008 it was at 6.6 percent. But, just eight months after President Obama promised lower unemployment, that rate spiked to a staggering 10.1 percent.
After the $700 billion bailout, the trillion-dollar stimulus, and the $410 billion spending bill with over 9,000 earmarks, many of you implored Washington to please stop spending money we don’t have.
Deficits were unacceptably high under President Bush, but they exploded under President Obama’s direction, growing the national debt by an astounding $3.1 trillion-dollars.
For two years President Obama made promises just like the ones we heard him make tonight. Yet still we have high unemployment, devalued housing prices and the cost of gasoline is skyrocketing.
Here are a few suggestions for fixing our economy:
And, the President should repeal ObamaCare and support free market solutions like medical malpractice reform and allow all Americans to buy any healthcare policy they like anywhere in the United States.
Please know how important your calls, visits, and letters are to the maintenance of our liberties. Because of you, Congress responded and we are starting to undo the damagethat’s been done.
The perilous battle that was fought in the pacific, at Iwo Jima, was a battle against all odds, and yet the image of the young G.I.s in the incursion against the Japanese immortalizes their victory. These six young men raising the flag came to symbolize all of America coming together to beat back a totalitarian aggressor.
Our current debt crisis we face today is different, but we still need all of us to pull together. We can do this.
And that’s the hope we hold tonight as Americans. We will push forward to reclaim the greatness of our country and to proclaim the liberty upon which we were founded.
Robot Pirate Ninja 