The Bachmann Two-Step: Tells MSM One Thing, Wingnuts Another
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has developed an intriguing habit amid her efforts to deal with the fallout over her McCarthyesque rant on Hardball last week.
In mainstream public forums, she either tries retract the things she said or denies she said them. But then she turns around and goes on right-wing media outlets, where she repeats various versions of the original whacked-out McCarthyite stuff in order to gin up winger support and money.
This kind of thing might have been doable as recently as five or six years ago. But these days, it's a bit tougher to get away with, what with little innovations like YouTube and The Google.
Check out our examples, after the jump.
When the controversy first blew up on on Monday night, Bachmann backed away from the comments in multiple settings.
First, she posted a guest op-ed at the Politico denying she ever questioned Obama's patriotism. "Despite the way the blogs and the Democratic Party are spinning it, I never called all liberals anti-American, I never questioned Barack Obama's patriotism."
Then Tuesday, Bachmann told the Washington Times: "I did not question Barack Obama's patriotism, I did not say he was anti-American. And the other accusation is that I was calling for members of Congress to be investigated on their anti-American views. That's absolutely a lie."
Also on Tuesday, Bachmann told a Rotary Club event in the district that it was a mistake -- and blamed it all on Chris Matthews. "When I was on Hardball with Chris Matthews last week, I do believe firmly that a trap was laid, but I stepped into it. And I made a misstatement, and I made a comment that I would take back."
But then...well...she turned around and started hammering the original points in friendly settings, in order to win over right-wing support and money.
Early Wednesday, Bachmann put out a fundraising e-mail on a right-wing site's mailing list -- that's right, she's raising money off the controversy! The e-mail included this nifty quote:
"All this because I dared to say that the formative relationships that Barack Obama had are relevant to figuring out what kinds of policies he might bring to the White House. Because I said that Barack Obama's close relationships with people like Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright and others who hold far-out-of-the-mainstream views might have had some influence on the policy positions that Barack Obama holds. "From there Chris Matthews did what Chris Matthews is paid big bucks to do: Twist my words and set them up for full-fledged distortion when his next guest came on. And, when the liberal blogs got hold of little clips of my appearance, the spin machine really kicked into overdrive."
Bachmann also kept it up on the talk-radio circuit. Yesterday she went on the Hugh Hewitt radio show: "And so, he [Chris Matthews] was using the word 'Anti-American,' and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama's views," Bachmann said. "Because Barack Obama's views are against America."
She also went on the Mike Gallagher show, and rhetorically asked this question: "What are Barack Obama's policies? Are they for America, or will they be against traditional American ideals and values?" When Gallagher asked how it could be in any way unreasonable to ask whether Barack Obama's views are anti-American, Bachmann replied, "And what I did is touch a nerve."
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Republicans have developed their own language of political discourse. When they try to speak to others, they have to speak what is to them a second language. And many are simply not bilingual.
October 23, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's bizarre is that the party as a whole doesn't understand the internet.
That may not be fair, the Democratic Party may be out of it somewhat, but I think that with Dean and with Obama, they get it a lot better.
What is strange is that Republicans blew Dems out of the water when they figured out how framing works--they were pretty innovative figuring out the human mind there. What happened to their R&D dept?
October 23, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's truly bizarre. I just can't understand. If you're on a radio show, trust that someone will capture and disseminate it. Period.
I really hope this idiot loses.
October 23, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's pretty obvious that Bachman is dumb as a stump.
October 23, 2008 5:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
And then there's Palintology. . .
Maybe this is what is referred to as speaking in tongues?
October 23, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Someone should ask her whether she embraces or renounces Martin Luther's virulent brand of anti-semitism since she is such an ardent admirer of the 16th century demagogue.
October 23, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think it's a new language of political discourse as much as symptomatic of full-blown psychosis.
