What sort of a president would Michele Bachmann be?
Posted at 5:00 AM on June 27, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(142 Comments)
Filed under: Politics/Government
With today's announcement, Michele Bachmann is officially running for president. Today's Question: What sort of a president would Michele Bachmann be?
Comments (142)
If she gets elected.... HEAVEN HELP US!!!! As the song goes..... "MONEY MONEY MONEY, IT'S NOT FUNNY, IT'S A RICH MANS WORLD". There would be no Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps and any help to the poorer class.
The more appropriate question is "what kind of a president would Michelle Bachmann's HUSBAND be". I find this utterly appalling.
Michelle Bachman might be better than Tim Pawlenty, but that's not saying much.
Let's just hope that someone with less ideology and more ideas ends up getting elected!
Late night comics will have hours of new material; almost on a daily basis. She is scarey, yes, but she will get caught in so many misrepresentations and mistakes the jokes will write themselves.
I didn't hear any of the comments on the air either. Avoiding conflict I'm sure. Michelle would be good for something I'm sure, other than the Presidency or any other office that's above her skewed ethnocentric world views. I hope she and those who follow her find some peace and wisdom.
Wow, Ringham, you sure struck a nerve.
I had been feeling sort of optimistic about Ms. Bachmann actually getting the nomination --figured that scenario would mean My Side would win in a walk.
That sanguinity has disappeared, replaced by terror. After all, this is the country that elected Ronald Reagan.
And besisdes, I was given the word by a devout Christian this morning, that Jesus' approach is imminent. Again. She was quite concerned about my fate, god bless her, she's a sweet lady.
Non-sequiturs will get you nowhere, CF.
@ Steve The Cynic
And thus, you are a bullshitter!
I don't think she would be a good president as she hasn't been a good representative. I live in her district and I can honestly say that she talks a lot, but has little follow through. I feel like she should be good at one job before we give her a promotion. Not to mention all the bad statistics and such that fallout of her mouth, I'm ashamed she's my representative and spouting such nonsence on a national level.
CF, are you implying I'm using a priori incorrectly, too? That's exactly the sense in which I was using that Latin phrase. But never mind. Pay no attention to me. I'm obviously too stupid to take seriously.
The ideals of taste (in the sense of valuing conformity to commonly held opinions of what is proper) and respectability (in this case, exemplified by the expectation that one should avoid the appearance of having a "lesser intellect") are prime examples of ideological bullshit.
What a terrifying idea! She is so mean spirited, bigoted and either does not tell the truth or twists it.
I listened and I didn't hear ANY of the responses to "TODAY'S QUESTION" on the air. (I really HATE this stupid segment of pandering, but found it interesting that on a day when the weight of the responses were negative, there didn't seem to be this usually stupid segment) Did anyone else hear ANY of the negative comments listed above?
@ Steve The Cynic
You use the word a priori, well let's go back to school now and look ant the dictionary.... again. Doesn't this definition kind of tie into ideology?
a pri·o·ri
1. from a general law to a particular instance; valid independently of observation. [Or a belief*] Compare a posteriori .
2. existing in the mind prior to and independent of experience, [or belief*]as a faculty or character trait.
3. not based on prior study or examination; [but rather by belief*] nonanalytic: an a priori judgment.
* my emphasis
Oh and as for using BS in your posts, I'm not offended. But do note that it was once written, "profanity is the crutch of a weak mind". To beat you to the punch, "profanity" is that which in general conversation of the culture, is regarded as not necessarily "evil" but rather in poor taste and shows one to be of lesser intellect.
CF, I've been using the word to refer specifically to the kind of intellectual framework that forms political opinions a priori from a set of unquestioned assumptions, rather than looking for real evidence. Can you suggest a better word for that than "ideology"?
BTW, one of the ideological opinions I consider bullshit is the idea that certain words are inherently bad and should be avoided, as if they have some kind of evil magic in them.
@ Steve The Cynic
Really Steve, need I instruct you. Here is the dictionary definition of ideology....
i·de·ol·o·gy
noun, plural -gies.
1: The body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc.,
that guides an individual, social movement,
institution, class, or large group.
2: Such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation.
3: Philosophy
a. the study of the nature and origin of ideas.
b. a system that derives ideas exclusively from sensation.
Now then, I ask again.. Is your ideological BS as much BS my ideological BS.
BTW, unlike you, I refrain from using the term "bullshit" in my posts. I have better taste.
OMG.... gee she made a mistake again...
"And, on a less-substantive note, she flubbed her hometown history when declaring "John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa," and "that's the kind of spirit that I have, too," in running for president.
The actor was born nearly 150 miles away. It was the serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr. who lived, for a time, in Waterloo.
Those were among the latest examples of how the Minnesota congresswoman has become one to watch — for inaccuracies as well as rising support — in the Republican presidential race."
So she admits she has the spirit of serial Killer?????
Ohhhh yea....she is qualified to represent America..... NOT!!!!
bye bye ... babe... America needs people that can think.... you failed the test again... and tomorrow you will talk and fail again...
dang..... What does the world think of MN.... land of mentally ill?
Clearly, CF, you and I are working with different definitions of ideology.
@ Steve The Cynic
Well Steve, we ALL have ideologies. Ideology is the basis for our morals, opinion and conduct of demeanor, not unlike religion. EVERYBODY has a religion by the way, even you! Be it the known formal religions like Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and even Atheism or perhaps the not so recognized belief systems like Wicca, Evolution or Materialism. Bottom line is everybody has an "ism" or ideology by which they live by. Unless you are an animal like my cat, he doesn't have an "ism", unless there's such thing as felineism. So with that, I ask is my ideology and yours as well, total BS?
Now while I'm here, back to Michele Bachmann. As much as I agree with her stance on life and free market entrepreneurship, I think she is the antithesis of Barack Obama. Now Obama campaigned on radical change towards the left, MB could be considered "change" for the right. Was Obama successful? No. Would a possible President Bachmann be successful? Don't bet your paycheck on it. Presuming you HAVE a paycheck.
And what ideology would that be, CF? Market fundamentalism is an ideology. Socialism is an ideology. Libertarianism is an ideology. Equating wealth with well-being is an ideological point of view. Ideology goes looking for evidence to support opinions, rather than basing opinions on evidence. Ideologues craft their political ideas a priori from a set of unquestioned assumptions, rather than actually trying things to see if they work. Adherence to an ideology inhibits healthy self-criticism and discourages asking tough questions of oneself and one's party. Pragmatism and evidence-based public policy are not ideological.
I'm with Eric, I would have to make good on my promise to move to Canada if she were ever to become president.
"Is Michele Bachmann actually Rocky the Flying Squirrel?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSthOUY00Cg
Rocky is actually from Minnesota.
Bachmann, from Iowa, today said everything she learned she learned in Iowa:
“We go back to seven generations of Iowans, back to the 1850s,” Bachmann said, recalling that her family was “literally part of the pioneers who felled the trees.”
Now, she said, she wants to take Iowa values into the White House.
“Everything I needed to know I learned in Iowa,” she said, to cheers. “That’s a voice that’s been missing for a very long time in Washington, D.C.”
I'd rather have Rocky.
Smart, kind and witty.
Polarizing and cruel.
The last thing we need is a strident ideologue like Bachman in the White House. Talk about taking the country to hell in a handbasket ....... I'm an centrist Independent, but if she actually got the GOP nomination, I'd join the Democrats in a heartbeat.
Michelle Bachman fervently believes whatever she is currently saying, even if it contradicts the previous sentence she just uttered. She is a seriously deranged narcissist who lives in a fact-free Universe all her own.
What kind of president would Michele Bachmann be? Unfortunately, the last one.
ugh.
One word "Refreshing"
Almost everyone knows at least half a dozen women who are better qualified to be president than Rep. Bachmann.
What I've seen here is alot of nightmarish scenarios and predictions of what would happen if Michelle Bachmann is elected president. What's truly absurd is how she is being "blamed" for all the wrong she could do and yet, it already is! Has Obama et. al. done ANYTHING to make this a better country?
@ John - We don't need Israel's help with the downfall of this country, we can do that all by ourselves. And we are doing it quite handily.
@ Steve the Cynic - You say "all ideology is BS". That includes yours too, right?
"Raul and Raoul - Are you right-wing paranoid identical twins? Amazing!"
Just guessing.... that's what happens if you're using more pseudonyms than you can keep track of.
I am embarassed to be from MB's district--she she changes evidence to fit her story, she has not done anything of substance for anyone locally that i can see. I see nothing in her screeching style that would suggest any other behavior forthcoming and would be totally aghast if she were elected. Having the radical christians and home-schoolers in your "pocket" in Iowa is not a representative force for the kind of representation I want to see in the highest office. ugggh
In my opinion,
In regards to her speeches and comments, Ms. Bachman is a bad idea for the GOP. She will be a loose cannon candidate; the one to take facts and twist them into fantastic fiction for news bites.
If she truly believes what she says then If elected President, she possibly will bring us unto a history not unlike 1930s Germany. As a candidate she definitely will be making other GOP candidate look like very reasonable persons.
Well I read through a few of the posted comments and someone said that she has more faith in the US population. Well, I recall a day when Palenty was running for Governor and my mom called concerned that he may get elected and I said "no way I have more faith in MN voters, they won't elect that goof." Well I was wrong! Now that goof along with this one are running for president of the US, please be careful and don't forget to get out and VOTE, or that goof could become president of this great nation.
Was she lying about being born in Waterloo?
Did we see a verified birth certificate?
Hoe do we know she's even an American???
Based on the comments she makes publicly, she is cleverly self-serving by making attention-getting, inaccurate and outrageous statements or she's not too bright. I believe it is the former which would make her the very worst type of 'public servant'. She announces the day that Rod Blagoevich is convicted on 17 counts for being a totally self-serving governor. She nor Gov. Pawlenty display the core values of our state, region, or nation.
Based on her record as the 6th district representative from Minnesota, she would be absent.
What is this country coming to that we have become this polarized? As a resident of the 6th district, I have never voted for Bachmann. What an embarrassment to the Minnesota and the nation. I actually feel sorry for T Paw.
Absolutely frightening. I have enough faith in the American people to believe such an ill-informed lightweight would never even get close to being nominated. Come on people, serious up!
She would not make a good president. She is not careful with facts. She is not good a listening to diverse opinions and mediating or leading a unifying direction.
And the worst impact is the tea party direction continuing to benefit the very upper tier at the expense of most other workers and taxpayers. Many of her allegations, such as how tax reductions are plowed into job growth, are not factual, and simply not true.
Frankly, she'd be alot like George Bush; she'll find away to cut more taxes for the 1% of wealthy Americans and corporations; she'd commit troops to more armed conflict in the Middle East; she might find some way to give Americans a rebate because she's opposed to government created jobs, yet has no real plan for ending 10% unemployment now; she'd try to repeal health care so I'd expect health care to increase their costs by a lot (maybe more than a third) because they know she isn't going to stop them; and she'd probably cut funding to public education, which, as quiet as it is kept, services far more white students than it does minorities.
Michelle Bachmann will be divisive and polarizing. She has no patience for listening to other ideas other than those that ratify her own. She will be a disaster for this country, separating us further, and installing a litmus test of tea party dogma and misguided loyalties.
On the other hand, a Bachmann vs. Obama contest will return the democrats to a majority because she will drive all but the demagogic hard right out of her party. She could even be the first presidential candidate to not win a single state. Not even Minnesota.
It would spell the end of this country as most people know it. There would be no safety net for anyone or any group for one thing. The end of the middle class would come more quickly than expected, and it will end if things continue on the path this country appears to be going anyway, thus leaving two groups---those who support Bachmann and others like her, and the have-nots, scrabbling in the dust for any leftovers dropped by this selfish, mean-spirited, bunch of evil-doers. Consideration would have to be give for those able and not willing to live under those conditions to leave and go live elsewhere.
She will not be the GOP candidate. She is not up to the task, she will crash and burn as quickly as she rose.
Ask Rep. Bachmann where the children in her immediate family attended school and where their foster children attended school. Just ask and listen carefully.
I believe that Michelle Bachman is scarier than Sara Palin, and that's saying something! She is so inflammatory and so far to the right that I am afraid that our country would go down the toilet so fast we wouldn't know it was happening until it was over.
I think that she is in the pockets of big business and the big corporations would have everything they want, lower wages, less regulations, less environmental laws, more than they already do.. I think voters out there want a more moderate candidate...
II'm so sad.... from the land of Hubert Horatio Humphrey to this...
That anyone can take her serious is beyond me.
She could single handed start the second American Civil War.
Israel Bissel would rise from the grave and ride again!
For the history challenged... It was Israel Bissel that rode from Boston to rally the colonists "to arms, to arms" to fight back intimidation of the colonists by a political party...
The following words of Samuel Adams, colonist rebel, Father of the American Revolution, and devout man of God… could be used to describe her…
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands that feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
I look forward to the fodder this will provide for The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live. But other than that, such a thought is scary beyond measure.
Terrifyingly dangerous. Bachmann denies evolution, global climate change, the rights of gay citizens - the list goes on. She has a vision of the world that is not based on equality and fairness but rather on her limited interpretation of christian rapture and armageddon. Just because she lives in MN now (she's not even from here) doesn't mean Minnesotans should wish for her presidential success.
Bachmann is a compulsive liar and gets all defensive, like all addicts do when she is called on it. She is also bigot and has un-American ideals of bringing religion directly into the government against the writings of the Constitution that she some times likes to quote. She would not only be a disaster for the nation but also the position of the presidency and the government as a whole.
She'd be a menace. Horrible. The worst. How has she gotten this far? Makes me sick.
The U.S.A. would be the laughingstock of the world if Michelle Bachmann were elected president and draconian cuts to the budget would turn this country into a 3rd world nation.
Floyd, what color is the sky in your world?
SCARY.....VERY SCARY
I really find it hard to picture Bachmann as president. I thought that when Obama took office with a democratic majority that much would get done and change. Some things did change but overall I find that democrats cannot organize themselves and get on the same page with each other to enact real change (I might take some heat for that statement, but I believe it to be true). I am a democrat and I find this to be one of the most frustrating characteristics about my party. Republicans don’t seem to have that challenge. What I am getting at is that if Bachmann becomes president with a republican majority any changes Obama did make would be undone, any progress made in recovering from 8 years of Bush would be undone, tax cuts for the rich and deep cuts to services for the poor would greatly increase. Without House/Senate opposition, I would be plain afraid of what she could do to this country.
Seems like you would lose your basic human rights unless you are devout christian and straight (oh, and rich). Can you really imagine this woman president: Flourecent bulbs should be banned bc they are bad for the environment, planned parenthood exhists only to do abortions and the occasional sex trafficing, as well as the need to cut minimum wage in order to restore the economy's condition... Could I be a political refugee?
I'm not a literalist, but I think that a president Michele Bachmann would be a sign of the end times. In fact, I think she's probably one of the four horsemen of the apocolypse. I don't know which one, but if you look at the woodcut, it's probably Famine or Pestilence.
Unqualified and Vindictive
First Tim Pawlenty (of taxes/fees) quits his job a year and a half early to campaign for President. Now Bachman does the same. Thanks for nothing to both of them. What a disgrace to MN. I back the current President. Change takes time. His handling of Wall Street and the Auto-industry may not please everyone, but don't blame Obama. Blame Obama, the House and Senate, and big money lobbyists, etc. We're lucky that things didn't crash any more than they did. At least the bleeding has partially stopped. Obama 2012.
We will never know because Obama will have a second term easy, and In his second term is where he's going to call checkmate on all who thinks he's not getting it done. People seem to forget that during his race before he became president, he said, things will get worse before they get better while trying to fix this country, also he said that we as a country have to pull together and that he can't do it alone plus it will take at least two terms to get us going in the right direction again. I understand that Obama cant get me a job, I have to get me a job. Big business controls the economy , not Obama, and since he don't want to play ball with big business like every other politician, they are leaving Obama out to dry to make it seem like he's running this country into the ground and that's the real truth. So sorry Mrs. bachmann, you and the tea bagger clan are too stupid to fix america. So with that said, Obama 12-16 will make us all proud, even the ones who hate him.
One word...scary.
It would be the end of the middle class in America.
George W. Bush's best shot at not being described as the worst president of the 21st century.
Rep. Bachmann apparently thinks those of us who study trends and think about how the current financial problems, job losses, foreclosures, etc. came about have profound memory loss. We don't! We know that most of this was caused by financial institutions, hedge funds, etc. that did not have enough regulation to prevent this mess that is having such profound impact on so many people. So her "We need less government" is heard as a code to those with memory as wanting to go back to the days of "do nothing to stop the rich from getting richer" Reagan, Clinton, Bush and some Obama policies. When are politicians going to get it that the poor actually cost taxpayers a lot of money and that paying living wages so people can pay taxes benefits all of us.
Some things are too terrible to think about and a Bachmann presidency tops that list. Chris Wallace was being kind in questioning if she is a flake. If this is the best America has to offer these days we are in bigger trouble than we think.
I will give her credit and thanks for diminishing any chance Timmy has of realizing his deluded dreams.
No, Anne, not fascism. Plutocracy, maybe, but not fascism. Fighting inflamatory rhetoric with more more inflamatory rhetoric from the other side is counter-productive.
SCARY!! But I hope she is the candidate, because even my most fervent Republican friends think she's scary too! Of course they aren't TeaParty goers.
While Sarah Palin seemed just over her head, Michelle actually seems over her head as well as just plain mean/vindictive. Probably not a good combo for the position of President.
Michelle Bachman as president would be a victory for Fascism ruling America. It scares me to the core.
She would be an embarrassment to not only the state of Minnesota but to our entire country! The global community would laugh at the United States and never take us seriously again.
Listening to her announcement speech, I couldn't get over the irony of her rhetorical use of "together" so profligately in her closing lines, while espousing an anti-togetherness ideology of libertarianism (except with regard to sexuality) and free-market everyone-for-oneself-ism. She opposes "big government" and extols togetherness, revealing her lack of understanding that government is how we do things together. She apparently agrees with Jesus that it's admirable to lay down one's life for one's friends, but not to pay taxes for them.
Oh, and the fact that it seemed appropriate to her to deny that her campaign was an ego-driven vanity thing leads me to wonder if, at some level, she realizes it is.
Raul:
I don't normally respond to feedback, but this time I will.
Please read what I wrote, but without your normal paranoia.
"She has little or no executive leadership experience. That in itself should disqualify her and several other self-nominated candidates from consideration for the hardest executive leadership position in the world."
I am not right-bashing. I am not left-bashing. I am suggesting that all presidential candidates should have exquistie executive leadership skills.
Do you disagree?
I am fearful. Bachman states so many untruths (see any independent fact checking organizations) and her supporters are either unaware or dont care. even if I wasnt in disagreement of 75% of the things BAchman stands for and find many of her comments to be ignorant or hateful, I would be uncomfartable with this woman as president. I find her to be dishonest and devisive and regardless of the party, these are not qualities I respect.
Raul and Raoul -
Are you right-wing paranoid identical twins? Amazing!
Yes, the Bachmans run a mental institution in Stillwater, MN. She's not only an owner, she's a client!
Divisive, ineffective, and embarrassing.
She loves to speak and mislead first, then back away later to appear that she is moderate. We need a respectful president who thinks first to lead our Nation.
How quickly we forget her past: She destroyed a charter school, was too extreme for the Stillwater School Board, even with GOP backing. Her gaff about anti-Americanism in the government was insulting, and smacked of neo-McCarthyism.
And I still remember her hiding in the bushes at a Gay rights rally.
Absent.... Wasn't she just elected Senator and since November hasn't she been flitting around with presidential ambition? Didn't she just run a questionable campaign against an equally ill prepared candidate where the issues were not the primary message?
Hasn't she been absent from her post as Senator with either the job responsibilities not getting done, or sub delegated to no named individuals?
The country would be worse off with that type of intellectual and work effort at the helm.
Absent.... Wasn't she just elected Senator and since November hasn't she been flitting around with presidential ambition? Didn't she just run a questionable campaign against an equally ill prepared candidate where the issues were not the primary message?
Hasn't she been absent from her post as Senator with either the job responsibilities not getting done, or sub delegated to no named individuals?
The country would be worse off with that type of intellectual and work effort at the helm.
Here we go again>> the far left making themselves look so biased..all slander with no hint of facts.
Then one says: " She has little or no executive leadership experience. That in itself should disqualify her and several other self-nominated candidates from consideration for the hardest executive leadership position in the world.
Posted by Neil | June 27, 2011 10:39 AM "
How much experience did Barack have???? None_ a little community organizing that has no responsibility to anyone else, no responsibility to make pay roll or provide for day to day operations. His policies have now shown just how incompetent he is with business and jobs and appointments.. Good lord, his own confidant, Ben Bernake said last week, " that the economy isn't improving _ baffles me.""
So if you don't want to appear stupid, before negating Bachmann....list your facts so others can read for themselves, but not some biased opinion from some political pundit on MNBC or CNN. BTW Bachmann is the far left's greatest nightmare and for that we thank her for running. :)
Raoul -
Forget to take your medication again?
I am appalled at all the negative comments on this question while none offer up any facts to support their name calling. The radical attacks against a family woman-Congressman. is uncalled for.
Look at one comment: " Her stance on abortion makes her both destructive to life and anti-choice. "
It doesn't take a college grad to see that comment re: abortion is irrational. How is anti-abortion and /or not_ using gov. funding to sponsor abortions somehow ANTI-Life? Abortion is simply killing a baby because it is inconvenient to the mother. Ever hear a 7 mo. pregnant woman say she is having a " fetus shower" to invite friends to? Nope_ dehumanize a near term baby somehow makes it easier to say Abortion is a choice and not killing an innocent human being. Compared to 30 years a go, today a 5 month premie can survive and grow to be a productive successful person__
CHOICE is good_ a woman __ chooses to have unprotected sex,..well, that is her choice to play the odds..but abortion is NOT a choice one human being can take to be used against a helpless baby. With that CHOICE of a woman logic, would we think it just for a spouse who financially contributes the most could say he/ she doesn't want to carry their spouse anymore and so can kill?
Back to support of Bachmann: The Liberal - far left can only name call to demean what they fear. Did you know that George Soros donated a lot of money to try to shut down the whistle blower reporter against ACORN this past month? Did you ever think that a man with no job experience, 134 days in Congress and didn't vote 99% of the time, who had no accountability to others to create jobs and had sat in a racist Black Liberation Theology (Marxist style) church for 20 years could ever become President? That's like expecting someone who sat in David Duke's church with a congregation of all KKK nuts could be President!
Bachmann dares to tell the truth while many in Congress hide from their actions. She should be praised for speaking out on how Congress and the President do not tell the truth!
HOPE and CHANGE? Sure, fundamentally change America to what? Spend TARP2 money and the stimulus [promise that unemployment won';t exceed 8%? Three years later it is over 9% with blacks at near 23%..Hope and change that?
How about how many jobs were saved or created in the past two years? White house numbers don't add up but if they did and if we really did create or save ( measure that saved part?) then we see that the stimulus cost over $334,000 per each job created!!! while we have the data that shows 2.5 million are unemployed compared to just 22 months a go. Obama raised our national debt over 3 times . Gasoline went up over $1.05 since he took office. HOPE and CHANGE for that?
At this current rate with a DFL Senate and progressive President, we are approaching the status as seen in the collapse of the economy in Greece .
President's adviser George Soros( visited the WH over 6 times) collapsed the UK economy in the late '80's made a fortune with his hedge fund group and created the Open Society and the 100 some so called 504 groups to bash any dissent of the progressives radical views..yes, they are radical views; e.g. _ kill babies by a mother's choice ( do it before birth and then you aren't called a Casey Anthony sideshow, Gore speaks of controlling population just as China does, Obama appointed radicals with no real life experience running business or creating jobs, he appointed radicals like Van Jones ( creator of STORM_ a self professed communist and who has professed that 9-11 was an inside government job!) Obama appointed radical Eric Holder and Holdren ( you recall_ the guy who wrote about how we should sterilize people through drinking water?) and Chu , the energy czar (the one who went on tape to say " ...have to get fuel prices to European prices of $7-8.00/ gallon so we can push green alternatives. Obama said in early 2008, " under my plan, electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket." Who is hurt the most by rising fuel and electricity prices? Yup_ the poor and middle class.
How is that for HOPE and CHANGE? Ever notice for the most part, Obama NEVER said what he would change except for rising energy costs and reducing troop levels. Records and polls show he has been the MOST divisive President..contrary to his talk of bringing DFL and GOP together_ the rift is even larger today.
Bachmann doesn't call for an end to the US dollar as the global standard, she doesn't call for raising taxes, she doesn't call for more regulations to slow business growth...and she is not a hypocrite. Hypocrits are like Mrs. Obama doing massive $350,000 vacations on our dime. and WH monthly parties while Barack is out golphing while our troops are dying.
So ask yourself this: Ever see the poor create a business and create new jobs? Nope_
Does the progressive movement which was started by the American Communist party back in the early 1920's create jobs with forced unions? Nope_
Has a failing company ever been turned over to the unions and then succeeded? nope_
What is the biggest internal cause of private business' failing ( such as GM and Chrylser) ?
You guessed it_ Unions manipulating private owners... do your own research and see for yourself why Progressive ideology is counter American freedoms and cares little about preserving the Republic.
Simply put_ Progressives attack those who seek to preserve our Republic and it's guaranteed freedoms using name calling and verbal attacks. When that doesn't work, which group has been the violent group across time? Yes, the progressives, the radical left that embody the likes of the Underground Weathermen and SDS...famed leaders such as Obama's friend, Bill Ayers and Anita Dunn.
Bachmann may just be our last hope to save America from the Open Society radical Marxist like order that Soros promotes. Compare her resume with Obama's.......she ran a business and created jobs, she raised others children and knows that Choice is made when one first lays down_ not when one gets tired of being pregnant.
BTW, where is code Pink and N.O.W. to complain about how badly women are treated in the Middle east or when Soros' groups attacked Palin or the comedians that called her the C word? ? Where is their outrage of how the Liberals are attacking Palin and Bachmann as women? Odd they have been so silent..Hmmm..
I can't wait to see SNL!!!
She would be an excellent Republican candidate.... for the Democrats. Pawlenty is probably the most electable of the Republican field, so it says something that the party seems to be abandoning him.
Does the term Ivory Tower mean anything?
She would hide from the press, except Fox news... That is until her policies turn out to fail then even Fox news will have to abandon her.
She will not take kindly to criticism, even if all they are doing is quoting her very own words and just asking to make sense of them....
Considering her hiding her income, especially for farm and child care, she will likely hide a lot of other activities once in power..... And be VERY paranoid about it.
She will have a hard time with foreign affairs much like Palin, being geographically inept and historically confused. (And I am really honestly being kind with this...)
On balancing the budget she will not have a clue.... Nuf said there.
And she will want to end social security wanting all those layabout old geezers to "go get a job! and stop depending on hand outs!"..... I think we all know this.
To be honest the Devil could not pick a worse candidate. I bet he is smiling at the possibilities...
Steve the Cynic -
It's heartening to know that you know of some foster care providers whose primary motivation is the welfare of children.
Ask some foster kids, past or present. Sadly, the exception proves the rule.
Bachmann may very well have been a compassionate foster care provider.
Just so long as none of the children showed any tendency towards same gender attraction.
Michele Bachmann would bring some reason to this country.
You cannot spend more than you make (Sorry Commy- Peoples Republic of China - we don't need your loans anymore).
Straight tax with NO loopholes is a good thing.
She has more experience at it than our current community organizer.
Go Michele!
∑
DTOM
Unmitigated disaster.
She has done nothing for the 6th district, even shrugging off Minnesota altogether with her announcement. It is my hope after this aggrandizing charade is complete, the voters will come to their senses and we in the 6th will be rid of her altogether.
Floyd (posting at 10:11am), do you actually believe that post-digestive cattle feed, or is it satire? That comment is so whacky, I have to wonder if "Floyd" is not the pseudonym of a left-winger posing as a right-winger to make the right wing look even more ridiculous than it is.
All ideology is bullshit.
She has little or no executive leadership experience. That in itself should disqualify her and several other self-nominated candidates from consideration for the hardest executive leadership position in the world.
Steve:
"Thanks for the reminder that the left wing can twist facts, too"
Oops, you're right, it was $1 mill house and $250,000 in foster care bennies.
"My bad," as the kids say.
J
She would be a crazy nut job. Oh sorry, I guess she already is a crazy nut job. Run Michele, Run!!! : )
Jim Shapiro - None of the folks I know who do foster care are getting rich from it. They all have to keep their day jobs. They couldn't do it if it weren't for the government payments, but wouldn't do it if they didn't care about the kids.
Be skeptical of the skeptics, too.
Unprepared. She doesn't know how to deal with being wrong or how to work with someone who doesn't think like her.
While I would love to see a female President, it should not be this woman. She is the epitome of Republican polarization, fear-mongering and negativity, tearing down the current administration instead of supporting its efforts at change and healing. She is such a social conservative that she would undoubtedly reverse civil rights progress that took years to achieve. Also, Bachmann has repeatedly been shown to misstate facts while speaking out on issues, proving that getting her opinion out there and riling people up is more important than taking the time to actually learn the truth about the issues at hand. I would enthusiastically support an intelligent, well-spoken and QUALIFIED female candidate like Hillary Clinton or Condoleeza Rice, but the idea of Bachmann as President scares me to the core. I'd move to Canada.
Michele Bachmann would be utterly ineffective. She hasn't been able to get support for a SINGLE piece of legislation to benefit her constituents during her entire Congressional career. Instead she has chosen to focus on fund-raising and self-aggrandizement. That may seem successful to people who value appearance over substance, but her polarization and lack of sensible policies would lead to the destruction of the country.
One need only look at the whacked-out things she says (there is an extensive record) to understand her ridiculous world view. This may play well with the ignorant rabble, but, on the world stage, Bachmann would get nothing but rotten tomatoes.
// We would return to the path of being a free people in a free nation once again.
Yes, a much smaller one due to the milions and millions of deaths because of the shifting of wealth power. But an ideal society where there are fewer to watch, therefore, fewer to control.
Disastrous polarization.
Bachmann would engender an even more divided, mean-spirited America dedicated to dismantling all government institutions, hell bent on taking down anyone and everyone who does not subscribe to a Libertarian political agenda, who does not persecute gays and lesbians, who does not attack those receiving any type of public assistance and every aspect of government...she will be a formidable candidate as the Tea Party activists take over state caucus after state caucus to put her on the ballot. There is no one more skilled at working the media and milking the news cycle.
Michele Bachmann would be an utter disaster for not only the US, but the rest of the world as well. She would drive us over the cliff to economic devastation by refusing to understand basic economics and she would institute her discriminatory version of biblical law, usurping the Constitution (on which she CLAIMS to be an expert).
She would continue her paranoid and hypocritical rants if, by some bizarre chance, she was elected to higher office. The media need to start doing their job and fact-check Bachmann's hyperbole and deliberate lies.
Bachmann's candidacy would be amusing if it wasn't so dangerous.
She will make a wonderful president. My pastor shared with me that he firmly believes that a Constitutional amendment declaring this nation to be a Christian nation will pass if she is elected. Moreover, I believe we will pass other amendments outlawing the practices of socialism and declaring this country to operate under an unregulated free-market economy. Social Security, Medicare and ObamaCare would end. The powers of theFederal government would be returned to the states where they belong. Nearly all of the Federal departments with the exception of some parts of the Department of Homeland Security, Defense, and State would either be eliminated or severely cut. We would cut the size of our military and once again rely on our National Guard for the national defense. And the national debt would be likely erased by the end of her second year in office. We would return to the path of being a free people in a free nation once again.
I'm afraid that she would be a president who would lead us one step closer to the society depicted in the movie "Idiocracy".
She simply makes stuff up. She tells lies. She spews cliche' "American" stuff that sounds like it came from Joseph McCarthy speeches of the 50s.
Well lets just look at what she has done as a representative. Churp Churp Chrup.....
All she ever does is run for the next best office. If she were president she will have to actually do something. Well, if she never did anything before how can we understand what she will do as president?
I think it is disgusting that she is getting so much press! Other moderate (competent) republicans like Huntsman or Romney don't get nearly the press. MPR and others are doing a great disservice reporting on such a wackjob.
She is more intelligent than she lets on to be,
I suspect that if she gets the nomination, she will eventually say something accurate and truthful.
Until then she will continue to be an embarrassment to many of us that are both Christians and Minnesotans.
Terrible. She's all sound-bite and rhetoric.
Steve the Cynic - "Foster parenting is not a profit-making venture".
What a sweet sentiment. Careful, or you might have to change your epithet to Pollyanna the Naive.
A scary one. Corrupt corporations would get richer, and destruction of the environment would be fast-tracked. The poor would be thrown to the wolves, and equality thrown under the bus. The country would be even more polarized than it is now. She would embarrass us on an international stage.
She'd make "W" look like Einstein.
She would be the same sort of president as she is congresswoman: the kind who talks a big game but is completely ineffective. How many bills has she sponsored in Congress?
@Forrest
Please don't label all evangelicals in the same camp as this nut case. We don't all believe in the Left Behind sort of prophecy that she ascribes to.
Remember, she's just like you, she's one of you. (except she lives in a 1.3 Million dollar home on a golf course in Woodbury). Well, there is that.
Can a women who sounds exactly like, Rocket J. Squirrel from the Bullwinkle cartoon, get elected Prez? I think not.
"An anti-government republican who ahs earned $1,000,000 in foster care subsidies?"
Thanks for the reminder that the left wing can twist facts, too. (1)Foster parenting is not a profit-making venture, though it does seem hypocritical for a free-market ideologue work so closely with that kind of bit-government program. (2)I would be suspicious about that $1M figure.
In short, a really, really bad one.
If Bachman became president, I would seriously consider moving to Canada. She is the most vacuous, insipid, and devisive candidate I have ever seen. She constantly tells lies, half-truths and extremist diatribes, and it is obvious that she actually believes everything she says. She is evasive when being interviewed.
As someone else pointed out, she is like your crazy aunt that forwards email spam without investigating whether or not it is true. Every time she opens her mouth she makes less and less sense.
I cannot imagine her in a position of true power. I don't want to even think about what could happen with her in charge of our military and nuclear arsenal.
I am not "afraid" of her, yet. But the idea of President Bachman would shake me to my very soul. I am flabbergasted that the Iowa republicans are actually taking her seriously. They must be even stupider than she is! Wake up, Iowa!!
I think she would be the sort of president who is in WAY over her head.
If, by some absurd circumstances, Bachmann actually makes it to the Presidency; I fully expect her to escalate the Israeli/Palestinian conflict int an all-out war, because of her ardent belief in evangelical end-times prophesies.
It would be a wet dream for right-wing loonies and humorists, a nightmare for the sane and the serious.
Divisive - in the Republican party as well as the general electorate, in Washington and also internationally. She does stir up the base which is a good thing for Republicans.
But, she has a long history of not working with others, even in her own party, to get anything of real consequence done. Maybe that's why leaders from her party have repeatedly rejected her as part of their own leadership apparatus.
She would have no problem giving voice to the disaffected/outsider because that is the role she has always carved out for herself. The President as an "Outsider" is a tough role to maintain once elected.
Vote for Pedro.
It would be a boon to the political satire industry.
I am thrilled she is making T-Paw so miserable. I can't believe the rest of the country could support her and will work like the dickens fto defeat her.
First of all- we don't elect Kings! Her personal attributes, (or the lack thereof) has nothing to do with any individual legislator. They tend to hold to the party that controls them. She displays nothing differant in her voting record.
She is certainly goofy enough to help the other side- and proves it each time she states something to the press. She has NEVER BEEN TAKEN SERIOUSLY as a legislator, and to my knowlege has NEVER AUTHORED LEGISLATION.
It would be great! An anti-government republican who ahs earned $1,000,000 in foster care subsidies? Someone who uses apocalyptic christian code-phrases in everyday speech? A lawyer who worked for the IRS yet who wants to abolish taxes? It would be alot of fun to see her and her sheep-like followers become a world-wide joke. I may just buy a TV so I can watch it happen.... oh wait, too late.
I have always believed that the United States of America is a strong enough nation that it could endure any individual as President for four years since the constitution limits the amount of authority that the President has. But, with the current makeup of Congress and the Supreme Court, I believe tht a Bachmann administration could cause irreplicable damage. She is qualified to be president because she meets the legal requirements, but that is the only way that she is qualified.
I can not imagine "President" and "Bachmann" in the same breath.
If I were the managing director of a hedge fund, I'd short the world.
What sort of a president would Michele Bachmann be?
Incompetent in even a more dedicated way than Sarah Palin.
If she declared herself polyamorous, bi, took up the medicinal and recreational use of cannabis, and pressed for legalization of rescheduling legalizing of pot and hemp at least she'd be interesting.
Michele Bachmann would be the most anti-rational, anti-intellectual, delusional, demented, hyperbolic, theocratic, demagogic, divisive, inept, rabid, inflammatory, propagandist president this nation has ever seen.
Michele Bachmann would be an embarrassing bigoted, racist, homophobic, ignorant and deluded President. Right up (down) there with GWB.
She would be a terrible, uninformed ruler. U-Tube is full of videos that should be embarrassing to her. Specifically:
Her stance on abortion makes her both destructive to life and anti-choice. Data are emerging that contrary to gut-level instincts, strong education programs, pre-natal counseling and keeping government out of the reproductive decision making process actually reduces abortion rates. Her pronouncements that Planned parenthood offers abortions in shopping malls and therefore should be shut down is uninformed.
Her stances on energy policy are wrong-headed. We need to move away from our dependence on oil, both domestic and foreign. This is not just because of global warming issues (watch her video talking to the house of representatives on this -- she must have no science advisors on her team) but would enhance our energy independence and be both innovative and create jobs. Nuclear power is dangerous, creates difficult to process waste (we still do not have a permanent repository setup) and burns nearly as much fossil fuel over the lifetime of a reactor as just burning oil would do.
Her fiscal policies are too regimental and again wrong headed. Conservatives accuse the democrats of being 'tax and spend', but history has shown time and again that conservatives are 'reduce taxes but spend anyway'. We need someone who is capable of weighing all options and acting accordingly. Bush's policy of reducing taxes, but then mounting two major war efforts without raising revenue again created one of the biggest deficits since Reagan (largest peace-time deficit in american history at that time) and led to one of the worst economic collapses since the depression.
No thanks, I need a decision maker with a clearer head.
Michele Bachmann is a puppet of the media and AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) the biggest political contributor. I generally agree with most of Michele’s views on excessive government and out of control spending BUT her strong vocal alliance with evil Israel is so wrong. Israel will be our (USA’s) downfall. The US taxpayer is funding Israel at more than $3 billion per year and much of that money is used to control/buy our politicians including Michele. Both sides of the political spectrum are being bought. Israel is a terrorist country.
I'd rather not consider the possibility.
A crazy polarizing wing nut, who believes in the rapture. Do you want a president with their finger on the nuke button who believes in the rapture? I'll pass.
Didn't we have a nightmare like that involving Sarah Palin?
A strong, smart woman who is unapologetic for her conservative views who is not afraid of the mainstream media.
No wonder why leftists are afraid of here.
Better start the Saul Alinski character assassination right now!
Let us hope we don't have to find out.
The fact that she is even a credible candidate is a testament to how far from grace we have fallen. Politicians like her are a direct result of American Democratic, and educational, insouciance.
As a life long moderate republican who wouldn't vote for a democrat for dog catcher, I am not a fan of Michelle Bachman.
She is too extreme on the social issues and, to some extent, like obama, she can give a great speech but when it comes to substance, she is a bag of wind.
I am sure the far left free loading democrats who love to see her win the nomination as it would be another four years of obama.
Similar to George McGovern in 1972, Bachman has no chance to win the general election.
I hope, like Palin, she fades away, lured by the big bucks on the lecture circuit.
Amazing how short a 4 year term seems when the campaign lasts 2 year.
She won't bring Mr.Pawlenty along as VP....
Too scary to contemplate.
The demands and pressures on a president places the effectiveness of a president on the selection of appointee and advisers and his/her judgment of seeking this advise a consul and resulting decisions made. As a republican, I would expect I would feel comfortable with most of her decisions.
Pre-apocalyptic transtioning into post- apocalypse.
Oh god.
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