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Bachmann for President?
Paul Sancya / AP Photo
America’s craziest member of Congress has hinted at running for the nation’s highest office, and who can blame her? Even her latest outbursts haven’t threatened her bulletproof status, Michelle Goldberg reports.
Michele Bachmann has always been on the far right of her right-wing party, but for the past year, her lunacy has been particularly vigorous. First was the McCarthyite demand for an investigation of “anti-American” members of Congress. Then came her fear that Obama was creating “re-education camps” via the AmeriCorps program (a program her son has since joined). There was her call for Minnesotans to be “armed and dangerous” revolutionaries against cap-and-trade legislation and her paranoid opposition to the Census. And on Monday, railing against health-care reform in Colorado, she implored a crowd “to make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass.”
All this raises a question: Will Bachmann ever pay a political price for her fevered outbursts? In today’s GOP, is there such a thing as too crazy?
In 2008, “You had her demonstrating her embarrassing nuttiness repeatedly. And she still won.”
Obviously, the Democrats hope so, which is why there’s already lots of energy around Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District's primary race. “An extraordinary amount of money is pouring into this race very early,” says Brian Melendez, chairman of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as the state’s Democratic Party is called. Bachmann, he says, “is not just America’s craziest congressperson, she’s also one of the least effective members of Congress. She does nothing for her district, she brings nothing home, she has no legislative accomplishments she can point to.” He adds, “I’m confident that her true colors have been displayed since the last election in a way that they have not been before.”
At first glance, Melendez’s statement seems quixotic. Last time around, Bachmann’s challenger, Elwyn Tinklenberg, raised $1 million in the days after Bachmann’s outburst about anti-American congressmen. If Bachmann could be beat, 2008 should have been the year to do it.
• Michele Bachmann’s Wackiest Moments“You had an election with a strong trend away from Republicans toward Democrats,” says Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (and Minnesota native). “You had a reasonably attractive, not terribly weak challenger against her, who ended up, because of the notoriety that she achieved, getting fairly well funded. You had her demonstrating her embarrassing nuttiness repeatedly. And she still won.”
Nevertheless, some think Bachmann’s Palin act might be wearing thin. In July, Roll Call reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee had added her to a program meant to boost fundraising for vulnerable incumbents. Physician Maureen Reed, who is battling state Senator Tarryl Clark for the Democratic nomination, recently raised $230,000 in eight weeks, according to Jason Isaacson, her campaign manager. Clark won’t reveal how much she has raised, but says, “We’re going to be competitive. Things are going quite well.”
“The bottom line is that the 6th District isn’t as conservative as [Bachmann] is,” says Isaacson. It’s certainly the most right-wing district in the state—it went for John McCain by almost nine points in 2008—but Isaacson insists that a challenger who is seen as a moderate, rather than a liberal, can “make Michele Bachmann pay for her political craziness.”
Even in 2008, Clark points out, most people in the district voted against Bachmann—but 10 percent of them went for a third-party candidate. (Bachmann won 46 percent, while 44 percent went for Tinklenberg.) Meanwhile, Clark adds, the district has the highest foreclosure rate in the state, something she says Bachmann has done nothing to ameliorate—the congresswoman has voted against every major foreclosure-relief bill and called struggling homeowners “irresponsible.”
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Michelle Goldberg is the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and her work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many other publications.
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Michelle Goldberg is the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and her work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many other publications.
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Michelle Goldberg is the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and her work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many other publications.
