Who Would Michele Bachmann Add to Mount Rushmore?

[CAC1001]

I'll say one thing for her, who needs Palin when we have Bachmann? Wait, dream ticket, Bachmann-Palin (or verse vice'a). Maybe a joint presidency?

I don't know if she has said anything yet but I can imagine her views on evolution and global warming. Maybe she believes in evolution, how else to explain she has 2 spines.

Global warming skepticism is fine, check out some threads on the subject.

As for Bachmann, her latest gaffe is that the Soviet Union is still around (!)

 

[ThomasT]

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/10/kucinich_at_debate_i_did_see_a.html"

Kucinich has been effectively marginalized, but I like most of what he says. He was one of the relatively few people in congress who was for impeaching Bush.

So what that he saw a 'ufo', ie., something curious in the sky that he couldn't identify? I don't recall him saying that he thought it was an alien spacecraft or anything like that.

 

[mege]

I googled and yahooed Bachmann quotes and found hundreds and it's really annoying that an apparently 'serious' contender for the US presidency would still be a serious contender considering the content of those quotes.

The US is the laughing stock of the rest of the world. It's the butt of jokes and hated, as it should be. Its official hypocrisy and inconsistency is well enough documented. (Don't get me wrong here. I really want to, and do, believe that many, maybe most, US programs are well intentioned. It's just that there's so much corruption involved at every level.)

I'd be somewhat disturbed, but not really surprised, if Bachmann was elected to the presidency.

At least she has a body of work to evaluate and is being vetted by the media appropriately, unlike some 'constitutional scholar' I've heard of...

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

There is an ongoing legal challenge.

http://www2.starexponent.com/news/2011/aug/19/perspective-court-ruling-sets-showdown-ar-1248240/

"Last week's ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against Obamacare's individual mandate sets up the inevitable showdown before the Supreme Court, which will settle the dispute between those who believe Congress can order citizens to buy commercial goods and those who believe it cannot"

As Dave noted, I mention it because of the assertion that it is also unconstitutional on the state level.

 

[WhoWee]

She might be on to something with this one:

"Michelle Bachmann once worried that the U.S. is “running out of rich people.”

The fears were echoed in an insightful editorial in the WSJ headlined “Millionaires Go Missing.” The piece highlighted IRS figures showing that the number of American tax filers with incomes of $1 million or more had declined by 39% between 2007 and 2009. In 2009, there were 237,000 million-plus earners, down from 390,000 in 2007."

 

[Evo]

More from Bachman.

For Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, Hurricane Irene and last week's earthquake in the eastern United States were a message from God that Washington needs to change its policies.

Even as Irene was beginning its raking course up the East Coast over the weekend, which killed 21 people and caused widespread flooding and power outages, Bachmann told senior citizens in Poinciana, Florida, on Saturday that the hurricane was an "act of God" that Washington should heed.

http://news.yahoo.com/bachmann-irene-gods-message-washington-142224573.html

 

[WhoWee]

More from Bachman.

http://news.yahoo.com/bachmann-irene-gods-message-washington-142224573.html

It was an attempt at humor apparently - and taken out of context in the headline? my bold

""Washington, D.C., you'd think by now they'd get the message. An earthquake, a hurricane. Are you listening? The American people have done everything they can, and now it's time for an act of God and we're getting it," she said, drawing some laughs from her audience."

 

[Evo]

It was an attempt at humor apparently - and taken out of context in the headline? my bold

""Washington, D.C., you'd think by now they'd get the message. An earthquake, a hurricane. Are you listening? The American people have done everything they can, and now it's time for an act of God and we're getting it," she said, drawing some laughs from her audience."

I assumed it was nervous laughter because they just realized they were in a room with her and wanted out. Just IMO.

I personally believe she meant it, based from her background. IMO.

 

[WhoWee]

I assumed it was nervous laughter because they just realized they were in a room with her and wanted out. Just IMO.

I personally believe she meant it, based from her background. IMO.

She might? I just don't like the way Reuters presented the story - very biased.

"..Bachmann: Irene is God's message for Washington

...MIAMI (Reuters) - For Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, Hurricane Irene and last week's earthquake in the eastern United States were a message from God that Washington needs to change its policies."

 

[Newai]

I believe Bachmann was being sincere. I've heard her pray. There's a video of that floating around YouTube and it's creepy.

