Tea Party takes another hit

[Halcyon Daze]

Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota and self-appointed Tea Party figurehead, has announced she will not contest the 2014 mid-term elections.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/democrats-mourn-the-end-of-bachmann-blunders-20130530-2nddq.html

Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota and self-appointed Tea Party figurehead, has announced she will not contest the 2014 mid-term elections, casting a pall over the mainstream media she claimed to abhor.

In truth, Ms Bachmann loved the media, as it did her. Her congressional career could be cast as an eight-year sound bite. She railed entertainingly against Obamacare, gay marriage, the global warming conspiracy, evolution, vaccination against HPV and abortion. She questioned the loyalty of the president and saw traitors lurking in the corridors of the Capitol.

The media rewarded her with attention that far outweighed what Politico called her "thin" legislative legacy, while the far right of the state of Minnesota rewarded her with four two-year terms – but only just. The independent fact-checking organisation Politifact reported that she enjoyed "a remarkable streak", with her first 13 ratings being recorded as "False" or "Pants on Fire".

Indeed, 75 per cent of the Bachmann statements Politifact considered throughout her career were labelled "False", "Mostly False" or "Pants on Fire". Perhaps her greatest Politifact moment came when she claimed that the organisation had once checked her statements during a debate and found, "everything I said was true". Politifact rated that statement "Pants on Fire".

The highpoint of her career was during her bid to become the Republican presidential candidate, when she won the Ames straw poll, a significant early indicator of Republican voter enthusiasm. A short time later she took just 5 per cent of the vote at the Iowa caucuses, casting doubt on the future relevance of the Ames beauty contest. She eventually finished sixth in the primaries.

She went on to win her district in the 2012 election by just over 1 per cent against the Democratic challenger, Jim Graves, whom she outspent by a factor of 12 to one. (It turns out all those rhetorical flourishes were worth their weight in donation gold.)

But Mr Graves had made it clear he was coming back for another shot, and skies were darkening for Ms Bachmann, perhaps enough to turn off the geyser of Tea Party lucre. She was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee, the FBI and the Federal Election Commission for campaign funding irregularities.

Declaring she would not run again via a

released early on Wednesday morning in the US, Ms Bachmann reassured supporters that neither Graves' challenge nor the circling investigators had any bearing on her decision not to run again.

Rather, she compared herself with the president, who may serve only an eight-year fixed term. As a congresswoman, Ms Bachmann faces no term limit, but the grandiose and spurious comparison appeared to surprise no one in DC.

The Democratic strategist James Carville noted on MSNBC's Morning Joe TV program that her decision was a "sad day" for Democrats, and a relief for Republicans.

"She is a special treasure to the country, our movement and to freedom," said the Americans for Prosperity president, Tim Phillips.

She leaves several contenders behind to take over as chair of the congressional Tea Party Caucus, including Steve Stockman, a Texan Republican best known for inviting right-wing former rock star Ted Nugent to one of Barack Obama's State of the Union speeches, and for threatening to impeach Mr Obama if he instituted gun control laws in response to the Newtown massacre of December 2012.

Also in the running is Louis Gohmert, another Texan, who earned his Tea Party stripes for telling a woman she should have carried a foetus to birth even though doctors determined it was brain-dead; for suggesting the US government had been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood; and for saying that the mass killing in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado could be blamed on a decline of Judeo-Christian values and a lack of armed patrons.

Also in the running would be Steve King from Iowa, who once said Islamic terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" to have a man with the middle name Hussein elected president of the United States.

Then there is Senator Ted Cruz, yet another Texan, who was likened to Joe McCarthy for suggesting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel was a paid agent of North Korea. Fellow Republican John McCain called him a "wacko bird" after that, but getting called into line by the elder statesman of the GOP is manna from heaven to Tea Partiers.

As Ms Bachmann departs, the Tea Party is reinvigorated not by her efforts, but by the scandals plaguing the president, particularly revelations that the US tax office targeted Tea Party groups for further investigation.

And here's a few of her quotes just for the hell of it

On homosexuality: "It's a very sad life. It's part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It's anything but gay ... Because if you're involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it's bondage. Personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement. And that's why this is so dangerous."

On global warming: "Life on planet Earth can't even exist without carbon dioxide. So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that's on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that — that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental life cycle of Earth." (2009)

And again: "The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax." (2008)

On evolution: "Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There's a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species. That's where it's difficult to prove." (2003)

On traitors/Democrats: "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they are pro-America or anti-America." (2008)

On swine flu: "I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." (2009)

http://www.theage.com.au/world/in-her-own-words-20130530-2nde7.html?rand=1369882098091

[qualia]

On evolution: "Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There's a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species. That's where it's difficult to prove." (2003)

*giggles* - indeed, where do we say a cat became a donkey? although i'll say there's plenty of evidence for human's turning into......ASSES!!

hahahaa

[Auxin]

Individual tea partiers dont surprise me too much... look hard enough and you can find a blindly ignorant fanatical bigot in any large group.

The incomprehensible bit is that these people get elected.

I sometimes wonder if people vote for the worst, most offensive candidate just so they'll look good in comparison.

The bush administration, for instance, provided a great many people the opportunity to proudly say they were at least as smart as the president.

[Alienteaparty]

This ain't my kind of party :S

[Halcyon Daze]

This made me laugh

 

[whitewind]

She went on to win her district in the 2012 election by just over 1 per cent against the Democratic challenger, Jim Graves, whom she outspent by a factor of 12 to one.

Open your eyes, America. Yes, money talks, and it talks stupid.

Edited May 31, 2013 by whitewind

[qualia]

the law is now a free market, if you have enough money you can get your own legislator.

it's disgusting, but so are humans.

[Halcyon Daze]

So true qualia.

I found it ironic that this was reported so succinctly in the SMH, it's a shame they never report like this when it actually matters. It just goes to show they are not oblivious at all - just plain immoral.

Like 'personal legislators', the ultra rich are dedicated buyers of media influence too, infact they don't just buy influence, they buy the entire bloody corporation. Look at how the big miners like Gina Reinheart are buying up media outlets like Fairfax etc. They don't even mind if it runs at a loss, that's nothing compared to what their influence buys them in the end.

Preaching to the choir I know...