Bachmann Blamed For Recent Shootings?

I am not entirely sure how to react to this: On the one hand you have personal responsibility and the recognition that we cannot control how every person with some level of mental instability will react to the things we say. However, there is also the notion that we must control what we say BECAUSE there are those out there with some level of mental instability who may react in a certain way. At the very least, Michele Bachmann and others have been overly reckless with their rhetoric. At the very worst, Bachmann and others have purposely set out to incite this type of anger but are finding that it manifests itself in unexpected and uncontrollable ways. I will let you take from this image what you wish... Cross Posted on Liberal in the Land of Conservative

Michele Bachmann Made the Daily Show

And not in a good way. It will be repeated at midnight.

Reporters Should Go to This and Ask Michele Bachmann About Her Reeducation Camps Remarks

From the Bachmann Bulletin: Reminder: Bachmann Hosts Cancer Control Forum This Wednesday, April 8th In 2008, there were 23,160 new cases of cancer reported in Minnesota. That same year, there were 9,100 deaths attributed to cancer. There are few families not somehow impacted by this disease. April is National Cancer Control Month and to help you and your family stay healthy, I am hosting a forum with experts on cancer control on April 8th. I will be joined by representatives from the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the University of Minnesota Cancer Care Center, the American Cancer Society of St. Paul, and the Outpatient Cancer Care program at HealthEast. In fact, one of my special guests will be Jackie Nelson, the director of those outpatient services, who you may have heard on my telephone town hall last week discussing this very topic. I hope you will take time to come hear these knowledgeable individuals next Wednesday and learn more about how you can prevent, diagnose, treat, and beat cancer. April 8th 12:30-1:30 pm Stillwater Library Margaret Rivers B Room 224 North Third Street

2 Days Until Bachmann's Climate Denial "Forum"

Bachmann calls it a forum, but it appears that only Chris Horner, a lawyer and a skeptic of the science on climate change will speak. It's too bad that Bachmann hasn't invited climatologists or environmentalists to debate Chris Horner. We have some excellent people right here in Minnesota who could better inform the citizens of the 6th CD about climate change. such as Minnesota-based Fresh Energy's J. Drake Hamilton ... and meteorologist Paul Douglas: ... and arctic explorer Will Steger: For videos that fact-check the false and misleading claims of climate deniers, check out Peter Sinclair's You Tube channel. I also recommend going to the Jet Propulsion Lab's interactive website on climate change.

DFL Hits Michele Bachmann on Foreclosures and "Re-education Camps" statement

From the DFL: Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party For immediate release Contact: Eric Fought (efought@dfl.org) Bachmann: Foreclosing on Minnesota’s Future While her constituents face the highest foreclosure rate in the state, Bachmann focuses on her garish celebrity status St. Paul (April 6, 2009) — Throughout Minnesota many families struggled to make ends meet in 2008 — forcing an increasing number to face the foreclosure of their homes. According to a report from the Minnesota Independent, the largest number of foreclosures last year took place in the Sixth Congressional District. Meanwhile, Republican Representative Michele Bachmann, who represents the district, has voted against nearly every measure meant to provide relief to struggling homeowners. According to a recent report issued by Minneapolis based HousingLink, the Sixth District had the most foreclosures of any of Minnesota’s eight congressional districts, with an estimated 5,227 in 2008. Bachmann’s district also had the highest rate of foreclosures as a percentage of households, at 1.80 percent, nearly that of the city of Minneapolis at 1.85 percent. The Minnesota DFL Party released this statement from Chair Brian Melendez: “While her district needs her busy working for change, Representative Michele Bachmann is instead busy blocking the help that her constituents need. Rather than helping solve the problems facing her district, such as the crippling housing crisis, Bachmann spends her time focusing on her role as spokesperson for her party’s radical fringes. “The problems that Minnesotans face are real ones, not the farcical issues that Bachmann seems concerned with. Just this past weekend, she went on another ludicrous rant suggesting that AmeriCorps, the highly successful national volunteer-service program, is akin to Vietnam-era re-education camps. Last week, she asked the readers of a conservative blog, ‘do we want to be free, or do we want to be slaves?’ The people of Minnesota can answer that last question easily: we want to be free from the embarrassment and lack of leadership that Michele Bachmann daily embodies.” -30-