BasPos
Please, Michelle, listen to god.
mcmchugh99
I see her as potential VP material--the next Sarah Palin.
retired-army-1SG
I can see it now: Bachmann - Palin 2012!
hithere3
"We're crazy for America"
southernyankee
Oh I could see both of them run. They both would be fighting who god is talking to them the loudest. God help this country if either of them would make it near the white house. Both of them could care less about the people. Both only care about themselves.
marinersarenumber1
I see her as the poster child for Kraft American Singles. Cheeeezy!
bleedingheartmex
come on,becks her man he is a better vp candidate he's a clown and she's crazy
estcruzer
I think the Dem's should secretly help her win in Minnesota and pray that she get's nominated for the Republican candidate in 2012.
galeso
And the constitution. Oh wait, she is for the census, she just will not waste her time filling in the rest of the form - you know the part where they ask how many TVs you have. Maybe she thinks the money would be better spent on paying down the debt.
DeaconDrJones
Yawn.
North49
Listen to God? Wow! Is this the same Michelle Goldberg who we wee'd all over the place when her daddy the "Harvard scholar" asked a Cambridge cop if he knew "who he was dealing with" for simply doing his job and responding to a 911 call? On all levels it is obvious that Michele Bachmann a finer person than a whiner like Michelle Goldberg, but then I guess the apple falls close to the tree, no?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
reardongalt
As crazy as Ms Bachmann seems you have to remember Ann Coulter's 1st Axiom: The worst Republican is still better than the best Democrat.
Ritarita
Sure.
That seems
About right-
If you're a total moron.
Progressive2
Correct.
sophia5
Can't believe I'm agreeing with Ritarita, but Bachmann is a moron.
She is a Democrat's dream come true.
If the Republicans really want to push a woman, push Kelly A. Ayotte,
New Hampshire candidate for Senate, a lawyer, former attorney general,
has a brain. Please, end the Palin, Bachmann GOOBERFEST !
tehixe
You got it sophia5, we LOVE us some Bachmann. But I submit that Bachmann isn't the problem, it's a GOP that's willing to welcome her and her kind with open arms. If they would disown representatives who call for armed revolt or suicide pacts against legislation they disagree with, the GOP would do better in national elections.
donatello
Redundant, Redundant. (moron, republican, reardongalt)
piktor
Bachmann's cri de guerre: "MY COUNTRY, PERFECTED"
sippewissett
Perfected? As in creationism in schools, no abortions for women, homophobia rampant, HER brand of Christianity as the rule of the land and lunacy in economics and finance? In another galaxy, maybe.
cvillekid
Ann Coulter? 1st Axiom? (She has others?) Someone is quoting Ann Coulter favorably, and apparently believes she's some sort of philosopher? I mean, "Axiom"? It's still early, but I'm prepared to go out on a limb and nominate reardongalt--hmm, John Galt, Ayn Rand--for bizarre post-of-the day. I think this post will hold up, and reardon will be awarded the coveted Plantman/MalD plastic-lined doody bag.
marinersarenumber1
Ann Coulter's 2nd Axiom: Use racially insensitive and arcane language as editorial backfill when crucifying the Democratic party.
Michele Bachmann's 1st Axiom: Use a mixture of idiotic phrases and juicy sound bites to distract the public from her profound lack of any common sense.
Take Bachmann out of Overdrive. T-shirt of the week, at best.
empressaw
ann coulter has self-esteem and daddy issues...
reardongalt
Ann Coulter's 2nd Axiom: If you want to know what liberals are doing to you, just listen to what they accuse Republicans of doing.
Sophia, normally I would never disagree with you, but I stand by that statement. Even someone as wacky as Bachmann, is still better than the best Liberal. You won't catch her bowing to and kissing the ass of Dictators.
marinersarenumber1
...wishes ronald reagan were still alive to procreate with.
sippewissett
I think 'reardongalt' meant "first rant", not "axiom."
sippewissett
And your point? We should have MORE loonies in Congress? We have a surfeit now...and most are right-wing Repugs/
eze666
Michelle Bachmann is a clown and a nut job. That's why she's on TV so much. Who cares if she runs for president? She'll never make it past the primaries. Envious politicians need only start saying crazy things to get more air time. I say, go ahead, join the media circus.
