In expounding upon the Constitution, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) rarely troubles with reading it. Her musings on the subject have earned her yet anotherPolitifact “pants on fire” award and ensured the employment of fact-checkers everywhere. Now, the Minnesota Independent reports that one American —a high school sophomore — wants to take the Congresswoman head on.
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
[snip]
“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,” Myers wrote, according to a report by City Pages’ Nick Pinto.
Ahhh. I guess she had all her investments with Allen Stanford and/or Bernie Madoff. Still, this was a tough choice to make. However, her only competition was -- herself. Take a sample of some of her other comments:
* ACORN is "under federal indictment for voter fraud," but the stimulus bill nevertheless gives ACORN "$5 billion." [Not true, by the way -- ACORN isn't under any federal indictment and doesn't get a dime under the Stimulus bill.] [M]any members of Congress have "a real aversion to capitalism." [Because the Communist Party controls Congress, naturally.]
It is continually breathtaking, watching the Republican Party become unhinged.
8 Dec 2008 // Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its 2008 Most Embarrassing Re-Elected Members of Congress report. The list incorporates those elected officials who have misused their position through illegal, unethical or just plain outrageous conduct.
Members are not ranked, but rather listed in alphabetical order. The top 10 list includes:
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
Michelle Bachmann is a pretty wild person as we've seen, but after spewing venom at Barack Obama for a few minutes with Hannidate, she then lied to Alan Colmes and denied saying this on Hardball:
Bachmann: I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look -- I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think the people would love to see an expose like that.
It's on tape, there's no "hocus-pocus", it was on live television.
She's come up with a new one folks. She said that she never made those statements and they have now become an "urban legend." Is she living in a B type Horror/Slasher film world or what? Here's what she told Alan Colmes Tuesday night.
Colmes: You said you were concerned during the campaign that Obama had anti American views and you said the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look at the people and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America
Bachmann: Actually that's not what I said. It's an urban legend that was created and that's not what I said.
Colmes: I have the tape at my website Alan.com
Bachmann: What I called on Alan was for the main stream media to do their job. They failed to vet Barack Obama the way they had John McCain. That's what I was called for.
Colmes: I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America. Do you really want...
Bachmann: What I said was that I'm not qualified to say whether members views are pro or anti American. That's not my job to do.
For, we have another, that when you see it, as I did, live, as it was broadcast, you just shake you head on the absolutely soulless, gutter-based, lack-of-decency, humanity-challenged person that is Republican hack Brad Blakeman.
Check that.
What's lower, seedier, more despicable that a "hack", for I don't want to insult and demean the good names of the bevy of the hacks out there, that, in similar circumstance, would not have sunk so low, would-not-have-gone-there.
You have to be pretty much a maggot to attempt to equate, let alone defend, the expense of Palin's wardrobe(possibly illegally, certainly ethically questionable, and a disaster PR-wise), to the personal family matter of Barack Obama, going to visit his dying grandmother, the woman who was instrumental in his upbringing.
I believe, if the interview continued longer, Bradley would have intimated that Obama had William Ayers in the plane, or was really flying off to some Islamo-Terrorist camp for further instructions.
This had no place in a interview or discussion over the Republican putting clothes on the back of Mommy Moose.
Not even close ... Not even in the same sphere ... Not in the same room ... No way ... No how ...
So, Bradley Blakeman, you become The Garlic's second Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week, with the added bonus of a challenge to you, to go back on MSNBC, admit you were a weasel, our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week and apologize to Barack Obama.
I half expect, for McKKKain and Palin, aided mightily by the Right Wing Freak Show, to turn around Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's both-feet-in-mouth call for a McCarthyism-inspired expose to weed out those in Congress who are Anti-American and blame it as a left-liberal witch hunt, with tentacles tying in ACORN going out and registering Pet Rocks to vote, and the type of thing that will be a daily occurance if Barack Obama is elected.
Just so everyone is clear on this, here is the full interview of our Ignorant-Dolt-of-the-Week (IDOTW), with Tweety on 'Hardball' McCarthy's back: Bachmann on Hardball
The first volley of it being the above-referenced witch hunt comes from the IDOTW, herself;
The comment by the first-term Republican fueled a surge of campaign donations to her opponent, Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg. His campaign says Sunday evening that he has raised $640,000 since she made it.
Bachmann appeared on a WCCO-TV show earlier Sunday to say she isn't saying that Obama's views are anti-American. She says, "That was a misreading of what I said."
Something tells me, she is going to run the risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, from the considerable amount of dialing back she's going to need to do.
And it's a good thing IDOTW has one of the "gold-plated-Cadillac" health plans, for there's always the chance, in attempting to walk this back, she trips and falls.
Maybe, she'll need to go into full battle-mode, and carve out a bunker to work from, say, something like adopting the McKKKain hack Nancy Puss'n'Boots policy, and announcing that she's in the "Real Minnesota".
For the flak has been flying, aimed squarely at IDOTW.
Before we go any further - who is this Bachmann? She's a first-term backbencher from exurban Minneapolis who says the Lord told her to run for Congress. She declared herself "a fool for Christ" in 2006 when she announced her candidacy. By all accounts she's down with the whole rightwing Christian package: immigrants bring disease and pestilence, homosexuals want to indoctrinate straight children, and so on. Republican leadership undoubtedly pushed her out on to television because she is, as you Brits say, a looker - at least by the standards of Congress.
You can also visit, and get more info on the IDOTW, over on Dump Michele Bachmann, which boasts "Michele Bachmann is Minnesota's Answer to Florida's Katherine Harris. This blog is here to chronicle Michele Bachmann's antics."
Is it in the water they drink? ... The air quality at the Dead Campaign Express HQ? ... Are they working from a "How-To-Run-A-Presidential-Campaign-for-Dummies"?
I happened to be watching MSNBC when this interview occurred, and it was a jawdropper.
McKKKain flak Nancy Puss'n'Boots actually dismissed Northern Virginia, pointed to the "southern part" as the "real Virginia" and then, when given the opportunity to correct herself, reiterated it!
KEVIN CORKE: Okay. You’re talking about winning this year, but that's going to require that you win states like – well, like Virginia, for example. And as someone who is now in northern Virginia, we're both right here, we get it. Northern Virginia is increasingly strong in the state. They have more political clout. Democrats have won the statehouse; Jim Webb’s surprising victory in the Senate. It would seem to me that there could be a tipping of the balance there. Would you agree with that? And that maybe be – you know, maybe that's where he has to focus his energy now.
NANCY PFOTENHAUER: Well, Kevin, I certainly agree that northern Virginia has gone more Democratic. You know, as a proud resident of Oakton, Virginia, I can tell you that the Democrats have just come in from the District of Columbia and moved into northern Virginia. And that's really what you see there. But the rest of the state, real Virginia, if you will, I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain’s message. And remember that, you know, you’ve got places in other states like northern Wisconsin, the iron range of Minnesota, south-central and southeastern Pennsylvania, the St. Louis suburbs and the rural areas of Missouri that are very responsive to our message. And again we're taking it to them in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. He’s having to fight to defend there, as you can tell because he's deployed people like the Clintons out in Pennsylvania. And every speech Joe Biden gives, he says, “I’m from Scranton.” You don't know what else he's going to say, but he sure gets that line in.
CORKE: Hey Nancy, I’m going to give you a chance to climb back off that ledge. Did you say "real Virginia"?
PFOTENHAUER: I did say outside of north – well, I mean real Virginia, because northern Virginia is where I’ve always been, but real Virginia I take to be the – this part of the state that is more southern in nature, if you will. Northern Virginia is really metro D.C., as you're aware, Kevin.
CORKE: All right. I’m just going to let you -- you’re aware of that one. I’m just saying.
My god, how stupid can these McCain people be? First, they call Arlington and Alexandria "communist country." Then, Sarah Palin talks about how only the rural, "small town" (like Wasilla?) parts of America are "pro-America." Now, McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer channels George Allen's "macaca" moment, when among other things he welcomed S.R. Sidarth - a lifelong resident of Fairfax County - to "America and the real world of Virginia."
Hmm. Virginia is a key swing state, with 13 electoral votes, and recent polling showing Obama with a modest lead. The state's two most populous counties -- Fairfax and Prince William Counties -- are both in northern Virginia.
And the McCain campaign keeps insulting them.
If there's a clever angle to this strategy, it's hiding well.
They really must be strivin' for that Rovian Utopia, of a 50.1% - 49.9% mandate.
We need to know the full extent of Sen. Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy. The same front outfit organization that your campaign gave $832,000 for "lighting and site selection." So all of these things need to be examined, of course.
Oct. 17: In a sort of counter-suit, the Obama campaign has requested that the Attorney General’s special prosecutor add to his review of fraud charges against ACORN a review of any involvement by Justice Department and the White House officials in supporting the McCain/Palin campaign and the RNC’s spreading of bogus fraud charges. Bob Bauer joins Countdown to explain the Democratic position.
Ohio Republicans, spurred by a manufactured ACORN controversy, want state officials to compare the 666,000 newly registered voters against data collected by the state DMV. According to the Secretary of State's office, about 200,000 of the new voters show at least some kind of discrepancy -- out of nearly two dozen categories -- some as minor as the misspelling of a name.
The Supreme Court sided Friday with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.
The justices overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
I guess, the SJC has it in their heads not to get dirty on this one (or, they're sick of the RNC and their bullshit), a, kind of, "Fool us once, shame on you, fool us twice, shame on us".
The upshot? The District is neither "real America" nor "pro-America." Other parts of the nation? It's unclear, but if you live in a small town, you're probably patriotic from Palin's point of view.
"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."
Joe Biden, almost immediately, offered some his experience to the former second-grader.
Oh, and by the way, it's been reported that the Secret Service is serving Mommy Moose, by assisting the Dead Campaign Express in keeping the Media from going out into the Flaming Masses at her Mob Rallies to interview any of the screamers.
Why don't they just be done with it.
The two minuscule mavericks can tattoo "William Ayers" on their foreheads, walking around wrapped in American Flags, and just cut the stump speeches down to "You're either with us, or against us".
Appearing on Hardball, with Tweety this evening, she was wailing about - what else - William Ayers and Obama - but then, it got very, very interesting;
She then went further, suggesting that all liberal views — held by people such as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, professors, and all Americans who identify themselves as “liberals” — are “anti-American.” When host Chris Matthews, stunned by her remarks, asked Bachmann how many people in Congress hold anti-American views, she responded, “You’ll have to ask them.”
J. Thomas Duffy created and lauched 'The Garlic in 2005.
Mr. Duffy is an accomplished writer, with experience as a newspaper reporter, radio writer, comedy and stand-up writer, the author of three children's books (unpublished, so far) and, and, through a good number of his writing experience, actually received payment for it.
Mr. Duffy is also a Contributing Editor on the blog, 'The Reaction' and a Contributing Writer to the blog 'The Moderate Voice.
In his spare time, Mr. Duffy likes to promulgate that is actually the dog salivating that caused Pavlov to ring the bell.