MnIndy: Foreclosures Highest in Bachmann’s District

Andy Birkey at The Minnesota Independent: Just to the north of the Twin Cities, the 6th district, represented by Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, had the most foreclosures of any of Minnesota’s eight congressional districts, with an estimated 5,227 in 2008. Her district also had the highest rate of foreclosures as a percentage of households, at 1.80 percent, nearly that of the city of Minneapolis at 1.85 percent. .... and what how is Bachmann responding to the crisis? While much of the crisis is centralized in an area covering two congressional districts, a search of the congressional record reveals that the representatives in those districts are dealing with the crisis very differently. Rep. Michele Bachmann has voted against all but one measure aimed at foreclosure relief, while Rep. Keith Ellison in the neighboring district has supported or introduced more than a dozen bills to address the issue. .... and to add insult to injury ... When Congress was debating strategies to assist families facing foreclosure, Bachmann called those homeowners “irresponsible.” ... and of course ... Bachmann’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the foreclosure data or her voting record. The MnIndy article goes on to describe how Congressman Keith Ellison is confronting the crisis in the 5th CD. While Bachmann is fear-mongering about the imagined threat of a one-world currency and fictitious re-education camps, she is not meeting the needs of her constituents.

Bachmann on Newsmax TV Talks About "The China and India Stimulus Bill"

Notice that she's now adding a few more words to her "armed and dangerous" phrase (3:30). She used the same words to tone down the phrase when she was interviewed by Sue Jeffers on Saturday. Maybe someone had a talk with her about incendiary language being a dog whistle to right-wing crazies? ... and Newsmax spelled her name wrong (of course)...

The Global Conspiracy, Anti-American Thing

"Federal law forms a new governance structure that opposes both free enterprise and representative government. Instead, government centrally plans and manages the economy." "...Together, these laws align and consolidate all local, state, and federal policies, programs, and funding into a single state-managed economic system." "...A new national curriculum is used that embraces a socialist, worldview; a loyalty to all government and not America." "Bottom Line: Government is implementing policies that will lead to poverty, not prosperity, by adopting the failed ideas of a state-planned and managed economy similar to that of the former Soviet Union... This system is based upon a utilitarian worldview that measures human value only in terms of productive capability for the “best interests of the state". Individual freedom is subservient to a collective society." Minnesota State Senator Michele Bachmann authored that back in 2001 and signed her name to it (noting that she was a Minnesota State Senator when she did so.) Remember that, back in 2001? How representative democracy in America was replaced by a "a new governance structure that opposed both free enterprise and representative government?" Wasn't that awful, when that happened, and the new centrally directed Soviet-style economy took over? The most surprising thing about it was that when Bachmann announced that they had taken over--the President of the United States was George W. Bush, a conservative hero. The vice president was Dick Cheney, another conservative hero. And Congress, which had passed the laws that created the new, un-American government structure, was in the hands of the conservative Republican Party. And conservatives dominated the Supreme Court. It's amazing that this conspiracy to overthrow elected democracy succeeded, given the fact that conservatism was firmly in power in Washington, D.C. and had been since the Republican takeover of Congress since 1994. Who would have suspected that a GOP congress would pass a bunch of laws "consolidating all local, state, and federal policies, programs, and funding into a single state-managed economic system." The *Republican Party* passed a bunch of laws that replaced constitutional representative government with a new form of centrally planned, unrepresentative government? They *did* if you believe Minnesota State Senator Michele Bachmann. That had happened, according to her, by 2001. And, if you recall--Rush Limbaugh and your other favorite conservative pundits were telling you to vote for the very GOP Congressmen that created this "new governance structure opposed to both free enterprise and representative government." Gee, who knew? Who would have believed that Rush and the conservative movement were supporting this new anti-American form of government, "opposed to free enterprise?" Of course--this did not happen. Representative democracy in the US was not ended in 2001. Private enterprise was not replaced by a centrally directed Soviet style economy. Instead of the wacky scenario announced by Bachmann, President Bush and the Republican Congress spent the first decade of the 21st century trying to *de*-regulate the country into prosperity. In fact, to this day, only a small extremists believe that there is a conspiracy afoot in the United State government to create a centrally-planned, Soviet style economy. The people in government today are not trying to destroy capitalism, they're trying to make sure it survives--as Franklin Delano Roosevelt did back during the depths of the Depression. Where did Bachmann get the idea, back in 2001, that free enterprise and American representative democracy had already been legally nullified? What kind of elected official goes into print and signs her name to a document that claims that the Republican party oversaw the end of representative democracy? No one knows. No one knows what she was relying on, when she made this fantastic claim. A claim about an immense GOP-supervised conspiracy to overthrow free enterprise and liberty that no one in his right mind would find plausible. The only people who believed this kind of charge were at the extreme of American politics; no respected commenter on US politics anywhere in the world held such beliefs. I found a copy of Bachmann's document on the Web, prior to her first election to Congress. And I was excited: to me, it proved that Senator Bachmann wasn't just "a conservative in the tradition of Ronald Reagan." It proved that she held beliefs about an anti-American conspiracy in government that no responsible person holds. (You can only believe such charges if you believe that the Republican party was part of a conspiracy to replace constitutional elected government with a Soviet style economy, and no person in their right mind believes that, right?) But Bachmann believed it, and she signed her name to it as State Senator for Minnesota. At the time, I thought that all I had to do was turn a copy of this document over to the local professional media--and this story, the story of how a candidate for Congress believed in a socialist conspiracy implemented by Republicans in Congress, would break in the local papers. I wrote to two important local journalists referencing Bachmann's claims in the document: Eric Black, who was then a political correspondent for the Star Tribune, and Bob Collins, a senior editor at Minnesota Public radio. Collins wasn't interested. Black asked for a copy of the original document, which I sent him. And nothing happened. There was never any story about Bachmann's heinous charges in the Strib or on MPR--two liberal bastions here in Minnesota spiked the story of how a Republican candidate for Congress had charged the Republican Party with being party to a conspiracy to replace our form of government with a command economy in the tradition of the former Soviet Union. To the best of my knowledge, they never even asked Bachmann any questions about her conspiracy theory. I found the whole episode very disheartening. I really think it could have made a difference in that first election if the voters in the Sixth District had been told by the press--prior to the election--that a Minnesota State Senator really believed in a non-existent, Marxist conspiracy, and had sought to sow a panic about a non-existent crisis in American government. But nothing was broadcast or printed concerning the document, despite the fact that it went out under Bachmann's name and she never disowned it or qualified it. So a person went into Congress to represent us, believing that American government and free enterprise had been dealt a death blow by a conspiracy against freedom--back in 2001. The spiking of what is surely a major political story was one of my first experiences of how local media here in Minnesota would simply refuse to print reliable evidence. Reliable evidence that this legislator's judgment was impaired, paranoid--that she was concealing an extremist worldview behind a conservative GOP facade. The document says volumes about her judgment, the sources of information she relies on in forming her worldview, and her dark, paranoid view of American democracy. It echoes down to this very day, when she's trying to convince Americans that the President of the United States is trying to impose "economic Marxism" and "tyranny" on our nation. And the local media is *still* loathe to report Bachmann's most extremist views. You have to go outside the state, to see regular and responsible reporting on that. Things have been changing, slowly. The rest of the country is "on to her." It's here in Minnesota that the most popular and prestigious news sources are afraid to report the reality. If some nuts with bombs or guns decide to take Bachmann's charges against American government seriously--our professional media here in the state will have blood on their hands.

Michele Bachmann Makes the Front Page of the Strib

I picked up the Strib today. The front page has a teaser, and the article is on a good part of the B1 and B12. I can't find the article online. The article discusses her recent comments and antics. It also points out some of her lies. If the strib isn't sold out, pick up a copy.

Michele Bachmann on Sue Jeffers

KTLK Podcast here. Excerpts below. Sue Jeffers says she is going to encourage Michele Bachmann to run against Amy Klobuchar. Jeffers repeats the "armed and dangerous" quote. MB: I feel like I have a front row seat on history right now. I cannot believe what I'm seeing. This is our country. We love our country and I'm watching our freedoms slip out the door every day. Just this week with the G-20 and what President Obama is wanting to do to cede American sovereignty to transnational global authorities makes your head spin and we as members of congress have to bind him down with that authority, we cannot agree to these things that he is wanting to do, because it will continue to take away freedom from individuals in the United States. SJ: But you know what I'm seein' Congresswoman Bachmann is that it's like Nancy Pelosi in the house and Harry Reid in the Senate, it's like they have the er President Obama said here's my agenda, you get it passed and everybody just votes yes. MB: Well not everybody. The liberals who are with Nancy Pelosi, and are jumping to Nancy Pelosi's tune are voting yes. It goes on... Later on she discusses Americorps, and is concerned that this is really "re-education camps for young people - and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward." MB: It is a dream come true for people who want to transform our country from a free-market economy to a centralized government planned economy. It is completely different and antithetical to what our founders gave us and I think people should be shocked, they should be stunned with what is happening and the speed at which it's happening and in particular, what is happening with the G-20 and the transnational aspects of what our President is committing our nation to. She goes on to talk about how she will be at the Jason Lewis tax cut rally, but will only be recording a video greeting for the Tea Parties coming up. She has a prior commitment during the April 15 Tea Party - but she has another speaking engagement at that time. The money quotes: Avidor adds: The complete interview (about 18 minutes): The audio is from Sue Jeffers' show on KTLK FM on April 4, 2009.

Where is the Tip of the Spear Michele Bachmann on the Iowa Ruling on Gay Marriage?

Remember when this was an "earthquake issue"? Here is Michele Bachmann speaking in Blaine in early 2006 at the Senate District 51 Republican Convention. She talks about her efforts on the Bachmann amendment, and talks about being the "tip of the spear" with a "titanium spine". When the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would ban discrimination against gays in employment was being discussed in congress, Michele Bachmann through a spokesperson, refused to comment. Well now the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in favor of allowing gays to be included in the institution of marriage. Where did the titanium spine go Michele? Is hate-mongering about gays becoming a political liability?

Let me make this perfectly clear...

...at the outset. There is *no* evidence at all that the tragedy that took place in Pittsburgh had anything to do with Michele Bachmann's charges that the Obama administration was leading us into Marxism, plotting to replace the dollar with a new global currency, and planning to replace constitutional US government with a new "super-national" government. And there's certainly no evidence that the shooter was acting in response to Bachmann's call to "rise up" against the constitutionally elected government in an "ordered revolution." I'm only posting this story here to remind readers that there are a lot of dangerous nuts in the world who will take life because they really do believe that the federal government under Dem control really does represent a real conspiracy. (That's what makes Bachmann's apocalyptic rhetoric so dangerous, so crazily irresponsible: Officers killed, wounded in Stanton Heights standoff Three Pittsburgh police officers were killed and two others were injured after a heavily armed man began firing at them as they responded to a domestic call this morning at a home in Stanton Heights. The 22-year-old suspected shooter, Richard "Pop" Poplawski, who told friends he was wearing a bulletproof vest, surrendered to police about 11 a.m., four hours after the standoff began at 1016 Fairfield St. He was shot several times in the legs and was being treated at UPMC Presbyterian... ...(Poplawski's longtime friend Edward) Perkovic and other former classmates said they were surprised by this morning's events. Mr. Perkovic said Mr. Poplawski was opposed to "Zionist propaganda" and was fearful that his right to own weapons would be taken away but he wasn't a member of an organized group or militia. "He always said that if someone tried to take his weapons away he would do what his forefathers told him to do and defend himself." Another friend, Aaron Vire, 23, said he'd helped Mr. Poplawski and Mr. Perkovic with a radio show they'd broadcast on the Internet, discussing "politics, girls and life." Mr. Poplawski had supported Republican candidate John McCain in the presidential election and had "very spirited debates" about Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Vire said. Mr. Poplawski was opposed to Mr. Obama's election, which he thought would result in the loss of his rights, Mr. Vire said. "He wasn't a racist but thought some of his amendments were overlooked," Mr. Vire said. Even though Mr. Vire is black and Mr. Poplawski is white, the debates over President Obama did not hurt their friendship, he said. Mr. Poplawski told him he bought his guns "because he felt the quality of life was being diminished," Mr. Vire said. "He said he'll be ready if there's ever an invasion of the United States and that he had stockpiled foods and guns for that eventuality." There's a lot of armed people out there who really do believe that the recent Democratic victories are the beginning of "one world government" coming to end freedom in the United States. And it's insanely irresponsible for an elected official to tell them that that conspiracy theory is basically true, and to take immediate action on it.

Michele Bachmann Embarrasses Her District Again

New York Times: Lately I’ve been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right. My read: They’re apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their “leaders” seem to be trying to mold them into militias. At first, it was entertaining — just harmless, hotheaded expostulation. Of course, there were the garbled facts, twisted logic and veiled hate speech. But what did I expect, fair and balanced? It was like walking through an ideological house of mirrors. The distortions can be mildly amusing at first, but if I stay too long it makes me sick. But, it’s not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They’re talking about a revolution. Some simply lace their unscrupulous screeds with loaded language about the fall of the Republic. We have to “rise up” and “take back our country.” Others have been much more explicit. *****snip****** Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, imagining herself as some sort of Delacroixian Liberty from the Land of the Lakes, urged her fellow Minnesotans to be “armed and dangerous,” ready to bust caps over cap-and-trade, I presume. *****snip****** All this talk of revolution is revolting, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. As the comedian Bill Maher pointed out, strong language can poison weak minds, as it did in the case of Timothy McVeigh. (We sometimes forget that not all dangerous men are trained by Al Qaeda.) At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That’s 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann’s Minnesota. Coincidence? Maybe. Just posturing? Hopefully. But it all gives me a really bad feeling. (Where’s that Pepto-Bismol?!) Charles Blow has a blog, tweets at twitter, and does electronic scrapbooking at facebook. You can comment on his column by going to the link, or by tweeting, or writing on his wall at facebook. This column reinforces Michele Bachmann's reputation as a kook.

Bachmann Invitation to Her "Cap and Tax" Public Forum

From Bachmann's You Tube Channel: From Bachmann's House website: Bachmann to Host Public Forums on Climate Change and Cap and Trade St. Cloud/Woodbury, MN, Apr 9 - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to host forums on Climate Change & Cap and Trade Special Guest: Chris Horner , Senior Fellow and Author, Competitive Enterprise Institute Thursday, April 9, 2009: 1:15-2:30 pm St. Cloud State University Atwood Memorial Center, Cascade Room 4:30-5:45 pm Woodbury Central Park Community Center, Room B 8595 Central Park Place (off Valley Creek Road and Radio Drive) UPDATE: Here's a sample of what to expect from Chris Horner:

Bachmann Fellow Traveller: Alan Stang

Bachmann's tin-foil-hat campaign against the one-world currency is getting kudos from some... interesting people. For instance the very strange Alan Stang. Alan likes certain aspects of Michele Bachmann: Until recently, I may have heard of Michele Bachmann, but I wasn’t sure who she was. When I finally did see her in action the other day, in a congressional hearing, I felt a thrill run up my leg. I don’t know how it compared to the thrill that runs up the leg of Chris Matthews, the media degenerate who hosts “No Ball,” when he sees illegal alien Mr. Big Ears. My thrill began at my big toe, kerbobbled for a moment at my ankle, then ran up my leg to the knee, where it kerbobbled again, and did not stop until it reached my hip. There it reversed course, stopped at the same places to kerbobble again and finally left at the big toe, where the adventure had begun. Needless to say, a thrill runs up my leg whenever I see the Love Priestess, so I consulted with her, not sure what was happening. She went to her monitor, took a gander at Michele in action, and said she would have no problem were a Bachmann thrill to run up both my legs. But since then I have experienced the phenomenon only in the original leg, which may harbor a weakness for the lady. But I was still disoriented. When I first tuned into the now historic sound bite, I did not for a while understand that a Member of Congress was speaking, not just because she looked so good, but because Mrs. Bachmann did not appear to be a predatory bull dyke in a pants suit, which I had thought was mandatory for membership. Like Bachmann, Stang doesn't seem to like gay people...Stang has a category on his website he calls Queer Nation. Stang's backhanded tribute to Bachmann references Bathroomgate: ... they are womanoids innately hostile to real women. Have they confronted Mrs. Bachmann in the ladies’? Stang also references the rumor that claimed Bachmann barfed in a bathroom and Rep. Jean Schmidt slipped and fell into it: Someone threw up in a ladies room and it could have been Michele, who could have been drunk. She wants the people of Minnesota “armed and dangerous.” Yee Haa! Do it! Stang continues his bizarre paean to Bachmann for a few more paragraphs, only to pause to vent his homophobia on Rep. Barney Frank: The committee chairman is of course Barney the Bugger Frank, whose roommate, a felon, was running an illegal sodomite buggery business out of Barney’s home..... Read the whole thing.. it's a hoot.

Politifact Rules Bachmann FALSE...

A recent ruling by the Truth-O-Meter over at Politifact deems the Bachmann statements about Timothy Geithner and his "abandoning the dollar" false. As usual, Bachmann is distorting and generally misunderstanding the basics of global finance despite being a member of the financial services committee. From the Politifact Article: An Associated Press Q-and-A about the Chinese proposal published a day before Bachmann's press release explained the difference: "Q: Does China want to get rid of the dollar and other currencies?" it says. "A: No, Americans wouldn't be expected to give up the dollar, nor would China give up its yuan, for that matter. The idea is to create an international currency that China and other countries could use to hold trillions of dollars in reserves." Chinese officials have argued that creating a new global currency for international reserves would protect them from the danger of inflation of the dollar, which would lower the value of their reserves. In any event, for Geithner to entertain the Chinese idea, (which he later firmly rejected) was decidedly not to consider pulling the greenback off the street in favor of some one-world currency. Yet that is clearly how Bachmann portrayed Geithner's remarks.[emphasis mine] They were even able to obtain comment from what must be the busiest spin machine in the country: Bachmann's spokesperson, Debee Keller, said, "We all recognize the difference between the global reserve currency and the actual currency we use here in the U.S." She said Bachmann was trying to defend the dollar's status in both regards. Really, do you really recognize the difference? Perhaps you should tell your boss... But in her press release, as well as in public comments over several days, Bachmann continually distorted the issue, suggesting that Geithner expressed openness to replacing the dollar as the U.S. currency. For example, her press release was titled: "Bachmann Demands Truth: Will Obama Administration Abandon Dollar for a Multi-National Currency?" It said her resolution would "bar the dollar from being replaced by any foreign currency." And her proposed constitutional amendment makes no mention of an international reserve currency -- rather it would forbid the president from "entering into a treaty or other international agreement that would provide for the United States to adopt as legal tender in the United States a currency issued by an entity other than the United States." Perhaps some famous conservative economist who works at the local university and supports nearly every move that Michele Bachmann makes could give her a call and clue her into this whole global finance stuff. Cross Posted on Liberal in the Land of Conservative

Bachmann House Page Is Pornography?

A while back I subscribed to the social network site, stumbleupon. It was fun for a time to click through and find various random sites that I would never have discovered without the handy dandy stumble button. However, I soon tired of the site and haven't done much with it since. One of the features, though, is that when I search google my stumble account will display tags for sites that have already been found and/or reviewed. So, when I input the term Michele Bachmann, this is what it looks like: You should quickly notice something out of the ordinary. On closer inspection you will find that the Bachmann campaign site is tagged as "humor" by stumbleupon and even better than that, the official house.gov site is tagged as "pornography". Who is out there defining Michele Bachmann as "humor" and "pornography"? I clicked through but was unable to determine where these interesting new definitions of Bachmann sites are coming from.

Is it fair to call Michele Bachmann a "nut?"

This is a topic that comes up every now and then when public discussion turns to the subject of Bachmann. A lot of people interested in the political discourse get “turned off” when the name-calling starts. I’m not talking about movement conservatives here; part of the reason they’re drawn to talk radio conservatism is that name-calling is encouraged in that part of the forum. And leftists *always* called their opponents names; that seems to go with the territory. I’m sad to say that too many liberals also engage in name-calling. (Conservatives pretend not to see a difference between liberals and leftists, but the liberals and leftists know very well that there is are big differences and display on-and-off contempt for each other.) For the liberals, I suppose the moment that the gloves came off was after Al Franken published “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot.” We must remember that liberals applauded Franken for writing a book with that title. The fact that he once wrote a book with that title has actually *helped* Franken politically. Limbaugh has said far worse things about liberals over the years and continues to do so; so many liberals probably saw Franken’s “tone” as an instance of “fighting back.” My previous experience of liberals (I am one) is that they don’t like to go straight to name-calling. They tend to argue their positions with people who disagree with them, exchanging information--and if the tone drops, most liberals are more likely to prefer to sneer at their opponents than engage in back-and-forth name-calling. I suppose that’s because a lot of liberals think that is more polite than going straight for the throat with an epithet. There are a lot of liberals who think that name-calling is a sign that you’ve stopped listening and thinking and started indulging your anger, instead. Of course, all bets are off when it comes to the internet. People (liberals included) say all kinds of things on the Internet that they wouldn’t dream of saying to each other in person. It gets worse when the people in the discussion don’t sign their real names to their comments. Like the anonymity of calling in to talk radio, anonymity on the Internet free up a lack of accountability and responsibility in the speaker. There are good reasons for people to use an alias when they write in to express an opinion, but the fact that it’s easier to be less accountable for your abuse—is not one of them. Contrast the tradition of liberal sneering with the traditions of leftist name-calling (“Liberals and conservatives are fascists!”) and conservative name-calling (“Liberals and the left are Marxists who hate America!”)—and you’ll see why the liberals might prefer “sneering” to out-and-out name calling. But it’s probably true that the name-calling drives a lot of people out of the political discussion. If you go to a discussion and all you see is people calling each other names, you’re not likely to stay unless you *like* to call other people names. And if you’re there because you like to call other people names (and would rather do that, than explain your own thinking and the reasons for it)—why are you worth listening to? Anyone can have an anger addiction, it takes some smarts to say something valuable about American politics. So we have a dilemma. Here we have a blog where we’ve identified Michele Bachmann as a nut, a liar, and a bigot. Isn’t that “just name-calling?” Commenters here and elsewhere have raised this issue. Because I have publicly identified Bachmann as a nut, liar, and a bigot—I’ve had to respond to the charge of name-calling in the past. And the founder of the blog, Eva Young, just used those same terms to identify Michele Bachmann in a piece on Fox News (of all places.) That, by the way, was a coup for this blog and for voters who want to “dump Bachmann.” Eva may be the first layman to go on record and place that particular opinion with a national news organization. Professional broadcaster Keith Olbermann beat her to it, on the “nut” charge. But if I had my way, every time a Dump Bachmann activist was tapped for a comment by local media, they would raise the issue of her sanity, and give an on-the-record example of why it should be questioned. Those on-the-record examples (and there are a *lot* of them) are the reasons that calling Bachmann a nut, liar, and bigot is not “just name-calling.” I can only speak for myself here, but I hope people will understand: I do not call Bachmann a “nut” or a “kook” simply because I think that that will “hurt her reputation and discredit her with the public.” I call Michele Bachmann a “nut” because I sincerely believe that this particular elected official is *in fact* delusional. And because I can give documented examples of her saying and doing things that indicate she really is out of touch with realities that rational people accept as reality. I’m not in the habit of calling an elected officials a “nut” simply because I disagree with their politics. For example: I disagree with Newt Gingrich’s political views, I think that some of things he’s said are “nutty” (e.g. “socialist newspaper columnist are those who oppose eliminating the capital gains tax)—but I don’t think he’s “nuts/delusional.” I think he’s manipulative, pandering to a conservative crowd, distorting the truth to promote his personal agenda and career. Those are the actions of a sane if highly unethical politician. But the case of Bachmann is different. I call her a “liar” and a “bigot” because as a Bachmann watcher I can point to specific and documented instances of her being caught in a lie or sowing bigotry. And I call her a “nut” or “kook” because I can point to specific and documented instances of her engaging in rhetoric and behavior which indicate that she is suffering from delusions—about herself, and about the world. (In fact, I collect those specific instances where they are available on the record.) To make it clear: even though I deeply disagree with the conservative worldview articulated by Bachmann, Limbaugh, Coulter, etc.—that isn’t the reason that I call Bachmann a “nut.” It’s got nothing to do with her conservatism. I think that many conservative positions are irrational because they’re not supported by historical experience or the factual record—but I don’t think that all conservatives must be “nuts” because they are conservatives. They just believe some nutty things; that by itself doesn’t make you a “lunatic.” Claiming to be acting on direct instructions from Jesus Christ (as Bachmann has claimed)—is another thing entirely. Claiming to have knowledge of secret international agreements that turn out not to exist (as Bachmann has claimed) is more evidence that a person is not rational. Telling people that a Republican Congress and the Republican Governor of Minnesota are fostering Marxism (as Bachmann has done) indicate that that the speaker does not feel bound by reality. Taking an oath to uphold the constitution and the law of the land, and then encouraging people to “rise up” against the elected government (as Bachmann has done) puts you in the “nut” category. I could cite other examples: as I say, I’ve collected them over the years. But the point is: in the case of Bachmann, my sincere belief is that we have a person in an important public office who is a “nut,” in the common understanding of the term. And if that is demonstrably true, we have a duty to identify her as such and bring it to the attention of the voters, regularly. Concerns about the tone of the debate are secondary, if you have significant and reliable evidence that an elected official is indeed nuts. Now that she's won some national notoriety, millions of other people are coming to the same conclusion based on her public remarks. They're not even as familiar as I am with her history, but they see the kinds of statements she's been making and they are concluding (correctly) that she's a nut. It must be depressing for conservative voters to contemplate that one of the foremost spokesmen for conservatism is a demonstrable "nut." But I can't help that. In my view, the problem is that *more* media outlets aren't outspoken about the fact that a nut is representing the people of the Sixth District of Minnesota in Congress. It's their duty, and our duty, to identify any nuts in public office as such. Because a “nut,” elevated to public office and influence—is dangerous.

Bachmann's Black Helicopters Are Flying

Audio and partial transcript at Pamela Gellar's Atlas Shrugs. UPDATE: Bachmann criticized President Obama for the quality of his appointments, in particular Dawn Johnsen. The money quote: "George Bush never could have gotten away with this level of appointment."

Bachmann on Glenn Beck

From Bachmann's You Tube channel: "Rep. Bachmann appears on Fox News with Glenn Beck to discuss the suggestions by other countries about adopting a new global reserve currency, and what that mean for the American dollar here at home." UPDATE: You Tube makes it possible now to watch videos of Bachmann in a more appropriate format. Read explanation for the new format HERE.