After all, the media is its own little bubble, where people think any exposure is good exposure, and no one's paying attention to content. Most sane people can see through the BS and pay attention to what matters in their own lives: their families, their homes, their jobs. We're all trying to put food on the table and we don't care what God tells Bachmann to do. It's kind of sad to watch.
RodzillaMcCloud
eze666
"Michelle Bachmann is a clown and a nut job. That's why she's on TV so much."
Yeah, compare her to our racist/socialist president and she's not on nearly enough.
Anything would be better than that spend and try to find new ways to tax nutter Obama
jasedwards32
I am going out on a limb and assuming your t.v. does not stray too far from FOX news much. Dumbass.
laughing13
LOL as usual with criticism of Obama, there's lots of labels and name-calling "racist" and "socialist" and little to no backup with facts, links (thi is the internet!) and such.
Are you really defending Bachmann? Even diehard GOP members have to admit she's a little crazy.
johnjohnson68510
You know, I'm a conservative Republican, but I can't abide by anyone speaking so disrepsectfully of Mr. Obama. He is my President, and he is yours, too. If we take away the civility from our discourse, we take away the honor from the American body politic. Without honor we are nothing but an empire, and we lose our dignity as human beings. God spare us from that. This congresswoman should bite her tongue, and so should her enemies.
aluxeterna
You are adorable! Hugs!
eeyore5662
Ignorance absolutely knows no bounds -- your statement proves it. Too bad you haven't a clue what you're talking about. Oh, and there is no comparison. Bachmann doesn't even have bats in her belfry -- it's absolutely empty. Makes you wonder about the folks in Minnesota? And folks like you. And perhaps, just maybe, had your last elected president not spent the Country into bankruptcy and then some, our newest elected one would not have to work to try and help us recover. And please don't tell me that doesn't count anymore. Eights months is a ridiculous amount of time to try and recoup what one idiot tooks 8 years to run up.
sippewissett
Wow. The Fringe is back, easily spotted by unsubstantiated claims like racism on Obama's part (vs. Beck's). That anyone would favort Bachmann's nutty oratory on superficial issues over substantive debate speaks poorly for the poster, not the target of the rant.
DeaconDrJones
I think they're gathering nutbags like you down in Arkansas and planning for the big suck-session. Good riddance, you fool.
elldeen
I think it is stupid for anyone to call Obama a "racist" if he is biracial. That would mean that he hated his own late mother, who was a white lady from Kansas - and everyone he's related to on her side of the family. He would also be at a constant state of war with himself between his black and white heritage. Furthermore, as I have said many times, the term "socialist" when applied to Obama is just a code word for the "N" word. So the haters need to stop claiming that they aren't racist for labeling him as such. They are such big liars, and don't want to admit it.
AlanD2
eze666: Bachmann might do very well in the primaries (as might Palin). The GOP base is getting pretty crazy itself these days.
The real question is how she would do in the general election. Personally, I think she would do worse than Barry Goldwater.
marinersarenumber1
Actually, Goldwater did fairly well in the 1964 election. In Arizona.
Bachmann isn't qualified to clean the White House, let alone live in it.
Unless, of course, she has White Hope Lynn Jenkins to help her out.
AlanD2
marinersarenumber1: He won a few states in the deep south, too. Those are the ones I think Bachmann might win - Arizona is too smart these days.
marinersarenumber1
AlanD2: As I recall, Goldwater really got smoked by LBJ.
Carried Arizona and 5 other states in the deep south.
His vocal opposition to the impending Civil Rights Act of 1964
really hurt his chances with any northern states supporting the bill.