The ability to believe that whatever you're saying is true at the time you're saying it is the hallmark of the sociopath. It's why sociopaths have no trouble passing lie-detector tests. The Repukes are, in their rabid Bachman/Palin/McLame incarnation, full-blown sociopaths.
These people should be under lock and key in secure wards. I'll settle for consignment to total obscurity and universal contempt.
October 23, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word.
She's no doubt telling herself that she has to play it one way for the MSM strictly because the MSM and the Democrats just don't get it when she tells it straight, so she has to pretend.
She believes that shit - a bunch of them do, apparently, especially the women. When women go GOP - they really go crazy.
October 23, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agree with your point but psychosis and sociopathy are two completely different things. Psychotics believe what they're saying. Sociopaths know they're lying but do so brazenly, without conscience, and believe they can get away with it (and often do). She's a sociopath.
October 23, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Republicans have developed their own language of political discourse. When they try to speak to others, they have to speak what is to them a second language. And many are simply not bilingual."
Well the way I was raised the term for this is called A LIE!
From the The Webster's II new riverside dictionary.
LIE...an untrue statement made deliberately : falsehood 1 to tell a lie. 2 to give a false impression.
I guess that blows her explanation out of the water.
October 23, 2008 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kudos to y'all here at TPM for staying on top of this. That's the reason Bachmann isn't going to be able to get away with her sleaze.
The other point to keep in mind about these "explanations", besides the patent doublespeak is that if you're explaining (which she is, at length) you're not attacking.
October 23, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bachmann will become a case study, an historical anecdote that explians the 2008 Election phenomena.
Her downfall explians the elements in this election.
October 23, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gosh, no one would be more pleased than I would to witness Bachmann's downfall, but it seems to me that this sort of talk is a touch premature. If the SUSA poll comes out tonight showing her five points behind, then maybe this makes sense, but right now she is simply facing a fundraising gap, not an actual electoral threat as such. Ask Mitt Romney about the value of having millions more dollars on hand than your opponent.
While her Hardball appearance may have alerted the rest of the nation to her status as wackadoo in chief of the House of Representatives, I dare say that the voters of her district already knew that she was a wingnut, and elected her nonetheless. This leads me to the conclusion that her constituents like their candidate to be a wingnut, so I am not sure that anything that she said is really going to cost her votes in her district, even if it manages to get a host of outraged democrats in Florida, California, Illinois (etc) to send cash to her opponent.
In other words, I am not yet prepared to get my hopes up with talk of her "downfall" just yet. If the actual polls show her losing support, I will reconsider that stance, but right now I am not convinced that we have as much reason for hope as Josh Marshall projects over on the main page.
October 23, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
She was elected in the 6th District in 2006 in a three way race, with the Independence Candidate taking about 9% of the total vote.
Her DFL opponent in 2006, Patty Wetterling, was a good progressive, but not particularly well suited to the district. El Tinklenberg is much better matched to the 6th District, and has the advantage of having served in the Ventura Administration (Independence Party), and Ventura and many in his party have endorsed Tinklenberg who has the DFL endorsement. In otherwords the 9% who supported a third party candidate in 2006, are highly likely to support Tinklenberg.
Today, Former Republican Governor Arne Carlson, who lives in the 6th, in Forest Lake, endorsed both Obama and Tinklenberg. Carlson served two terms, 1990-1998, and spent much of his time fighting the religious right by creating bi-partisian coalitions in the Legislature so as to govern. So as of today, he has emerged from retirement to again round up moderate republicans in his own district, and point them to Tinklenberg. While Carlson won two Governor's elections, he never was able to get party endorsement at a Republican State Convention -- he had to run in primaries. The Republican Party organization has been taken over by the Christian Right -- the current chair is the former head of the MN Christian Coalition -- and Arne is Choice on Abortion, and otherwise good on women's issues. Thus his decision to endorse both Obama and Tinklenberg can and should be understood as an extension of the fight for control of the Republican Party between the policy moderates and the Christian Right that began before 1990.
October 23, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I smell Macaca!
October 23, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain has not grasped the new media, nor have Republicans generally. Do they even know what Web 2.0 means?
While they are living in the Ginrich era, Democrats have vaulted way ahead of the game. In fact, are redefining it.
October 23, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thats "Gingrich"...or "grinch", for short...
October 23, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep yep!
October 23, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very true. But the Clinton machine also had no idea how to operate in the Internet/youtube age.
October 23, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I should've limited it to Obama. Thanks.
I think that he has set the new standard and hopefully other Democratic candidates will learn from it. Looks like he's just trained a new generation of activists?
I mean, announcing text messages from the convention floor? Crazy, man, crazy...
October 23, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
True and this is one of the main reasons she lost the primary.
October 23, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is this some new variant of the type of anti-gay rhetoric of Falwell?
Hate the anti-Americanism, but love the anti-American?
She is double-speaking like a schizo ventriloquist.
October 23, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
She is totally anti-Gay. Her Husband has a psychology practice that supposedly treats Gays and turns them straight, she authored the amendment against Gay Marriage while in the State Senate, (she didn't get it on the ballot), and she was once caught hiding under a bush trying to observe a party at a Gay Pride event. She also filed charges under the state Civil Rights law when she was not given a good table at The Gay 90's, a Gay Nite Club, so she could watch the Stage Show.
Bachmann also opposes Public Education -- one of her largest donors over the years has been PAC's intent on destroying the Public School System, and replacing it with vouchers that could be used at Christian Schools.
She also authored Minnesota's concealed carry gun law, a good part of which was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court.
October 23, 2008 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
When she swore to God that she would support and defend the Constitution, was she lying to God?
October 23, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
polytheism.
October 23, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, she always plays to her audience.
October 23, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have a hunch she survives this.
October 23, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was just about to type the opposite. But it is a lot harder to lose a congressional district than a senate seat. We'll see...
http://pufferfish.typepad.com/
October 23, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Her district was gerrymandered to fit her demographic--bible thumping fundies. You can tell when you drive through this area, because it has the highest number of anti-abortion billboards per capita in Minnesota.
October 23, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not so sure.
I think more voters are getting exposed to these flagrant lies and they don't like the cognitive dissonance. Witness how effective it was for Letterman to quote McCain saying he was flying right to Washington to save the economic bailout package, then right after that Dave showed the video of McCain getting made up for the infamous "babysitting Palin with Couric" 2nd interview in the CBS NY studios.
If Bachmann's two-faced rants get played more and more on MSM outlets like Letterman (not sure how many indies watch things like the Daily Show where they're also exposed) then I think she may be toast. She and Palin can then do a book tour together.
October 23, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign.
This ideology is dying fast - it's gone off the cliff. Americans might not have quite gotten how bad it was until this all started coming out, starting with Terri Schiavo.
That horrified more people and woke them up -
October 23, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
i was listening to the mike gallagher show this morning and heard her newest sob story about the whole incident. asking for money b/c if she doesnt get it she will lose and blah blah blah. and while i dont condone this, she went on to say that her house was vandalized but she conveniently left out the fact a lot of the MN elected officals houses were also vandalized. i almost want to call in and call her out on her hypocrisy but i know i would be wasting my breath especially with that scumbag gallagher.
October 23, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know why so many Dems want to see this woman gone. Nincompoops like this have value. Who knows how much damage Rep. Bachman could do to her party in the future if she's allowed to stay in office. Do we really want this dingbat taken off the national stage after only one meltdown? Screw that. Bachman's mouth is a gift that may keep on giving. Let's not send her out to pasture with Katherine Harris without letting her fuck things up at least through the midterms.
October 23, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn. I want my money back.
October 23, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lamont makes a good point.
And as for LBJ, who can disagree with someone who chooses Henry Blake for an avatar? :-)
October 23, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm always trying to reach Blake-like Zen...
October 23, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Too late. He already went shopping for a new wardrobe.
October 23, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
To an extent, I agree. The Rushes and the Hannitys also have value, and that value is this: during the next decade, as the GOP tries to figure out who it is and which way it is going to go, the clarion cries of Rush, Hannity, and the Bachmanns will be mixed in with the Wills, Buckleys, and Sullivans, keeping the debate from settling too soon, or in a manner that may ensure their electoral success.
October 23, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
What does the 6th district cover?
October 23, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
MN-6 covers Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright, Anoka, and Washington counties. That includes the northernmost suburbs of the Twin Cities (Anoka, Andover, Blaine, etc.) and the eastern suburbs in Washington county like Woodbury. It also includes all of St. Cloud. Mark Kennedy (R) held the seat from 2003-2007. Before that it was held by Bill Luther (DFL) from 1995-2003, Rod Grams (R) from 1993-1995, and Gerry Sikorski (DFL) from 1983-1993.
October 23, 2008 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anoka? Isn't that Garrison Keilor's hometown? I wonder what he thinks of having a fruitloop represent his birthplace (although to hear him describe his early childhood, it might well be that Anoka prizes fruitloopery).
October 23, 2008 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't speak for him, of course, but as a vehemently anti-Bush progressive Democrat I would have to think he's not exactly thrilled. And talk about realizing the American dream. Keillor was able to overcame his humble beginnings in Anoka to become a latte-sipping elitist celebrity living in a $1.6 million home on historic Summit Avenue in St. Paul, just down the street from the Governor's mansion. That Lake Wobegon schtick is pure gold.
October 23, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Druge reports, now being picked up by MSM, that a McCain Staffer was mugged last night in Pittsburgh, and when the attacker saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car he went back and cut a "B" on her face.
Her attacker was a big, dark-skinned black man.
She's a white staffer from Texas.
She refused medical care and there is no surveillance.
October 23, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just saw that on a local GOP site.
The story is also in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
October 23, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08297/922320-100.stm
October 23, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
But it doesn't say she's a McCain staffer. It just says she had a McCain bumper sticker on it.
The Obama/Biden campaign has already responded to this.
October 23, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
What did Obama/Biden say?
Drudge says she was a staffer, so, yeah...we'll see.
October 23, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08297/922320-100.stm
October 23, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
indeed, its all over. i have a feeling this is gonna bite them in the ass. in the end, its has been the m.o.
October 23, 2008 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's always some S.O.B. that doesn't get the message...
October 23, 2008 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Meaning that "attacker", if he exists....
October 23, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
She refused medical care and there is no surveillance?
That is one huge stinking steaming pile of bullshit.
Any woman who got a letter carved on her face would go for medical care -
and if she shows up with one - she did it.
October 23, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Says she refused medical care "at the scene." That will give her plenty of time to go home and create some bruises, cuts, courtesy of cosmetic magic. Gotta look good for the press conference.
October 23, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Every single instinct for crime that I posses is screaming "No fucking way! She's a liar!"
no surveillance, no doctor - how convenient. what woman gets a letter carved in her face and refuses treatment?
October 23, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are they sure it wasn't a pale, doughy-looking, double-chinned, white man with the initials K.R.?
October 23, 2008 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's interesting is, Matthews actually went pretty easy on her. All he did, really, was hand her the rope; she's the one who made a hangman's noose, put it around her neck, tied it to an overhead beam, and then jumped out the window. Contrary to his usual behavior, Matthews mostly just sat there and said (figuratively), "Are you sure you want to tie that into a noose? You're not going to dive out the window with that around your neck, are you." And she said, basically, "Yaaaaaah! [sound of glass breaking]"
October 23, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course she meant it. Why would she deny it? She'll deny saying something (and then probably deny the denial), but she'll keep saying the same damn thing ... because she's a frootloop and really does think this way.
Cheers,
October 23, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word! She did mean it.
October 23, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
It could have been worse for her. Chris could have had too much coffee, starting drooling on himself, and do to her what he so wonderfully did to the other Michelle... Malkin four years ago.
She had a good airing out coming to her for the McCarthyism she is spouting.
October 23, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bachmann is a true believer; Christian fundamentalist, radically anti-choice, socially and economically ultra-conservative. Her wingnut credentials and record are bona fide. The campaign she ran against Patty Wetterling two years ago had fundraising assistance from Hastert, Rove, Bush, and Cheney, plus $3 million from the RCC, with ground support from James Dobson and Focus on the Family. Wetterling actually beat her 2-1 on individual contributions, but couldn't overcome the money the GOP poured into the race. Bachmann took 50% of the vote, Wetterling 42%, and Binkowski (independent) 8%.
I'm eager to see the MN-6 poll results tonight to see how the numbers look right now. I think there is some reason to hope Bachmann will be defeated this year, but I'm waiting to see the numbers first. Tinklenberg now has a great war chest, and her primary opponent has mounted a write-in campaign targeting Republicans only.
October 23, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Bachmann Backlash continues: Today former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson, a moderate Republican, endorsed Obama.
The wild-eyed Bachmann seems to have united moderate Republicans and independents against the increasingly popular mouthpiece for Talk Radio:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/23/arne-carlson-former-gop-g_n_137204.html
October 23, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice.
Other fallout includes forcing Repugs to come down on one side or the other of this nonsense and it helps the rest of the Minn. races.
October 23, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This Minnesota Morticia reminds me of Kathleen Harris. Speaking of which, is that horror show up for election in Florida this term?
October 23, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check out Opie, Sherrif Andy and Da Fonz urging people to vote for Obama. Are the Repugs going to accuse Andy Griffith and Opie of being un-American? Not even those slimeballs would go there...would they?
Check it out here:
http://tinyurl.com/5dt3qy
October 23, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm almost convinced that poor Michele suffers from a rare form of conservative Tourette Syndrome. She simply cannot stop herself from blurting out the bile and vitriol.
October 23, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was at an Elwyn Tinklenberg fundraiser last night, and he said the GOP regarded Bachmann as a rising star. He didn't say where he was getting his information. He mentioned that she was being considered for high profile committees, and as a candidate to oppose Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Yes, conservatives are as out of touch as their talk radio indicates. It's sad when an ideology watches its real world applications all crumble.
Maybe not that sad.
October 23, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well that answers Lamont's question: why do we want Michelle gone so bad.
October 23, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
The 6th District in Minnesota was designed for Republicans. It takes the sandy, hardscrabble counties just north of the Twin Cities, which -- Garrison Keillor notwithstanding -- always have been economically raggedy and susceptible to political loons (this is Jesse Ventura country) and combines them with the lovably reactionary conservative German Catholic Stearns County and environs a bit farther north. The stick-it-to-the-elites reactionism of the northern exurbs and the anti-abortion zeal of German Catholic country yields Michelle Bachmann. Of course this is cultural characterization in broad strokes. St. Cloud also has a proud old (Democratic) union subculture, and there are plenty of nodes of progressivism elsewhere in the 6th, but nowhere else in Minnesota does the Republican Party pack in the votes as it does here. If Bachmann does go down, lots of levers are going to be be pulled for Dean Barkley in the senate race, and I don't see Norm Coleman left standing.
October 23, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
where are the new polling numbers? i'm dying i tell ya...DYING over here. i thought there was a poll in the field on monday. anybody heard ANYTHING?
October 23, 2008 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is just getting hilarious...Bachmann, Hayes, McCain, Palin....just too funny.
October 23, 2008 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
47-44!! YES! that's just gonna get better as Tink dominates the airwaves. i will sleep better tonight.
October 23, 2008 11:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
For an update on the Pittsburgh mugger/slasher story: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08298/922564-100.stm
October 24, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink