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Bringing Down Bachmann
Jose Luis Magana / AP Photo
The far right’s star House member just hit the headlines with a rowdy health-care rally on Capitol Hill. Benjamin Sarlin reports on the Democrats lining up in Minnesota to send Michele Bachmann into early retirement.
Michele Bachmann took her paranoid campaign against the White House to new heights on Thursday, leading a mass protest inside the Capitol itself that led to multiple arrests. Antics like these have made her one of the breakout stars of the Republican Party in the Obama era, drawing praise from Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and even George Will. But her stunts have also made what is otherwise a relatively safe Republican seat potentially vulnerable to Democratic takeover.
Her bid for reelection to a third term is still a year away. But two credible challengers have already emerged to vie for the Democratic nomination: physician Maureen Reed and State Senator Tarryl Clark. Both are making Bachmann's extremist rhetoric the centerpieces of their campaigns.
“I think that elected officials have a high responsibility to dial down anger and to dial down fear,” said physician Maureen Reed, one of Bachman’s two Democratic challengers. “People don’t problem-solve very well when they’re really mad and really scared.”
“In the Republican Party, there is a pretty broad area that is mainstream, and then there are the fringes of the party,” Clark told The Daily Beast. “And then there's Michele.”
In a separate interview, Reed repeatedly pledged to “dial down” the rhetoric from Bachmann's amped up levels.
"I think that elected officials have a high responsibility to dial down anger and to dial down fear,” she said. “People don't problem-solve very well when they're really mad and really scared.”
Both candidates have so far proved capable fundraisers, setting up a tough battle for the chance to take on America's most notorious congresswoman. Clark, who announced her candidacy in July, reported raising over $300,000 by the end of September. Reed, who began her campaign earlier, raised $130,000 in the same period and has over $300,000 cash on hand. But the incumbent has far more money amassed, with over $600,000 cash on hand.
Although Minnesota's 6th District is solidly Republican, Bachmann has proved vulnerable in the past. Last year she barely won her second term against Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg 46 percent to 44 percent—even while voters went for John McCain over President Obama 53 percent to 45 percent. The race took place only days after she delivered a rant on MSNBC against “anti-American” lawmakers, including Obama, whom she said the press should investigate.
According to Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Minnesota's Carleton College, Bachmann's rhetoric is her biggest weakness.
“I think it's hurt her,” Schier said. “It means the district is not reliably safe for her as a result when I think it could be for another Republican who was less flamboyant.”
• John Batchelor: Bachmann’s Angry MobNeither Reed nor Clark are particularly fiery candidates; their politics tend to fall in line with the Democratic Party mainstream and both stay on-message in interviews—in stark contrast to the freewheeling, endlessly quotable Bachmann. Both are pro-choice and neither strongly broke with the president on the stimulus, bailouts, or health care, areas where Bachmann has been constantly on the attack. The two candidates have yet to stake out a major battleground issue for the primaries.
Reed ran for lieutenant governor on the Independence Party line in 2006—downplaying the hot-button social issues in favor of wonkier fare.
She campaigned on a heath-care plan that year that, like the one being debated in Congress today, would have required Minnesota residents to purchase insurance while subsidizing costs for those who had difficulty affording the premiums. She said the Democrats felt “very much like home” for her, but that her chief asset in the race in against Clark and eventually Bachmann was her appeal to independents and moderates.
Clark, on the other hand, has come up through traditional Democratic channels as a state lawmaker; she is the senate's assistant majority leader. She brings with her much stronger institutional support as a result, including key endorsements from a number of unions like the SEIU and Minnesota AFL-CIO.
“I'm running against Michele because I think I'm a better matchup,” Clark said. “I'm a proven campaigner, I've run and won in a tough district, I share a lot of voters with a Republican governor as well as Democratic candidates, I work hard and I have a strong bipartisan track record working on all bills I carry.”
But Clark also carries strong associations with a state government that, like others around the country, has been forced to make painful budget cuts in recent years. And Reed, who served as chairman of the University of Minnesota's regents, plans to exploit the opening in the primary.
“The budgets I manage come in on budget at the end of the year,” Reed said. “I don't believe in throwing money at government and I don't believe in throwing stones at government.”