AlanD2
marinersarenumber1: I think his acceptance Speech as the 1964 Republican Presidential candidate did him in:
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
deegeezee
if she wins the republican nomination, they should make the debates pay-per-view, because i for one would pay DEARLY to see that.
mcmchugh99
McCarthyism is exactly right. Joe McCarthy was a complete crook and rated the least effective Senator until he found the anti-Communist hobby horse. He was corrupt, ambitious and amoral, and would say anything to publicize himself, but that didn't stop him from having a pretty good run in politics for a while. The Republicans used him for all he was worth until he became a liability. LBJ and Eisenhower secretly collaborated to bring him down, after he went after the army for allegedly harboring communists, and insulted a decorated war hero as "not worthy to wear that uniform".
Evidently he forget that jovial, easy-going Ike had been a five-star general, and didn't care for such attacks on the army.
Most of the current crop of Republican crazies are going to end up the same way, as a bunch of dried out lemons, dumped when their usefulness at riling up the base has expired. This may have already happened with Palin. These demagogues and crazies usually have a fairly short shelf life, but they do damage before they finally go down the drain themselves.
Mixpixlix
Absolutely true. Often this crazies get relected because they have name recognition and nothing else.
I would hope the the voters of Minn. have had enough and will vote her out. While I encourage and respect opposition views, what we've seen lately in the deeply divisive partisianship is the crumbing of the foundation of our democracy.
This is all about winning and concentrating the power in the hands of a few. It's how republics end.
KateTheGreat
It's interesting that Bachmann's district is one of the poorest/least-educated in that entire state, which usually means little of the population reads papers etc....but she barely hung onto her seat this last time around.
JohnnyCakes
Name recognition is right. Plus she's attractive in a paranoid christian fembot kind of way. She didn't win in a landslide and her opponent was named (get this), Elwyn Tinklenberg. He was simply an opponent and not a particularly strong one. It was her nutty extremism that was being challenged that brought money into Elwyn's campaign so readily other than support for the candidate. Put up a well spoken and intelligent moderate against her and she loses.
North49
mcmchugh99, are you sipping the Kool-Aid at 3:00am? Do some research on "Operation Mockingbird" a CIA operation set up by the CIA to influence public opinion. Not only did McCarthy expose communism in America he found some shady characters within the CIA that he considered to have ulterior motives. "Operation Mockingbird" was set up by them to influence American public opinion. You know the the free press in the land of the free and home of the brave ...
McCarthy may not have been the ogre that he has been portrayed in the media of the day, and continues to be in the minds of most people today.
bgeasyas123
Really!?!?!?
citivas
Wow, of the many crazy things I have read in this post, someone defending McCarthy has to win the prize for the most nutty. Does the North49 stand for Oliver North? That would make sense...
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
mcmchugh99
You'd be closer to the mark if you'd said that J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI shared some files with him, and used McCarthy to get some New Deal liberals and leftists that he couldn't get any other way. Hoover was also an empire-builder and publicity hound, who used the information in his files to keep himself in power for 50 years. Unlike McCarthy, he really believed that commie agents were really trying to take over America.
Redhead5050
Are you nutz?????
donatello
In the immortal words of Madeline Kahn, "He's such a nice guy."
You're comedy fiction and don't know it.
reardongalt
North49, you're throwing pearls to swine. These people are fundamentally incapable of doing research. Their idea of "research" is turning the channel to Jon Stewart.
Ritarita
HAHAHAHAHA
North49-
Your'e a mental case.
And Reardongall-
You're in tow.
North49
mcmchugh99, if anybody understood communism it was J. Edgar Hoover. He actually wrote books on the subject. Have you cracked open "Masters of Deceit"? You might learn something there but I won't hold my breath ...
DeaconDrJones
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...ho boy, you guys are just too much. If you find a Democrat trying to help poor people you wanna lock 'em up forever, but if a thuglican ruins or ends the lives of dozens to millions, you'll go to any length to defend them. G. Gordon Liddy, Oliver North, and now McCarthy? Ha!
elldeen
Anyone who can defend Joe McCarthy needs to have their head examined. Seriously.
nanbmaroc
You really are mad. That terrible creep ruined so many good and great American's lives. Him and his nasty little troll, who was gay and persecuted gays unmercifully. He was mad as a Hatter and thoroughly nasty. It was a modern Witch Hunt. I remember it as a child. My mother and grandmother were terrified. It was sick.
reardongalt
Joe McCarthy was right. There WERE Communists infiltrating at the highest levels of Government.
Just like now.
The Left loves the BIG LIE. They figure if you say something enough times, sooner or later it becomes fact. Well that may be true for their ACORN constituency, but it doesn't work with us.
By the way, I'd have to say a Bachmann run for the Presidency is non-starter. That's not going to happen. And anyway, we'd rather have Michael Savage.
JohnJay60
This communist influence since WW2 is the reason America is the poorest country in the industrial world. Oh, wait, we had 60 years of growth, didn't we? What the heck - how can we simultaneously claim to be crippled by liberals for 65 years and somehow end up the greatest country in the world? Can someone on the right please get their talking points straightened out?
DeaconDrJones
I sure hope so. I for one would like to welcome our new socialist overlords...
hardrain
Michael Savage? Huh.
All right, I personally would love to see him vetted in the political arena. Wonder how he's going to explain his gay sexual shenanigans to the christian right. Big tent (pole).
elldeen
The Right loves the BIG LIE. They figure if you say something enough times, sooner or later it becomes fact.
nanbmaroc
What Are you two doing here anyhow ? Do you even think you are going to change anyone's mind ? Do you just like to be obnoxious ? Probably. We lefties are open to rational discussion, but this is nonsense.
Just give it a break . You are obviously real honest to goodness rightwingnuts...gosh...like we dont see enough of your ranting everyday. I for one, dont need to waste my mind on your pitiful propaganda.
North49
JohnJay60, 60 years of growth since WW2? Did you take into account the fact that the dollar has depreciated since the creation of the Federal Reserve to less than 5 cents today. Don';t forget to account for the fact that productivity has increased with advances in technology over that time. Next you'll be spinning a yarn about the good that government does in bringing about the "good life".
reardongalt, part of the fun in coming to this site is hat if you want to make silk purses out of sows ears, there is no shortage of raw material to work with.
allonfla
bachmann only looks untouchable. Wait until she hits the national stage. OR we could just wait until SNL comes back.
sippewissett
She doesn't look "untouchable" -- or bullet-proof. That's just TDB creating a sensational headline unrelated to the reality that Bachmann has done nothing for her district, let alone for the country. Heaven knowswhat she THINKS her job is, but it's not calling others in Congress "un-American", etc. She's a wingnut and is all over YouTube as such, which should make for a very interesting election next year.
roninkannushi
Fellow Beasts,
Rep. Bachmann is saying God may call her to run for president. So much for the separation of church and state. Is God telling her to ask everyone to slit their wrists? Has anyone called 911? Does Rep. Bachmann want to be the, "Jim Jones-Guyana?" A few weeks of observation in the padded room would be a nice break, for her.
LOW VOTER TURN-OUT, the headlines have, and will read. Is it any surprise, with who we have in elected office? Everyone does not want to play the game of excuses, stories, and lies. Thanks to special interests, there is no true representation, for the people in government. The only thing that has changed is time, the cycle remains faultless. A perfect cycle will not be attained, in the foreseeable future; this century for that matter.
Rep. Bachmann is sure of her beliefs, and will promote her agenda, no matter how clear the evidence against her creationist lunacy.
It be it,
Ronin Kannushi.
OffenbachStutz
Politics as "Reality TV."
jds8181
What is it that makes female Republican politicians so delusional? Just like Palin, this woman would be able to fire up the lunatic fringe, but only at the expense of alienating everyone else in the country. Palin/Bachmann 2012!!!
I think all Dems should change their party affiliations and vote the most ridiculous Republican ticket (see above) into the general election in 2012. The Republican leadership (see, Rush Limbaugh) obviously sees nothing wrong with this.