 

[turbo]

Right-wing evangelicals have a way of "interpreting" natural events as signs from god. See Pat Robertson's recent pronouncement that earthquake-induced cracks in the Washington monument is a sign from god.

We have some serious whackos out there, and some of them manage to gain followings and even get elected to high office. Bachmann is a disturbing example, IMO. If her campaign advisers got her to float this "sign from god" idiocy to gauge the public reaction at a small meeting, they are being very smart. If there is backlash, pass it off as a light-hearted attempt at humor. Knowing that Bachmann's husband's clinic is involved in "curing" gay people from their sinful ways, I don't put her too far down the crazy-scale from the WBC.

 

[Gokul43201]

No need for personal beliefs:



She's clearly making a joke.

 

[WhoWee]

No need for personal beliefs:



She's clearly making a joke.

Clearly! After seeing the video, Reuter's headline sounds ridiculous - very biased against her.

"..Bachmann: Irene is God's message for Washington

...MIAMI (Reuters) - For Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, Hurricane Irene and last week's earthquake in the eastern United States were a message from God that Washington needs to change its policies."

 

[Evo]

Stupid to make a joke about god, when she's known to be a religious uhm, fundamentalist. I don't find it funny at all, considering her beliefs and what she's said before. IMO.

 

[NeoDevin]

When asked afterwards about the intent of her comments, she had this to say:

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the victims,” she said. “This isn’t something that we take lightly. My comments were not meant to be ones that were taken lightly. What I was saying in a humorous vein is there are things happening that politicians need to pay attention to. It isn’t every day we have an earthquake in the United States.”

(bolding mine)

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/...n-comments-linking-disasters-and-deficits/?hp

Which is it? Was it a joke, or was it "not meant to be taken lightly"?

Another thing she's wrong on: As of today, there have been 2901 earthquakes in the US this year. That is significantly more than one every day. Even if you restrict it to mag 4.0+, it's more than 1/day.

Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

 

[Newai]

Even if I concede that her comment was a genuine joke, it still doesn't sit well at all. Given her previous sermons, such as the one here, I pick up some conviction in her comment about disasters and God. Is it hard to believe that she links her experiences to her faith?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0rUBomKvY0

 

[WhoWee]

Even if I concede that her comment was a genuine joke, it still doesn't sit well at all. Given her previous sermons, such as the one here, I pick up some conviction in her comment about disasters and God. Is it hard to believe that she links her experiences to her faith?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0rUBomKvY0

It appears she was standing on a Church stage - talking to a Church group - a sermon doesn't seem odd unless taken out of context.

 

[Newai]

@ Gokul43201, there is clearly some humor in her comment, but there seems to be a side of conviction to it. As a joke alone, it wouldn't technically be in her favor.

 

[Newai]

It appears she was standing on a Church stage - talking to a Church group - a sermon doesn't seem odd unless taken out of context.

The clip is complete in demonstrating how she attributed her experiences to her faith.

 

[WhoWee]

The clip is complete in demonstrating how she attributed her experiences to her faith.

She made the presentation on a Church stage to a Church group - an appropriate venue.

 

[Newai]

She made the presentation on a Church stage to a Church group - an appropriate venue.

That is incidental. Does this video not prove that she attributes her experiences to her faith?

 

[Evo]

She made the presentation on a Church stage to a Church group - an appropriate venue.

How about on national tv?

Bachmann: Got "sense" from God to run for office

By Lucy Madison (CBS News)

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says that she prayed to God about whether or not to run for political office and that those prayers provided her with a "sense from God" of "assurance about the direction" she was taking.

In a Sunday morning appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Bachmann - who will formally announce her presidential campaign in Iowa on Monday - responded to questions about statements she has made in the past that God "called me to run for the United States Congress."

"I am a Christian, as is my husband. I became a Christian when I was 16 years old. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ," Bachmann told CBS' Bob Schieffer. "Since that time, I've been a person of prayer. And so when I pray, I pray believing that God will speak to me and give me an answer to that prayer.

"That's what a calling is," continued the Tea Party favorite. "If I pray, a calling means that I feel like I have a sense from God."

Bachmann says she asked God about running for political office.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/26/ftn/main20074482.shtml

 

[WhoWee]

How about on national tv?



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/26/ftn/main20074482.shtml

Apparently she finds it necessary to defend her comments - made from a Church stage to a Church group? This is getting silly - I honestly don't care what she says.

I personally won't support her for President because it appeared to me she (opportunistically) hi-jacked the TEA Party on the steps of the Capitol Building at a time they needed a credible face on the floor of Congress - not because she believes in God.

 

[Newai]

Apparently she finds it necessary to defend her comments - made from a Church stage to a Church group? This is getting silly - I honestly don't care what she says.

It wouldn't matter if she said it in private to the Pope. She stated what she firmly believed, that God is the one who does things for her, that guides her, that makes things happen for her. Of course she said it to a church group. And she was completely honest about it to them. That was her honesty, what she thinks and believes.

 

[WhoWee]

It wouldn't matter if she said it in private to the Pope. She stated what she firmly believed, that God is the one who does things for her, that guides her, that makes things happen for her. Of course she said it to a church group. And she was completely honest about it to them. That was her honesty, what she thinks and believes.

Ok - great - now what? Bachman is religious. Bachman was educated at Oral Roberts (according to the clip). Bachman has defended comments she made in Church in a national interview. Last, Bachman made a joke about the earthquake and a hurricane to supporters - it was sensationalized by Reuters (IMO) - then she seemed to apologize or clarify to supporters after making the joke.

Btw - what is the purpose of this thread?

 

[Evo]

Why can't some politicians leave their personal religious beliefs out of politics? If they run on a religious platform, claiming that they will do things based on what a *god* tells them to do, it scares me. Probably a good thing to let the public know what's going on inside of their heads though.

Although churches are known to bus people to the polls, get people registered, get people to do absentee voting, etc.. These people are told who to vote for, I've been to some born again Baptist prayer meetings in the South with some old high school friends that were "born again" and it was surreal. I would have never believed the things they did.

I have nothing against people practing religion as long as it doesn't affect me. Hey, I didn't even mind when people at work would gather at my cubicle and hold mini prayer meetings for me. These were nice people with good intentions. Trying to pass laws based on your religion is wrong though, IMO.

 

[Evo]

Btw - what is the purpose of this thread?

I think we should have a thread on each politician trying for President, and report what's in the news about them. You can never have too much information about what drives a politician's decisions. We can lock the threads as candidates die off.

 

[Newai]

Btw - what is the purpose of this thread?

To post Bachmann quotes and not discuss them?

Anyway, Evo's post is an excellent answer to the rest of your reply, so I'll leave it there.

 

[WhoWee]

I have nothing against people practing religion as long as it doesn't affect me. Hey, I didn't even mind when people at work would gather at my cubicle and hold mini prayer meetings for me.

That's a bit over the top - were you ill?

 

[WhoWee]

I think we should have a thread on each politician trying for President, and report what's in the news about them. You can never have too much information about what drives a politician's decisions. We can lock the threads as candidates die off.

That's valid - I feel that way about our current administration as well.

 

[Evo]

That's valid - I feel that way about our current administration as well.

Obama would have to be included, unless he decides not to run.

 

[turbo]

Obama would have to be included, unless he decides not to run.

What new information do we have about him? Is he pallin' around with terrorists again, and using an anti-American racist as his spiritual adviser? Or have his birth certificate and birth announcements in TWO Hawaii newspapers been shown to be a scam?

He's been vilified by the right and by members of his own party and has prevailed. I wonder if Bachmann's "spiritual advisers" and Perry's would pass muster with Independents and moderates of both parties...

 

[Evo]

What new information do we have about him? Is he pallin' around with terrorists again, and using an anti-American racist as his spiritual adviser? Or have his birth certificate and birth announcements in TWO Hawaii newspapers been shown to be a scam?

He's been vilified by the right and by members of his own party and has prevailed. I wonder if Bachmann's "spiritual advisers" and Perry's would pass muster with Independents and moderates of both parties...

Well, to be fair a thread for Obama with mainstream news articles, just like for all the others.

 

[turbo]

Well, to be fair a thread for Obama with mainstream news articles, just like for all the others.

To be fair and balanced, I agree. But has the right manufactured enough "controversies" against him to make the thread viable?

 

[NeoDevin]

Bachmann jumped on the anti-vaxxer bandwagon too: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63369.html

It's almost like there's no bit of science that's too well established for her to deny.

"I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Fla., after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter"