American politics has been overrun by fundamentalist, evangelical christians. They joined the Republican party and have become an essential part of the party's base. As the conservatives in the party gained ascendency, they counted on and used the energy of their base for their political victories. But now that the Republicans are out of power and lacking any leadership, the nuttiest have come to the fore and any Republican who wants national attention must pander to them.
These people exist in more or less a separate universe that is entirely different and unrecognizable by those of us not in their movement. Sometimes they utter things, as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) frequently does, that simply make no sense and seem insane.
According to a former member of the movement, this is because they are in fact insane.
Frank Schaeffer and his father helped build the evangelical movement, but he had a change of heart. He's written a book and frequently appears on Rachel Maddow's Show to elucidate the rest of us about the movement.
As Bill Prendergast noted earlier today about the Avista Capital Partners' Star Tribune's unwillingness to print stories about Michele's crazed behavior and right wing fringe statements, someone needs to point this out. Bizarro World is our attempt to organize this history and counter the near decade of silence about her behavior by Minnesota's media.
Speaking of Bill Prendergast, I'm very, very pleased to have him on board. First for his encyclopedic memory about all things Princess Sparklepony and, secondly, it was really difficult running the Weasel Meter solo.
I'd like to thank Joe Bodell for all the code he wrote and configuration work he did to get this up and running.
As we all know, this is the summer of "crazy time" on the right--where all the conspiracy theories that were formerly relegated to the extreme are now being mainstreamed by the GOP and conservatives.
This article, with a drive by mention of Bachmann, is brief but it's a nice "round up" of the lunatic theories that are being circulated on the right.
Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009
Anger toward Obama, government isn't just about health care
By STEVEN THOMMA - McClatchy Newspapers
...
The ranks of self-styled militia groups is on the rise, with 50 new groups cropping up, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group that tracks hate groups.
"They're just bristling with anger," said Larry Keller, who wrote a recent analysis of militia for the center. "It's the most growth we've seen in 10-12 years. It's not what it was in the early '90s, but it's trending that way..."
First: the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota says that Bachmann appears on television about every nine days. An astonishing figure for a legislator who has neither sponsored nor repealed any significant piece of legislation in her entire nine years of elected office.
First story is about me: I have another Bachmann comic coming out in print which you can get for free, if you can get a hold of a copy of the Minneapolis City Page. It's in their 3rd Annual Comix Issue. The theme this year was "Minnesota Nice," so naturally I thought of Michele and her performance on the home foreclosures in her district...foreclosing families' homes, more and more homes...year after year after year, Bachmann election after Bachmann election...
Next, the Washington Independent says that LaRouche kooks are providing research for Bachmann/Palin/GOP charges of "death panels" and such...
(continued)
Congress Deadlocked Over How To Not Provide Health Care
August 18, 2009 | Issue 45•34
..."When you get into the nuts and bolts of how best not to provide people with care essential to their survival, there are many things to take into consideration," Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said. "I believe we can create a plan for Americans that allows them to not be able to go to the hospital, not get the treatment they need, and ultimately whither away and die. But we've got to act fast."...
mbrodkorb The bad press continues for Congressman Collin Peterson; http://tinyurl.com/m3n23w; #mngop #mn2010
So, I link on the tinyurl, and read this:
But Republicans on Tuesday saw the gaffe as an opportunity to make headway in Peterson's conservative Seventh Congressional District, which he has securely held for many years. In 2008, he won 72 percent of the vote.
Got that? Less than a year ago, DFLer Colin Peterson won 72% of the vote.
So, what does the intrepid Deputy Chair of the GreedOverPrinciples Party say about Colin Peterson?
"This has really I think energized activists in the area and is going to lend [itself] to a first-tier candidate coming forward to run against him next year," said Minnesota GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb, adding that there has been an "absolute explosion" of interest in the seat in the past 24 hours." (Strib)
Say, Brodkorb? An "absolute explosion" of interest in taking on a guy that just won with 72 percent of the vote??!?
Yeah, "right."
And a "first tier" candidate to boot? Not gonna happen - no "first tier" candidates remain in today's GreedOverPrinciples party. T-baggers and "birthers"? You got pawlenty. "First tier"? Not so much.
Oh, noticed this tweet, from MudSlingerMike, too:
RT @MinnPostRSS: Minnesota GOP ready to launch ad campaign against Peterson remarks: http://bit.ly/DByJR
Say, Mikey? Good luck with that "ad buy" you're tryin' to sell. When you say "five figure ad buy" that really means "$999.99 or less" - yes?
Although personally, I wish the GOPers would dump a coupla hundred thousand into the 7th, between now and the new year....
Many people across the United States are shocked when they hear Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) explain her latest conspiracy theory. They ask questions like "did she just lose her mind?" or "how did someone this crazy get elected?" and even "how did this woman get reelected?"
The reason is pretty simple. The Minnesota media have ignored her insanity, bigotry and lies.
Her entire political career has been rife with whatever nonsensical ranting you've just heard.
Conspiracy theories have been a constant in Rep. Michele Bachmann's political career since she first ran for the Stillwater school board in the late 1990s. She made her initial foray into politics by claiming that the Profile of Learning amounted to social engineering. Her anti-gay-marriage ideas were rooted in notions of sinister forces bent on destroying traditional marriage. Her bizarre rants within the past year against "anti-American" members of Congress, a global currency and government-mandated youth "reeducation camps" all exhibit the same disturbing tendency. She sees threats that few other elected officials perceive, let alone describe on national television.
They note how even the Fox News hosts are taken aback by her ravings. They describe her insistence that she will not fill out the census form "not right wing", "not conservative" and "just wrong."
They even go so far as to question how well she's actually representing her district. Thanks and I'm glad y'all can finally print some truth about her.
Q - Is ACORN providing workers for the 2010 census?
Did the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) sign on as a "national partner" with the U.S. Census Bureau to sign up over 1 million temporary workers to help with the 2010 census?
A - No. ACORN employees will not be taking the census. The group is one of more than 30,000 "partners" that will help publicize the event.
That's the short of the most recent debunking Machmann MotorMouth Overdrive. Not that that will stop her from continuing to repeat debunked stuff; after all - she's a republiCon.
"Take this into consideration. If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that's how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps," said Bachmann. "I'm not saying that that's what the Administration is planning to do, but I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up, in a violation of their constitutional rights, and put the Japanese in internment camps."
At this point even Megyn Kelly, who had been gladly dishing out the anti-ACORN talk along with Bachmann, had to take a step back and raise the point that the Japanese internment was a long time ago and we haven't had such abuses since then.
For some context on how this fits into Bachmann's overall worldview, keep in mind that she's previously warned of the threat of "re-education camps" where young people would be indoctrinated into the government's official philosophy.
As much as I enjoy having a political foil to use, we're way past the point of Ms. Bachmann being an embarrassment to Minnesota and America at large. Time for her to go away. Quietly.
However, every great teacher needs that special student. That one perfect Daniel-san to their Mr. Miyagi. And for Ron Paul, there can be only one.
The off-the-record talks have brought in speakers such as ... Thomas Woods, a conservative scholar whose ... current book "Meltdown" has inspired Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to question Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about economic fundamentals.
You could almost see it coming. Ron Paul is serving as a mentor to Michele Bachmann.
Bachmann "goes to these luncheons on a weekly basis," said Debbee Keller, Bachmann's press secretary. Keller noted that Bachmann was reading "Meltdown," which argues that the New Deal failed and that the Federal Reserve is responsible for the current economic crisis.
How nice that Ron Paul is challenging Bachmann's mind by feeding her drivel written to match her every preconception. It's almost reassuring to think that Bachmann didn't manage to become so loony all on her own.
Like peanut butter and even crazier peanut butter, Paul and Bachmann form the perfect pair.
So she's not divinely inspired? She's not reading right wing blogs or magazines? Her staff isn't researching and writing this stuff for her? Her heartthrob doesn't read, why should she? She's being spoonfed her crazy.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the energizer bunny of crazy, simply cannot stop. Her latest episode is a mix of insanity and lies was on KFSO AM560 in San Francisco. Can any embarrassment stop her?
[Host] Lee Rodgers: Minnesota is the first state to have elected an openly, avowed Muslim to Congress, Mr. Ellison. The word is, he is heavily involved in what amounts to a talent search for Muslims to fill jobs of some importance in the Obama administration. What's the reaction to that back in Minnesota?
Michele Bachmann: You know, I think our, our news media hasn't, hasn't put that message out. We have a very liberal news media here in the state of Minnesota and that message hasn't gone out. I think that most people probably aren't aware of that.
(Dump Bachmann)
Michele Bachmann is now pushing unsubstantiated lies about Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN). This is unconscionable.
But she's the energizer bunny of crazy and she's only getting started:
Much has been said recently about Rep. Michele Bachmann's insanity. I've come to call her the energizer bunny of crazy. To accompany this endearing trait, is her relationship with the truth.
It's like me and cleaning. I don't like it and I don't like to do it.
Bachmann wrote an editorial in today's Avista Partners-owned Star Tribune. In it she claims that cap-and-trade will raise pay the consequences with lost jobs, higher bills, etc. That's all well and good. She's entitled to her opinion. But she is not entitled to lie.
Any way you look at it, it's low- and middle-income Americans who will pay dearly for this. According to an analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the average American household could expect its yearly energy bill to increase by $3,128 per year. Using an analysis by Peter Orszag, President Obama's budget director, that number would be closer to $4,000.
The guy from MIT didn't say what she thinks he said. In fact, the study said the opposite. The MIT guy even sent Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) a letter telling him to stop lying about his study. That didn't stop Weeping John and his buddies.
I guess Bachmann and her buds aren't really into fact checking. Then again, neither is the Star Tribune.
The insanity never ends. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is the energizer bunny of crazy. She provided her scary crazy on a Saturday right wing radio show. Then did her stupid crazy routine today.
"I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us 'having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,' and the people - we the people - are going to have to fight back hard if we're not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States."
Stupid Crazy
After about the third time she asked, I would have asked her where in the Constitution it says the desk he is sitting at should be wood. And then asked her to tell me where in the Constitution it says he has to wear clothes.
There are a whole host of things not specifically listed in the Constitution- a wide wide world of government activities- but that doesn't mean that engaging in those activities is "unconstitutional." Geithner's actions do not derive their authority directly from something written into the Constitution several hundred years ago, but from the authority that Congress granted him when they passed the respective bills. In fact, the very reason we have things called "Constitutional Scholars" is because everything isn't spelled out verbatim in the Constitution.
(Balloon Juice)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN06) simply cannot stop embarrassing herself. While we all knew she went to law school, who knew she studied another language? She displayed her fluency in Eubonics at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington. She responded to a speech from new RNC Head Clown Chair Michael Steele.
According to CNN, Steele was then praised by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
As Steele concluded his remarks, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann -- the event's moderator -- told Steele he was "da man."
"Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man," she said.
(Huffington Post)
Personally, I think she should stick to English and speaking in tongues. She seems to embarrass herself just fine in those two languages.