Natural-Selection
Come on now...I have two words....NANCY PELOSI!!
StarSensi
Nancy Pelosi did not vote against equal pay for women.
The crazy woman Bachman did.
You have to admit unless your a dining room table that any woman who would vote against all women receiving equal pay for the same job a man's does is crazy.
Why does Bachman think it's OK for women to receive less pay.
I want to know why any Republican woman would support that.
Why would any woman be a Republican if that is the Republican position.
You can ask the same of any minority. All Republicans aren't racist but most racists are Republicans.
Then you can ask the same question for anyone who makes under a million a year.
The Red states are the least educated, worst employment and least insured in the country.
There states take in more money than they send to the federal government.
Yet they vote republican. It's the craziest thing i have ever seen.
Without stupidity and hate the Republican party could not exist in this country.
jasedwards32
I'll give you that one. Everybody has that one embarassing family member they wish would stay home and shut up.
AlanD2
Natural-Selection: She's the most powerful person in the House.
Is it possible you are jealous, Natural-Selection?
Grimmace
"What is it that makes female Republican politicians so delusional?"
I'm not sure. Thank God the Democrats have such reasoned, normal, and even-tempered female politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, and Cynthia McKinney.
unclelew
I raise you with Palin, Bachman, congressmen Fox and Lyn Jenkins, Liz Cheney et cetera. All undereducated and all loony.
nortonclybourn
Still don't get this fear and loathing of Nancy Pelosi bit. Never any reason why she's so scary, just her name, as if it's supposed to be self-evident. I think some people are just resentful of women who have political power. Then there's that Bla...I mean Socialist President.
elldeen
@nortonclybourn: It is because Nancy Pelosi is a liberal Democrat who is second in line to succession to the POTUS as Speaker of the House, and this makes her a very powerful woman in congress. But if she was a wingnut Republican like Sarah Palin, then the righties would have fallen in love with her.
reardongalt
You forgot the true America Haters and vile enviromental wackos on the left: Van Jones, Carol Browner, and John Holdren. These people are more dangerous than a thousand Palins and Bachmanns. Did you see Holdren on Letterman? That this person is advising anybody tells one all they need to know. Assuming the ability to read, of course.
John Holdren: "Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would have to meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock."
merrej
How does any intelligent, reasonble person think this woman is good for this country, good for her state and good for politics.
I don't often post but I am appalled at hate-filled posts that show up here. Do people really believe Obama is a racisist and socialist. If so you clearly do not know the true definition of a socialist.
I wish people would stop the hating. Give things a chance to work. We gave GW Bush 8 years to set the war straight. You can't give Obama a year to to get health reform straight.
When I see the things going on at townhalls and things our political representatives are allowed to say without any factual support I am appalled. At time truly embarrassed by our political system.
AlanD2
merrej: Unfortunately, Republicans have used hate, fear, and racism as one of their main campaign strategies for the last 40 years. It has gotten to be a habit with them, and their conservative base is well trained by now.
In fact, their conservative base will now reject any moderate Republican politician who doesn't reaffirm their hate, fear, and racism.
Can this change? Possibly, but it's a vicious cycle, and I don't see any signs of it happening yet...
johnjohnson68510
You vitiate your point by the name-calling. The choice for you: hack mouthpiece, or responsible voice of the left.
Uncommonsense
jj must be drunk; I don't see a lick of name calling in your post. Or maybe the 9th grade had vitiate in their vocabulary quiz this week and he wanted to use it in a sentence?
AlanD2
johnjohnson68510: Yes, it was unkind of me to use facts, since it is well known that reality has a liberal bias.
elldeen
The wingnuts who have taken over the G.O.P. have given Republicans and conservatives a bad name.
nanbmaroc
And what makes you think these people are either intelligent or reasonable ?
Do you notice that the hate filled gonzo rants are all right winger nutcases ? There is no point trying to reason with them. If they could think rationally, they wouldnt be what they are. Crazy. Paranoid. Psychotic, and willfully ignorant.
Yes , it is embarrassing.
A word about God talking to these people...If god speaks to someone now, we have a name for that..Psychosis, and we have medicine for it also.
Uncommonsense
I'll bet Bachman could win Texas if she ran in 2012.
Redhead5050
Texas wants to divorce America...and become a new third world nation...she would be perfect for that scenario.
WestVillager
As usual Goldberg's got her finger on the pulse of the nation!
Grimmace
The pulse of the nation? Perhaps the pulse of the West Village, but believe it or not there are many parts of the nation that think a little differently.
unclelew
Yeah, the 2% of the nation that think Limbaugh is an intellectual and George Bush was real smart ' cause he didn't need no telemeprompter to misdeliver his speech thingamajigees to the morons who thought he did a really good job.
WestVillager
I was being sarcastic. I think this writer is generally terrible in her points of view. Her interest in the fringe is like that of zoo animals. Instead of sharing observed insight it comes across as a fetish. If only she were more obvious about that, it would be so much more persuasive. A number of people who regularly post comments here could do a lot with this juicy material.
FNYGY1
Now that the USA is just one Big Reality Show - why NOT Bachman for president? Seems about right.
Downriver
Bachmann almost got beat last term, she is delusional.
Martyz42
Please send me her address so I can send her money to run... My wife will send her more money if she promises to run with say Glen beck as her VP... PLEASE I am so tired ofpolitics I need a MAJOR shot in the arm, I need something to really get me gong again & I can't think of anything better then a Bachmann/Beck ticket to get me going.....
I have said this before & will continue to say it.... It is not the Rush's, the Glen's, the Bachmann's, the Palin;s that scare me, no it is the millions of dumb, stupid, ignorant, uneducated people that support them, thats what scares me....
The news media has not mentioned the fact the one of the rights biggest wins has been the dumbing down of America through slowly killing public education & leaving a hollow shell of what it once was...Now we are faced with the most ignorant populous since 1776.... The Confederate republicans have brought the brain power of the Southern States back to 1865 with the major help of the religious right zealots.... Between the religious, the ignorant & the rich & powerful they have gotten together to make this generation almost numb of mind, brain & thought......
Grimmace
"The news media has not mentioned the fact the one of the rights biggest wins has been the dumbing down of America through slowly killing public education & leaving a hollow shell of what it once was."
Slowly killing public education? How? Bush and the Republicans, to my dismay, presided over ever increasing federal expenditures in the Dept. of Education.
You guys have it all figured out: People who disagree with your politics are dumb and ignorant, right?!? How childish.
jbo206
Grim, I give you No Child Left Behind, from the Bush brain-trust
The Bush Administration underfunded NCLB at the state level, while requiring states to comply with all provisions of NCLB or lose federal funds. This forces states to make budget cuts in non-tested school subjects (science, foreign languages, social studies and arts programs, and for books, field trips and school supplies).
NCLB rewards teaching children to score well on the test, rather than teaching with a primary goal of learning resulting in teachers teaching test-taking skills. States set their own standards and write their own standardized NCLB tests, therefore they can set very low standards and make tests unusually easy so everyone passes.
NCLB requires new teachers to possess one (or often more) college degrees in specific subjects. These requirements make it difficult for the districts that need it most to obtain qualified teachers(rural, inner cities).
Grimmace
jbo206,
I don't really know all of the details of NCLB and whether or not your points have merit or not -- not saying they don't just saying I don't know enough. I was merely responding to the ridiculous assertion that Bush had slowly starved public education in the face of his ever increasing budgets. Now you may or may not have a point that his programs were counterproductive or nonproductive but you can't accuse him of intentionally starving public education.
I wish that he had because there is no Constitutional authority for federal involvement in education. I would argue that all of these programs are mostly ineffective and mostly just serves to create another bureacracy and jobs program.
jbo206
Grim
My general rule with GW Bush is the road to hell is paved with good intentions (Iraq, trickle down economics, etc.) The same rule applies here. Did he intentionally set out to dumb down standards for students while making it difficult for schools to hire teachers? Not in my opinion. Was that the result. Yes.
nanbmaroc
Well put.
johnjohnson68510
the thing is, intelligent people could agree with many fo the points of the Rush's, et al, without being an idiot themselves or engaging in such destructive and inflamatory speech.
Uncommonsense
No, no intelligent person could agree with any of Limbaugh's points, let alone Beck and Hannity. Intelligent people do not let racism and hate control their thoughts.
bgeasyas123
did you just say that INTELLIGENT people could agree with Rush without engaging in destructive and inflamatory speech??!!!??
Have you ever actually listened to his program???? The man has some of the most destructive and inflamatory speach out there.
For you proof hounds.....one of the first if not THE first to say he wants Obama to fail....and has also called him a racist.
Peaceful and constructive?....I think not.......Ironic statement.....I think so.
donatello
Name one point.
Redhead5050
Outstanding observation...
BullMoose
Then stop supporting the teacher's unions.
A farmboy, educated at home, or a one room schoolhouse, circa late 1700's to late1800's, was more educated by the time he left high school, than most college graduates, and some post grads.
Vouchers to get the smart kids who want to learn, away from the gang scum we let in illegaly or not, and let them soar.
And build more prisons with less anemities for the tattoed scum gang punks.
nortonclybourn
Sounds like a great plan for America--stop funding education, build more prisons. It's been working great so far.
hardrain
"A farmboy, educated at home, or a one room schoolhouse, circa late 1700's to late1800's, was more educated by the time he left high school, than most college graduates, and some post grads."
Really?
The predominate philosophy on the education of that time included the belief that children would become physically ill with too much schooling. Methinks you are romanticizing ignorance.
BullMoose
hairbrain Even postcards home from Civil War soldiers use better grammar than, like the kinda like you know like the conversation like ya know like ya here in student dorms like.
The Golen age of literature, Whitman, Thoreau,Twain Emerson, Joyce,C.S. Lewis etc., all was finished by the time public education from the 1930's on took over.
Glorifying gang behavior, and dressing 9 year old girls like street walkers, guess Mother's living vicariously through their kids, instead of paddling that butt when they look at you cross eyed. But it is too late for this sewer of a country, thanks to teacher unions.
donatello
It has changed from a nation of majority rule to one where the dumbest, loudest and rudest get their way.
bgeasyas123
Don't get to worked up about Bauchman because after all, she was elected in the same state that elected Jess "The Body" Ventura as it's governer and just recently elected Al Franken. I'm a native Minnesotan and I know we can be a little "off" sometimes.
AlanD2
bgeasyas123: Al Franken is a hard-working policy wonk, and he doesn't deserve to lumped in with Bauchman. I don't know enough about how Ventura governed to know if he's like her.
bgeasyas123
I didn't mean to insenuate that franken can't do good because I think he has the potential, but it is more the fact that he was a stand-up comedian/SNL star and how minnesotans get hopped up on those sort of credentials.
Jesse Ventura.....a complete and utter disaster, look it up....at least a few laughs.
JohnnyCakes
I think Franken is going to surprise many people with how involved he actually is in policy debate. He is a far cry from the toy candidacy of Jesse (who was actually far better than a lot of people would admit if for no other reason because he was owned by no one and spoke from the hip). Bachmann is another story altogether. She's nearly illiterate politically-speaking and not given over to anything resembling thoughtfulness. How she got voted in in the first place is testament to the ascendance of personality politics. The pretty one will always win.
donatello
Read Ventura's book. If you can comprehend. He is extremely insightful and has some gonads as well. Something you can't say about most in congress.
Thank you.
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