I'm the one on this blog who watches Bachmann's symbiotic relationship with the national evangelical political machine. To me, you can't understand this demagogue or her career without understanding that she owes it to a national, out-of-state political movement: the right wing evangelicals called the Council for National Policy. Key members include James Dobson of Focus on the Family, lobbyist Ralph Reed, end times evangelist Tim LaHaye, and Tony Perkins of Dobson's Family Research Council.
Four hours ago the Associated Press reported a letter from Tony Perkins, excoriating the GOP for abandoning Bachmann in the wake of her call for an investigation into anti-Americanism among her Congressional colleagues.
Conservative leader rips GOP campaign arm
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans, the postelection blame game is already beginning.
With the GOP bracing to lose 20 House seats or more in the upcoming elections, conservatives are voicing anger at party leaders they say have abandoned endangered Republican lawmakers who hold positions — like opposition to abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research — that energize the party's base.
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, scolded Rep. Tom Cole, the House GOP campaign committee chief, in a letter Thursday for yanking planned TV ads to help Republican Reps. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.
Tony Perkins was the featured speaker at one of Bachmann's anti-gay rights rallies in St. Paul. The rallies drew thousands and were reported on television here in Minnesota. They were an important publicity factor in raising her name recognition as the "go to" girl of our state's evangelical right.
Perkins, on the decision to cut Bachmann's ad funding:
"It appears that the NRCC is abandoning social conservative candidates and the issues for which they stand, particularly if they are championed by some of the most promising female legislators in the Congress," Perkins wrote, calling the change in ad plans "a grave error."
"This is no time to cut and run from a fight," the letter said.
Perkins use the euphemism "social conservative" to describe fundamentalist politicians like Bachmann and Musgrave. That's the euphemism that's acceptable to candidates of the evangelical right; they've conned the national and local press into using "social conservative" to describe them--as opposed to "evangelical conservatives," which would cost them votes.
Musgrave's race against Democrat Betsy Markey has long been regarded as one of her party's toughest, while Bachmann's chances against Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg looked good until recently, when she made controversial remarks on cable TV that Barack Obama may have "anti-American" views.
This is an Associated Press story; so it's misleading. It was Bachmann's call for an investigation into anti-Americanism among her fellow members of Congress that spurred more than a million dollars in grass roots contributions from every state in the Union.
The GOP political arm said Cole, R-Okla., doesn't make the spending decisions, which are handled by a separate unit that by law is walled off from the rest of the committee.
Karen Hanretty, the committee's spokeswoman, called the letter "puzzling," given that the unit "has spent money on candidates who are pro-life conservatives by a margin of two to one."
Here's more on Bachmann:
Bachmann, who hails from a conservative district north of Minneapolis-St. Paul, had about $1.2 million in campaign cash left as of last week, while Musgrave had about $325,000.
Perkins wrote that both were in "winnable districts," and were running on issues — including support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage — "that motivate voters" and can win elections.
His criticism is just the leading edge of what strategists expect to be a bitter round of finger-pointing that follows a grim election outcome for Republicans.
Positioning themselves for big losses, the "God, guns, and gays" Republicans ignore the fact that election cycles in these districts have revolved around those issues for about a decade. That includes the evangelical turnout for the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. The interpretation ignores the fact these "God, guns and gays" candidates helped to run the national and local economy into the wall (Bachmann's district leads Minnesota for home foreclosures) and were part of the wildly corrupt and out of control GOP congress of 1994-2006.
"It is our belief that the reason Republicans are struggling is that they haven't spoken strongly on the conservative issues," said David Nammo, the executive director of the FRC's political action committee.
The "FRC" is Dobson's Family Research Council, promoter of t"God, guns and gays" candidates like Bachmann around the nation. In this writer's opinion, the Republican Party is struggling because the voters have seen what it does, if you put it in power.
The group, launched over the summer, has spent $100,000 airing TV and radio ads in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and northern Virginia that highlight Obama's support for abortion rights and say he has "dangerous values."
The movement that godfathered Bachmann's career here in Minnesota--is national; a shadow "third party" within the GOP. A true split between the national evangelical political machine and the GOP would be a disaster for Republicans; that's why Perkins dark hints are news.
By the way: conservative commentator Michael Medved was a guest on local evangelical radio's "Jeff and Lee" program, this afternoon. He was deploring the possible loss of Michele Bachmann as a member of Congress. Don't ask me what that has to do with broadcasting the Good News about Jesus Christ (the supposed purpose of a "Christian radio station.) They've been promoting Michele's political career for eight years, they're not going to stop doing that now. |
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