But both candidates seem far more eager to direct their attacks at Bachmann. Clark told The Daily Beast that she was concerned by the congresswoman's frequent attacks on the Census, which Bachmann at one point said she would refuse to fill out. Her stance drew a rebuke from fellow Republican lawmakers who were nervous supporters would follow her lead.
“I have no idea why she wants people to break the law, but why does she want us to send our tax dollars to other states?” Clark said, noting that population counts will help determine funding for the state and district. “She should be fighting for our dollars.”
Clark also took aim at Bachmann's attacks on AmeriCorps, which she has likened to “re-education camps.” Bachmann's criticism came back to haunt her when it was reported her son had joined Teach for America, an AmeriCorps program.
“We have three things in common: We're women, moms, and we both have sons in AmeriCorps,” Clark said. “The difference is I'm proud of mine and we should be proud of our young adults giving something to the community.”
A spokeswoman for Michele Bachmann could not be reached for comment for this story.
Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
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How can anyone vote for this dingbat.
Only other "dingbats" would...
the last contender to that seat was a dingbat too. there is now way this wonderful place, in a free america, will ever elect her again. NO WAY! i stake my life on it. she is out in one year.
The cynical would think that the people in that district want a notoriously high-profile dingbat rather than a competent nobody.
I tend to believe the Bachmann voters are more of the ilk of "Rose" from Golden Girls. Perhaps Bachmann's district in Minnesota contains St. Olaf?
Nope -- St Olaf is in Northfield, south of the twin cities. Bachman is north of St Paul...
"How can anyone vote for this dingbat"
Ummm... didn't Minnesota just literally vote a clown into office... Mr. Stewart Smalley himself?
A "dingbat" is a huge step up from a "former comedian" and a "full time jack-ass"!
hmmm Harvard Grad. Thespian. IQ off the Charts. Had the amazing wit to play some of the most amazing part on TV. Charitable. A Gentleman. All about what's best for the people. Riiiight in Michelle Bat Shyt Crazy's Dream she can be anywhere near Al Franken caliber or character.
Selective choice of words to make your point, but fact-free. The "clown", as you call Franken, has behaved with great respect for Minnesotans in the Senate. You choose to overlook his degree from Harvard, which scarcely places him in the dumbies corner. He made a very good living with comedy and replaced a corrupt guy, backed to the hilt by the RNC.
I get that being a former comedian is worse in your book than being an amoral, unethical, power hungry, strategically moronic, greedy, lying bastard like say, Dick Cheney.
What I don't get is why you can't write a post that defends your position with more substance than grade school insults.
Boy aren't we a little selective in our criticism of others Stella...scroll down and take a quick look at all the posts from TDB's loyal readers bashing Bachmann and her supporters with "grade school insults", like dingbat for example.
Actually, scratch that... dingbat is not a "grade school insult"... I haven't heard that term since "All In The Family" went off the air.
Have some respect, young man!- Senator Franken is EXACTLY where he should be, he will honor the beautiful state of Minnesota as well as us as Americans! I (and many others) am proud that smart, savvy folks elected him!
Yes, but Stewart Smalley is a HARVARD GRADUATE and juding by his already numerous smack downs of idiot Republicans who hold off, he's well on his way to legend. I should also note that David Vitter is also a HARVARD GRAD but, he's also a perveyor of prostitutes which is still against the law. I can't wait to see Bachmann's tear filled concession speech whe Tarryl Clark wipes the floor with this loon!
Franken's degree from Harvard is "General Studies"....the same major most of us make fun of when watching college football and basketball games! ANYBODY can get that degree...and I mean ANYBODY. It has not one scintilla of meaning nor is it indicative of intelligence beyond that required to get into college. He is a hack, always has been a hack, and has finally reached his level of incompetence, apparently along the the majority of the electorate in MN.
you know for those people who have the nerve to say that Franken makes a good senator his response to the publicized incident of two pilots overshooting the Minneapolis airport because they were on computers was to propose a law to regulate it.
It didn't matter that by the time he announced that the pilots had been stripped of their licenses by a regulating body.
It didn't matter that by the time he announced it the airline was conducting their own investigation.
As an union steward I was amazed that Franken will want these people to be declared guilty and will say that they wouldn't be qualfied without at least trying to defend them.
And for all those people who make fun of Michelle getting less than 50% of the vote Franken got less than that in his race and won because he attacked his opponent negatively and lowered his vote percentage which is what you folks are doing with Michelle since you don't like the ideas she supports and you can't debate the ideas.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Not to mention the fact that one of their recent governors was an ex "pro-wrestler" and B-list movie star and celebrity... Jesse Ventura, who by the way, is also a 9/11 Troofer. And one of Minnesota's other prominent House members is Keith Ellison, a radical Muslim who was sworn into office with a Koran.
Tim Pawlenty and Michelle Bachmann look perfectly normal and sane compared to who Democrats normally vote for in Minnesota!
First of all you realize Jesse Ventura ran as an independent and is a self-proclaimed "Goldwater" conservative, not a Democrat.
Second of all Keith Ellison may be a Muslim and sworn in on a Koran, but in no way does that make him a "radical Muslim". This statement reeks of hate and racism how dare you. You should be ashamed.
Senator Franken is both highly articulate and well educated; Stewart Smalley, a character he created. You then go one to say "Not to mention ..." and then mention ... You are an idiot and Bachmann a self promoting clown that only hurts the Republican party. Hate to see her go!
Being sworn into office on the holy book of your religion does not make you a radical. I'd rather have a Muslim take the oath on the Koran than the Bible. They reject the New Testament, taking an oath on a book you believe is untrue is meaningless. But you probably think loyalty oaths are only taken by people who are really loyal.
You are one poisonous dude. You mistake insulting for debating. Get some FACTS before posting because otherwise you just look like a d*lt. Ventura has moved from right to middle, not left and Ellison is a Muslim, not a radical Muslim. Take your xenophobia to a site that will appreciate it.
Actually, Franken has a political science degree from Harvard where he graduated cum laude. Can either of your senators say the same?
Pachet, you couldn't be further from the truth regarding racism. In today's America, using the Koran is the same as admitting that you put religion before the duty to which you are swearing. Ask Maj. Hasan and his victims about that.
Franken did NOT graduate with a Political Science degree. General Studies....as in I stayed around as long as I could before the money ran out and I had to get a job.
You don't need to know anything about Bachman to know that Democrats are scared witless. Why bother slandering her otherwise? If she is as bad as you claim, her candidacy would die a natural death with no input from Democrats. Don't hold your breath. Correction. Hold your breath.
Reporting what she has said is not slander. Reporting what she has done is not slander. Known lies being told is slander
Wrong, we need to know everything about this lunatic and her rants. It is not slander to speak the truth, it serves us all well to know what is perculating through her retoric crazed non factual little mind. Otherwise we end up with someone we "think we might like to have a beer with," And we all know how well that turned out, dont't we?
I realize you're a Bachman supporter and thus probably 'educationally challenged' i.e. dumb as a bag of hammers, so you may want to familiarize yourself with the difference between "scared" and "amused."
Good to know that a member of her family or her communications staff (the largest in Congress) is here sticking up for her.
1. Look up "slander" for starters because you are just slinging around a term you don't understand.
2. Go to YouTube to hear Bachmann's rantings in person. Then come back here and recant.
Teuthida - What is it that you have against hammers? Hammers are smart enough to do their job pounding down nails and driving in stakes (which in Bachmann's case should be straight into the heart and not removed. I repeat, not removed, otherwise the vampire comes back to life.)
I realize that you're trying to make a point about Bachmann, but any inanimate object, except maybe for fossilized dinosaur dung, would be smarter than Bachmann, since inanimate objects don't go about doing and saying stupid things like Bachmann. Hmmm, sounds like fossilized dinosaur dung is smarter than Bachmann.
clancy: Imputing motive. Characterizing. And not just slander. Abuse that in some cases amounts to threat or assault. In some countries many of these posts would ground legal action.
theuda: "I realize you're a Bachman supporter and thus probably 'educationally challenged' i.e. dumb as a bag of hammers".
About what I'd expect from someone who failed the GED. Not unusual for liberals, you realize incorrectly. Pity your intellect doesn't equal your arrogance.
Truth is a defense when slander is alleged. Her "candidacy" is a national outlet for psychosis.
Scared witless? Of what? Of an uneducated nutbag who obviously went to the Sarah Palin School of Don't Think Just Spew Nonsense That Makes Your Gender Look Less Than The Sum Of Their Parts? Puh-leez!
Have you seem Glenn Becks' ratings?
JohnnyBeagle
Have you seem Glenn Becks' ratings?
NO and couldn't cared less...........................
Bachmann should not be dismissed as a fringe aberration. She is the product of an organized network of far-right activists who are skilled at tapping into people's fears in a conservative district. I recommend following Bill Prendergast, commentator from her district who has been following Michele's political career since the beginning, to fully understand the forces behind Michele and others like her. He writes a diary on Daily Kos and publishes a series of comics called False WItness: The Michele Bachmann Story.
good to see you are starting the Daily Beast political campaigning early.... does this site have to register as a Democrat political site? or do you sneek around that by claiming some exemption?
anyway, keep up the slime and crap... smell will waft out of all your posts from now on...
~~~~ HA ~~~~~
We will just have to wait and see about that wont we ~~~~
Minnesota has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Yet Bachmann has voted against every mortgage reform bill. You can't put your own wacky rabble rousing before the needs of your constituents and hope to remain in office.
Bachmann is as good as gone.
Does Fox News, Rush, Glenn and Hannity register as a republican site?
As well as the infamously Republican websites who pander to the fundies/evangelical right winger crazies through World Net Daily, The Drudge Report, and a plethora of others.
Brilliant point, Willow!
If you believe a story about that whack job of hatred is campaigning then you must be Michelle Bachmann or her husband. She does have one doesn't she? I assume she found someone stupid enough to marry her. That woman is dangerous and she may well have blood on her hands with the census worker found dead after her rant about the census and telling people not to participate. She isn't smart enough to realize that she was breaking the law and violating her oath of office to boot. I hope the census workers' face and that of his son who is now alone in the world- haunts her every time she closes her eyes. But you have to have a conscience to be haunted and she obviously doesn't.
Sorry, but methinks the census guy did himself in while trying to blame the rednecks.
How scared can you be to accuse a candidate of involvement in a possible murder? The woman is dangerous........because people voted for her. You could just as well be accused of inciting violence against Bachman. We have to assume you are an adult, but you are a real dumb bunny.
She has a husband who runs a clinic specializing in "curing" gays. He has a PhD from some 6th rate unaccredited "university" and is not licensed as a psychologist by the state of Minnesota
When an article is about Bachmann, slime & crap are inevitable. How else can one describe her?
Timmyboy?
Heh
timmyboy,
The 5 letter word is spelled sneAk. There ain't no word spelled sneek.
Seems to be a revealing bit of intellectual weakness. Or psychological dysfunction because SPELL CHECK was not employed and/or one did not notice that the Daily Beast underlines misspellings in RED!
timmy: If you don't like what you read here, why are you here? There are many websites where your opinion might matter! Try Fox.
You registered to make a comment. It didn't ask you your political affiliation did it?
One does not have to be a democrat to see that this woman is a lying, attention seeking lunatic. My blind dog can see that. But what must one be to think this woman has even 1 brain cell sparking at any time? Or worse to actually go into a voting booth and select her name?
timmyboy: Michele ... is that you? (No, we know it really isn't - too intelligent a comment for the poor dear).
timmyboy - you're a troll. Go demonstrate your ignorance to your Republican lemming friends.
overreact much?
Surely insanity can be seen for what it is.
The Lunatic Fringe is always looking for the Devil ... everywhere, and there she is... right in front of them.
And they are too stupid to recognize her.
Isn't the devil intelligent?
Good point
Satan keeps transforming himself into an Angel of "light"..and the right wingers keep falling for it.
The Lunatic Fringe is looking, but you found it. And you think they're stupid!
Look out, Michelle. The sane voters of District 6 will make time in their day next November. In the meantime, Stephen Colbert sums up Michelle's Nov. 5th efforts best:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/255184/november-0 5-2009/guy-fawkers
Did she deliberately pick Guy Fawkes day knowing its historical significance, or was it because she didn't have any lunch dates that day and just a delicious coincidence which created fodder for political satirists like Colbert?
I'm not sure if I really want her gone. On the one hand, she's an affront to the Democratic process, on the other, she borders on self-parody.
Don't worry--she'll become a Fox news contributer and we listen to even more of deranged nonsense 24/7!
You watch that krap program?
Granite-
Ha! You are so right! I could see Faux News hiring her as a political "expert".
I won't listen to her - or to anyone on Fox Noise. Too radical. It upsets my stomach to hear grown-ups lie so much.
Minnesota must be proud to have produced such an extremist, and to take the Rep party along for the ride.You cant go further right than this, as most americans lean towards the center, the elections next year will be entertaining, I can see the commercial adds allready; and everyday gives the dems more fodder to throw on the fire. If I were in the white house I would be laughing at this whole mess; I guess this party thinks by now were not asking how much these politicians took from big business to put this together. Makes one wonder what they have left up their sleeves as most americans watch and laugh at the insanity. Keep em crazy, keep them afraid..great piece Ben.
Let Bachmann border on self-parody in the private sector. She is not a "public servant". Check her poor record on behalf of her district -- unless you count "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act"!.
That's why getting her back into the 6th district is a good idea. There she can work for her Church. (Read about creationism, homophobia, subordinate role of women,etc.) and Bachmann's interest in a theocracy. 2010 can be the year that her district sends someone credible to Congress. That is a meritorious goal in every district.
Jeeesh, sound like I'm writing about Palin, but at least she QUIT.
I wish the dem's would drop out of the race and let her run unopposed ...
I like her as the GOP spokesperson ... keep Glenn, Rush, Bill, Sean, etc also on TV, radio internet etc.
The people that respond to them need to rage at the injustice of being white in this country, paying all the taxes while suffering all the abuse. .... Almost to much to contemplate, I had trouble even writing this
I wish you would move to her District where she does nothing for the vast majority of us and everything for Evangelical religious fanatics with some tax breaks thrown in that benefit her husband's family.
USA11B- Thanks, I appreciate your humor re: Bachman- what a loony tune! In fact, all of you posters (with the exception of Timmy and maybe one or two), are quite FABULOUS ! Biting and sarcastic humor, tinged with your personal comments and observations- it's THE absolute best reading around!! Now I need to tear myself away and finish laundry or I would stay here forever!!
Poor Minnesota. The extended Coleman debacle and
having to face the fact that Bachmann is the voice of the people would make me red-faced. I have yet to hear a sensible statement come out of her mouth. I suggest at the next election that the people of Minnesota return her to selling Lancome at the mall.
I live in Bachmann's district and cannot BELIEVE she was re-elected last time. There are not that many nuts in this District. Really. And few 'regular' voters realized how much far right wingnut money from out of state went into her 2008 $3.5 million dollar campaign to win a 2 year job that pays $180,000 per year.
A lot of voters actually believed she was the pretty soccer mom-next-door she plays on her TV ads. Why? Even now, her antics aren't played out on the local main stream media, so the legions of seniors who vote in off-election years but don't surf the web still believe she's harmless. I will defeintely be recruiting everyone I know to go vote against her in the fall 2010. The two Democrats are both good, sane people. Actually, all we're looking for at this point is 'sane.'
I really don't mean to start a spitting contest here but if all you're looking for is sane you would do well to begin with Pelosi, Rengal, Franks, Reid, and the thirty something underworld CZARs Mr. Obama has. I'm not a party voter. I go with who I believe will do the best job. But if you're honest you gotta say that this lineup is ridiculous..
Can you provide some evidence?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
my57chevy: Your rant doesn't contribute very much to this discussion.
Excuse me but stop the nonsense. The word 'czar' used in government positions was not started by President Obama's administration and if you didnt have a problem with Republicans using the word Czar then, why NOW? (which can easily be found online, look it up and stop being ignorant about the word and how it is used).
Yeah, and maybe you should do some research on your own instead of panting after the Fox news crowd's monotone rant about 30 something czars. Where did that whole czar thing come from? How many czars did Repub presidents have? And you do not find this lineup ridiculous: Boehner, Cantor, McConnell, Bachmann, Virginia Fox, Demint, Joe Wilson, et al? None of them are good, but at least current ones show some sign of sanity.
What cr*p. You say you are "not a party voter", but all of your postings are Far Right propaganda.
Amazing that you line up Dems for demolition, but nary a name from Right: Steele, Cantor, DeVore, Wilson, Kyl, Vitter and th rest of the Repug loonies.
Note to crypto- "czar" is a press term for appointees who have always been part of administrations. Don't carried away with all caps.
Funny. According to all those Fox nuts, main stream media only reports democratic good news. Proves the point they are liars, eh?
I do feel bad for you in this district when the bar has been lowered to such a state that sanity is the litmus test for political office.
Good luck in your quest to send this one back to the loony bin where she belongs. I do not even live there and I contributed to the fellow running against her last year. See not all out of town money comes from the raving right:)
It is good to hear that you will mobilize against Bachmann. There are two credible candidates. Do your best; YouTube will do the rest!
We dismiss far right political opportunists and populists only to our peril. It is important to remember that Adolf Hitler was a far right political populist that the German people allowed to channel their post WWI "we lost" anger into the frenetic and xenophobic beast that was Nazi Germany. When people are frigthened and angry they are way too vulnerable to rabble rousing!
Yes. And please allow me to point out a couple of things. People didn't listen to Hitler. They "felt" what he said. Hitler always had someone to blame and punish. Hitler made himself very visible to the people for intimidation. Hitler taxed only the rich, at first. Hitler outlawed the possession of weapons. Hitler had his own private security force, responsible only to him. They were equipped better than the army. Hitler had his "street people" who ratted on everyone. Hitler took total control of communications, then Hitler took total control of Germany. The common people couldn't see what was happening to them until it was too late. Hitler was a nobody, But with the diciples that he drew closely around himself he became all but God in Germany. His first message to the people was CHANGE. Then he became the devil. But it WAS too late.
AND the discussion is officially over when someone references Hitler.
dcbooknurse
lol! I just read that line from Gotham City PD.You got that right!
Would Blackwater qualify as a "private security force?" The Bush Administration blamed Clinton for EVERYTHING - and they called people who disagreed with them "Anti-Americans."
The MSM leans heavily right, with the clear exception of MSNBC. Thank goodness that the common people DID see what was happening and acted to end GOP rule in this country last November!
...and ignorance knows no bounds when people are 'frightened' by lies.
For goodness sake Red, READ: CZAR has no implications here. It's WHO and what Obama put in there. Most of these guys are blazen crooks. And his association, past and present, with these people are beginning to show him for what he is. Don't allow your party loyalty to cloud your vision to what is!!
I agree we have to tell a-holes like Bachmann, et al to stop being a far right populist, frightening people and rabble rousing. Use the voting booth to get them out of our world.
How many voting booths did you vote at last time?
That is why it is important to point out their fallacies to anyone and everyone. You can't ignore ignorant, hate filled retoric spoken by the right wing idealogs anymore. Turn the other cheek doesn't work the rethuglicans will only paint you as being cowardly or "soft". Call out the lies as often as it is spoken. Palin, Bachman, Beck, Limbaugh, Cronyn,Cormyn, Boehner, they all need to be pointed out for the liars they are, not the tools for the right wing agenda.
On the other hand, the ignorant, hate filled rhetoric written by liberals on this site is acceptable only to other ignorant, hate filled liberals on this site.
Pelosi, Franks, Reid, Conyers, Sharpton, Boxer, and the rest. Not to mention Fat Albert Gore. Call them out for the liars they are.
And the Far Right political opportunist behavior we have witnessed lately belongs to the current administration which pretended to be liberal but turned out to have decidedly authoritarian tendencies. Ask the bondholders whose investments were canceled. Or the car dealers whose dealerships were canceled. Or the mortagees whose mortgages were rewritten at government direction because borrowers lied on their applications.
Isabella-Please, no need to say more of the Bachmann type of commentary-you are a republican. Party of nyet.
Jim:
Lets remember that Hitler was a far left wing person. He took businesses and told them what to do just like Obama has done. Hitler sent people to camps just like Roosevelt (the two differences was that Roosevelt at least had reason to believe that they had to be sent to camps and he wasn't putting them in chambers to die). I can go on, but for all you people who compare the Republicans to Hitler the left and Democrats do a whole lot more to govern like Hitler than the Republicans ever did.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Why oppose someone who puts the Republicans in such a bad light? If she isn't being supported by canny Dems, she should be.
Poor Michelle Backhoe ,,, i truely feel sorry for her ... one day the men with white coats will come for her...:)))
Michelle i have just one more thing to say
Some people will climb up on the roof to tell a lie rather
than stand on the ground and tell the truth...
Bachmann is past loud, boisterous and stupid, she's gotten to the point of actually being dangerous. The reason - she and Beck have gotten the loon-wing of the new NutBag party so worked up they are actually going to bring violence to future 'gatherings' that she is bound to start over the next few months.
Short term, she just needs to be put under covers for her own safety. Medium term (30 days and beyond), she needs to be put in Ironwood (look it up or http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Visitors/Facilities/ISP.html) for OUR safety and for TREASON.
Michele Bachmann belongs at Menninger Clinic and not in the House of Representatives. She is, resorting to Yiddish, meshugene.
Bachmann is everything that is wrong with America. That doesn't mean liberals and the Democratic Party are everything that is right, but Bachmann is a lying cynical bag of schmuck that should be viewed with all the loathing of a scumbucket like Rev. Fred Phelps. She lacks any positive message whatsoever and contributes nothing worthy to the national political discourse.
Everyone agrees she says insane things. She is more dangerous than she is insane. Some borderline sicko will erupt and she will be all about denying responsibility for her words
Yup. She's now denying that she organized yesterday's "press conference" in Washington.
There was a borderline sicko eruption this past week and he shares more in common with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) than he does with Rep. Bachmann.
You sure that's Bachmann. Sounds like Barbara Boxer.
Everything wrong with America. Sounds like Pelosi, Boxer, Sharpton, Reid,Wasserman Schultz, Franks.
You really should modify your language. It reveals you as all the things you accuse Bachmann of being. Sane people with a good argument do not need to resort to personal abuse.
Is it personal abuse to point out their lies? I think it is necessary to prevent a gullible voter from voting on an empty suit. Her character is flawed, her ability to lie and spin is on a grand scale. This is not personal abuse, this is facts that need to be told.
If "sane people with a good argument do not resort to personal abuse", then Bachmann is out of sound bytes. Accusing members of Congress of being anti-American is an illustration of her inane rants. You really should read more about Bachmann's record and spend some time on YouTube before you post again -- unless you are one of her staffer trolls, of course.
Did you mean to say Rev. Jeremiah Wright?
But what about the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act?
Why doesn't TDB have a single conservative columnist?
Meghan McCain is the token republican on this site. I would love to see Hannah Giles replace her.
RomeoHotel: There have been a number of conservative columnists here, but they are indeed outnumbered by centrists and liberal views.
There are an untold number of conservative websites comprising conservative columnists. I am sure if you look hard enough, you can find them.
I don't know.
Why doesn't Faux "news" have one liberal, rational or even sane anchorperson?
I hate Fox, but there is one sane anchorperson there - Shepard Smith. He must really piss the rest of them off, eh?
Gee, there are some "conservative" columnists, but it's well known that reality has a liberal bias.
Exactly!
when you can appear on Sean Hannity on a Friday night and ask people to come to DC and stand with you on the steps of the Capital the following Thursdays and 45,000 people show up, you will probably make democrats like those on TDB nuts!
Except when the actual count was more like 4,000. Or were you counting using the metric system???
45,000? SERIOUSLY?
I love it. By next week the count that you quote will be another 10x higher.
Yeah 45.000 some wacko has already said it was over a million. Looking at the video I've had more people over for a cookout
Some conservative commentator has already claimed that a million people were there.
Shades of 9-12!
Didn't you know that the conservatives have already decided to settle on the larger-than-there number of 20,000?
Only in the world where 1 = 10000. That warm fuzzy, right wing lying and totally uneducated world.
If the number is false, why are you so concerned about it?
I think her fans are the ones who are concerned and need to lie, that is a no brainer, isabells.
Reply to cheenthere: her fans aren't concerned. Presumably they were there. You are the people wasting time thinking about it.
Let us not forget that now she denies ever calling them down to demonstrate.
And that, when she spoke, she called it a "press conference." (Apparently because not enough people showed up...)
...If there were 45,000. However, like the summer's famous tea party march in D.C. in which the organizers were CAUGHT using an old photo from 1997, not everything works out for liars.
I was just readinga posted comment from someone on the conservative side, and then it disappeared. There was nothing offensive or inappropriate in the post. Is that how this site is managed -- just eliminate any opposing comments that make too much sense?
This may be the first and last time I visit this site. It all depends on whether this comment disappears as well...
I have seen a number of posted comments disappear for no apparent reason and then magically reappear. It even happened to me once.
Don't give up. Just a little DB magic...
someotherguy: Kinda curious. Same thing happened to me. Plus every time I come on lately, and post something, I'm told that "as a first time poster" it may take a couple of days to get posted. What constitutes a "first time"???
Bye Bye!
DUH. It's not hard to explain such occurrances. A reader flags a posting as offensive. It goes to a 'bin' for review by a human who decides it's okay, according to TDB standards so it reappears. Simple.
This IS the reason. If the comment indeed was innocuous, it will be returned to its original place.
SomeOtherGuy - Don't give up. Some odd stuff happens from time to time. Comments disappear, then come back.
Oh my God! It's a left wing conspiracy! Be afraid. Boooooo.
The EXORSIST michelle bachmann did'nt you see her spit green pea soup at you, and her head was spinning around .......!
Take her out in 2010!
Michele Bachmann CAN be taking out. It will take some hard work and persistence, but I believe it can be done. I lived in Minneapolis for nearly four years in the 1990s, and I can say with confidence that most Minnesotans are careful, thoughtful people. There's no way that they will put up with continued craziness from perhaps the most unbalanced congress-person in U.S. history.
Why would it take hard work and persistence to remove the dolt described on this site? Unless she isn't a dolt at all but an effective member who opposes your ideas.
Please explain what Bachmann stands for that makes her "an effective member". Present her record on behalf of her constituency.
You jest, of course.
Sippewissett: I'm not arguing for her. I know as little about her as the writers on this site. I just can't abide the vicious, often personal, ill-informed attacks you people make on someone you probably can't vote for anyway because you don't even live in her state. What you don't know you make up, or get from some cheap propaganda outlet. You give your party a worse image for thuggery than it already has.
reply for isabella's 11:06 post -
-not arguing for her?...that's all you have done this morning!
-can't abide the vicious, often personal, ill-informed attacks? ...then you go on and call people dumb,fat and liars!
-What you don't know you make up?...nobody has to make anything up ,she makes sure that her hateful,factless,rightwing rants are on you tube and all over the net!
-give your party a worse image for thuggery than it already has?...the Republicants ,the party of Fux"news" bile,AM Hate Radio,torture ,shredding the Constitution,threatening ,intimidating and slandering everyone that they disagree with and even went so far as to out a CIA agent for political reasons ARE CALLING OTHERS THUGS...UNFLIPPINGBELIEVABLE!
Straitjackets should be the uniform of the day for rightwingers!
If she didn't receive over 50% of the vote before she went on these crazy rants, she can certainly be taken out.
A staged, fake revolution in support of those against whom the revolution would supposedly be enacted.
It has happened before. Will Amwoerickah swallow it?
i was there doing a report for mark thompsons make it plain radio show on xm sirius radio 146 left and i knew the issue of attendence was going to be a talking point for the right. so, before the event took place, i stepped of grids using the trees and the bordering sidewalks and i can guarantee you that there was between 6 and 7,000 people there. absolutely no more than 7. a long way from the 1000000 i have heard coming from the yet to be institutionalized.
The highest estimate I found was 10-20 thousand. This was off handed and said while the event was taking place. Your finger must have lingered on the zero button.
Thank you.
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