Search results for "bachmann"

The Hill has a strong article on the challenges facing John Boehner. The Republican majority in the House has been strong and unified, making Speaker Boehner’s job easy. They all wanted to repeal health care reform. They all wanted to make cuts. But now he’s faced with the vote to raise the debt ceiling, and the new guys may not go along.

If we don’t raise the debt ceiling and the government defaults, things could get ugly. Tim Geithner warns that interest rates will rise, house values will fall, and payments will stop for military salaries, Medicare, and Social Security. Some Republicans think he’s being melodramatic, but even Boehner said not acting is not an option:

That would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for the worldwide economy. Remember, the American people on Election Day said we want to cut spending and we want to create jobs. You can’t create jobs if you default on the federal debt.

The period of agreement will end, as Michele Bachmann and some number of members of the Tea Party Caucus will refuse to vote to raise the limit, regardless of spending cuts attached to it.

There could also be another disagreement between some Democrats. Those that don’t want huge cuts because they worry about the affect of such cuts on the economy will likely be unhappy if a deal similar to the Bush tax cut extension is made that gives Republicans a lot of cuts.

Boehner called this an “adult moment.” I think that sums up what this is going to mean for many of the Republican newcomers that had huge ideas of saying no to any debt and spending. It sounds good, but in practice it just isn’t that easy.

I think it’s similar to how Boehner promised $100 billion in spending cuts then proposed $32 billion in spending cuts. If they’re talking about getting the debt under control, this is a feeble attempt. It seems well and good to say, “Let’s cut $100 billion” (with pinky to mouth), but once you set out to do it you see it is a very difficult process.

Following through on bold talk isn’t always the best move, and we’ll see if the newbies are adult enough to realize this.

Enjoy what should be an interesting amount of showdowns.

Adam Feser

After President Obama’s speech, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan will deliver a rebuttal. It is a difficult job to do and is often only remembered if it is bad. It is expected that Ryan will focus on fiscal issues.

What I think is interesting is that Ryan’s won’t be the only rebuttal. Minnesota crazy person Michele Bachmann will also deliver her own rebuttal.

I am super excited about this. Who knows what she’ll say? Will she mention Kenya? Maybe she’ll go on a diatribe against Muslims and claim Obama is one of them. Perhaps she’ll talk about the dreaded re-education camps. Either way, I’m sure it will be awesome.

This should trouble Republicans, as it is more evidence of the rift between the Republican leadership and the Tea Party that is largely responsible for the mid-term success Republicans had. It may serve to demonstrate the differences between what Bachmann lovers and establishment Republicans believe.

I, for one, hope Bachmann is full out crazy. If she is, it will only serve to overshadow Ryan’s rebuttal and bring the focus to the fracture in the Republican party.

Of course, I could be reading this wrong. I guess there is a chance that Bachmann’s speech will bring more focus to the rebuttals in general, taking away from Obama’s speech. It’s even possible that Bachmann will dial it down (ha). Any way you look at it, it at least serves to make the night more interesting.

Enjoy the show.

Adam Feser

If you thought the last presidential election was nuts, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Michele Bachmann is considering a 2012 presidential bid. Oh glorious day!

I think it would do the country a lot of good to have Bachmann’s insanity paraded out in GOP debates. Other Republicans might even be forced to respond to it, and you know she wouldn’t have a problem going after less crazy Republicans. And the amount of support she would probably get would be great in exposing just how many people agree with her lunacy.

Perhaps seeing Bachmann’s candidacy would even convince some Republicans that Palin isn’t so bad. They could nominate her, all but assuring a second term for President Obama.

National politics would be hard to take if so much of it wasn’t so crazy. Bachmann definitely is about the craziest politician going. I think this would be hilarious. Do it, Michele.

Enjoy getting on those resolutions.

Adam Feser

Updated with new material (in italics): I just found an amazing quote from conservative Bruce Bartlett. He is a conservative who was an advisor to Reagan. In 2005, he spoke out against some of Bush’s policies. He was fired from a right-wing think tank, much like David Frum was for his bold statement on healthcare reform. Here is what Bartlett had to say after Frum was fired:

It saddened me to hear this. I have always hoped that my experience was unique. But now I see that I was just the first to suffer from a closing of the conservative mind. Rigid conformity is being enforced, no dissent is allowed, and the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia if it hasn’t already.

This dementia seems to have set in. Just look at this.

A recent Harris Poll has made me fear for the future of the country. As John Avlon argues, the fringe has come to dominate our political culture. Fear and hate politics have come to dominate campaigns, and campaigns last forever.

But let’s get down to the poll. What Americans think is bad, but look at what Republican respondents thought about Barack Obama:

He is a socialist (67%)
He wants to take guns away (61%)
He is a Muslim (57%)
He wants to sacrifice U.S. sovereignty to a one-world government (51%)
He has acted against the Constitution (55%)
He resents America’s heritage (47%)
He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (40%) – makes you wonder how he’s also a socialist
He was not born in the United States (45%)
He is a racist (42%) – Beck viewers I guess
He wants to use a crisis (economic or terrorist attack) to assume dictatorial powers (41%)
He is doing many of the things that Hitler did (38%)
He may be the Anti-Christ (24%)
He wants the terrorists to win (22%)

Get all that? This is absolutely ridiculous. Over half of Republicans still think Obama is Muslim?! Over half think he wants to give up our sovereignty to a one-world government, and 41% think he wants to be a dictator. There must be no overlap because these are mutually exclusive. Same goes for the claim that he’s a socialist (67%) and that he just obeys Wall Street (40%), but numerically there has to be overlap there. This is akin to telling government to get their hands off of Medicare.

Let’s get to the really fun stuff. Over a third of Republicans believe he is doing many of the things Hitler did. Over a third. Damn near a quarter believe he may be the Anti-Christ. Seriously. Over a fifth think he wants the terrorists to win. This is shameful.

Republicans read and write here. How does this make you feel about your party? Do you like that just under half of your party doesn’t think Obama was born in the U.S.? I am embarrassed that 8% of Democrats think that. How is that number not 0? There is a small contingent of Democrats that answered yes to all of these questions.  What in the hell is going on here?

How can over half believe he wants to give up U.S. power to a (non-existent) one-world government? How? Michele Bachmann? We act like Glenn Beck and Bachmann aren’t scary, but they’re obviously having a large impact. I wish they would have included a question about favorite newsmen. I guarantee a strong correlation with Beck and the craziest of the bunch (crazy minds think alike?).

The poll did find that you were much more likely to hold these views if you had never been to college. So education seems to mitigate the craziness factor. Bottom line: we need to educate people, because this is crazy.

Or perhaps conservative dementia has started to set in.

Enjoy wrapping your head around this poll.

Adam Feser

Update: If more people would realize that what Coburn says is true, we’d have less stuff like this going on.

Tom Coburn had a town hall with some fiery guests, and he shocked many of them with his defense of Nancy Pelosi. When he discussed his policy differences with Pelosi, he called her a nice lady. The crowd booed and hissed, and he replied, “Come on now. She is nice – how many of you all have met her? She’s a nice person.”

He has a great point here, and we’re all guilty of forgetting it. Just because we disagree with someone does not mean they are evil. I try to remind myself (and you) that we all have friends that hold positions opposite our own, and this means that any politician that we disagree with could be our friend.

Although I hate Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann and believe they are insane, but I don’t have any friends that crazy.

Coburn also had harsh words for Fox News. A woman complained that she would be thrown in jail for not getting insurance, and Coburn quickly said that is not the point. “The intention is not to put any one in jail. That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn’t the intention.”

He also said, “So don’t catch yourself being biased by FOX News that somebody is no good. The people in Washington are good. They just don’t know what they don’t know.”

A valid point from a man I rarely agree with.

Enjoy a free MLB Extra Innings preview.

Adam Feser

Some, at best, mentally unstable people have claimed the census is an evil plot to either intern people or take your gun away or something equally as abhorrent. Here is a brief sample with two of the least sane people out there discussing the horrors of the census:

Here is a video of Colbert covering the census hysteria then actually filling it out:

And here is the interesting part. Let’s say the hysterical leaders get their way and a bunch of conservatives don’t fill out the form. Let’s be honest, a good number of them have seemed more than willing to buy crazy conspiracy theories since Obama was elected, so this is possible.) If they don’t fill it out in large numbers, it is possible that those areas will lose out on representation in Congress. Bachmann’s district, for instance, could cease to exist if enough people listened to what she originally said. Karl Rove is no fool, and this could be the main reason he is trying to convince people to fill out the census.

If the census was truly sinister they wouldn’t want conservatives filling it out and they wouldn’t enlist the help of Karl Rove.

Enjoy Chuck

I’ve decided that I, too can make words rhyme that belittle one side. So I have made my own unfunny little ditty in the fashion of a crap e-mail. I would respect it more if the sender (poster) would just write his or her own. So that’s exactly what I’ve done, and I even added explanations of the meaning of each verse.

Oh, to forward unfunny e-mails,
written by unfunny hacks.
Oh, how I love their snopes fails,
they take 20 seconds, max.

(Get it, because they are poorly researched and take seconds to debunk?)

Some e-mails touted tea bagging,
“no taxation sans representation.”
They also claim to be patriotic,
but they forgot we’re a democratic nation.

(Get it, because they all have representation?)

Others complain of back pains,
from struggling with so high a tax.
The claim they didn’t make gains,
of course they didn’t check the facts.

(Get it, because most people haven’t had their taxes raised?)

Others are excited about Palin,
death panels, glasses, heaven.
Her 012 chances are sailin’,
guess Iraq was in on 9/11.

(Get it, because people like her though she has at best a tenuous grasp on truth and actually thought Iraq was in on 9/11 into her vice presidential run?)

Some come from Bachmann and Beck,
Death camps! Racist! Caffeine!
What balls to embrace this dreck,
I’d rather back Charlie Sheen.

(Get it, because Charlie Sheen is constantly arrested, but Bachmann and Beck are batshit crazy?)

For Bush it was “history will judge,”
never need Republicans fear.
For Obama it’s “worst president ever,”
though he’s had just one year.

(Get it, because Obama’s getting crushed, even earlier on?)

So here’s to the forwarded chain e-mail,
unfunny, unwitty, untrue.
Because if they had to be researched,
what would Republicans do?

(Get it, because these dumb things aren’t funny or true, but it seems to be all many people are interested in?)

Enjoy forwarding this (no seriously, don’t).

Adam Feser

The Tea Party movement has had its problems, and their convention seems as though it may have one. Representatives Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn have pulled out as speakers. Their offices said it was because they aren’t sure how the proceeds from the event can be used.

The event is being run by Tennessee lawyer Judson Phillips, and he says he hopes to turn a profit. This, along with Palin’s $100,000 speaking fee and the ticket price of $549, has many tea partiers boycotting the event.

I realize politicians get paid large amounts of money to talk, but this seems like an odd decision. This group is protesting what they deem to be pointless spending, and they are willing to spend $100,000 for a woman who was governor of Alaska for a few years. In addition to that, they expect people to pay $549 to hear what they already know she will say and likely agree with.

This isn’t the first split for the partiers, and I doubt it will be the last.

People have questioned their “grass-roots” status since its inception (many called it astroturf and others question how Fox News was a huge promoter) and I doubt this will help their image.

Enjoy Parks and Recreation tonight. Also, Archer is on FX tonight and is an awesome show. Check it out.

Adam Feser

I mentioned Representatives Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Bachmann (R-MN), and you deserve their actual insane ramblings. Bachmann is still worried about the global currency she verified with the other voices in her head. Here’s that one:

Franks, in a totally reasonable criticism of Obama, called him the “enemy of humanity.” Here’s that nugget of paranoia:

Other Republicans need to have a “Some of Us Still Have Our Right Minds Conference.”

Enjoy the never-ending stream of batshit crazy.

Adam Feser

I wouldn’t expect Mike Huckabee to attend a conference full of crazies like this one. I expect it from Bachmann and Franks (both also attended), but I wouldn’t have guessed Huckabee would attend.

There were talks on gay extremism, Obama’s fascism/communism, Obama’s birth certificate, how the UN is a huge threat, anti-Islam rhetoric, North American Union conspiracies, Obama’s hatred of white people (including his grandmother, I guess?), etc. I could see this being interesting to attend just for a good laugh, but not if you’re a self-respecting politician (or a sane one – Bachmann’s excused).

It’s hard to respect criticism when much of it comes from places and people like this. Republicans need to denounce garbage like this before any criticism loses all credibility.

Enjoy the insanity.

Adam Feser