Posted on 06/06/2011 5:01:05 PM PDT by ejdrapes
For evangelicals, Bachmann ‘speaks our code’
WASHINGTON (RNS) Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour warned several hundred Christian conservatives gathered here last week (June 3-4) not to expect a “perfect candidate” to emerge from the field of Republican presidential contenders. “There’s only been one perfect person that ever walked on this earth,” Barbour said, sounding as much like a preacher as a politician. “And there ain’t gonna be another one in this election.” None of the half-dozen or so rivals for the GOP nomination who addressed the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference walked on water, of course. But for many of the fiscal and social conservatives assembled by Ralph Reed’s new group, one candidate seemed to rise above the rest. “I am here to support Michele Bachmann,” said Phil Dacosta, a 42-year-old Southern Baptist from Atlanta. “I don’t care about anyone else.” Dacosta, wearing a blue Huck PAC T-shirt, called himself heartbroken that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won’t run for president this year. As Huckabee’s campaign coordinator in Georgia, Dacosta helped the former governor win his state’s GOP primary in 2008, one of eight states Huckabee took that year with strong support from conservative Christians. But with Huckabee out, Dacosta said he’s confident that fellow evangelicals will turn their eyes and organizing power to Bachmann, a three-term congresswoman from Minnesota. “She comes from us, not to us,” said Dacosta, an industrial engineer and passionate political activist. “She speaks our code, and we believe her.” Dacosta was hardly the only Bachmann believer at the Faith & Freedom Coalition. A Tea Party favorite who is also popular among conservative Christians, the Minnesota congresswoman is expected to announce her political intentions later this month in her native state of Iowa. The Washington gathering also signaled continued difficulty for putative front-runner Mitt Romney’s quest to engage conservative Christians. Harold White, a 62-year-old former train conductor who lives in Marietta, Ga., said negative stories about Romney’s Mormon faith have been making the rounds on his local Tea Party listserv. “We are moving away from Romney and Huntsman,” said White, referring to former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is also Mormon. “Their Mormon beliefs are just so different from Christianity.” Bachmann, on the other hand, seems poised to make a strong run among Christian conservatives, who comprise a quarter of the general electorate and an even greater percentage of GOP primary voters. At an April gathering at the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, Bachmann won the straw poll with 23 percent of the vote, besting even Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor. Addressing the crowd on Friday, Bachmann drew several loud ovations as she recounted her efforts to ban gay marriage in Minnesota, repeal the new health care law and defund Planned Parenthood. She also denounced President Obama’s “shocking” policy towards Israel, and described her family’s struggle to home-school her five biological children and raise 23 more foster children. Finally, Bachmann lowered her head and led the crowd in a two-minute prayer, including a supplication that “Father God, we want all men to come to know you.” Asked why he attended the Washington gathering, Bruce Nave, a politically active industrial contractor from Phoenix, said, “Michele pretty much summed it up.” “She is talking about our issues,” said Nave, 58. “Our government is getting out of control and we are not going to be silent anymore.” Nave, who is deeply tanned, said Bachmann has nicknamed him and his wife “Ken and Barbie.” Like many at the Washington gathering, Nave described himself as both an ardent evangelical and proud Tea Party member. The Faith & Freedom Coalition, founded by veteran GOP activist Ralph Reed, represents the “perfect synergy” of the two conservative and politically active groups, Nave said. Reed said Friday the aim of his group is to train volunteers to reach 17 million evangelical voters who were not registered or did not vote in 2008. “We are going to teach you some basic fundamentals,” he said, “so you can go back to your states and communities not only (to) be able to execute these plays and run this system, but also execute the biggest victory ever seen in American history.” Aileen Milton, 59, said Reed delivered a presentation earlier this year on his fledgling group to her Tea Party cohort in The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in Florida. Wearing a button advocating for “fair taxes” in Florida, Milton said she cares deeply about issues like abortion, but is more concerned with the economy, and with defeating Obama in 2012. “The country is moving in the wrong direction,” she said, “It is becoming socialist.”
June 6, 2011
By DANIEL BURKE
born April 6, 1956 in Waterloo, IA (Meets the Jus Soli Requirement)
Parents were
David John Amble, born in MN
Jean Johnson, born in IA
Both parents were US Citizens at the time of her birth (Meets the Jus sanguinis Requirement)
Michele Bachmann is a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN
Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein ObamaISN'T!
73:1:13
So does Ed Rollins apparently.
Haley Barbour is a rather imperfect vehicle for the “message” about perfection in GOP candidates.
LLS
“I am here to support Michele Bachmann,” said Phil Dacosta, a 42-year-old Southern Baptist from Atlanta. “I don’t care about anyone else.”
Brilliant guy. My only decision is going to be who to support if Palin announces. Right now Michele has 100 percent of my support. Palin would be number one if she announces. I have no issues with Bachmann at all.
Barbour, Cantor, McCain and someone else took down a web site the night of the 2010 election....about what the Repubs should do next. Progressives all.
Witness the "single issue Bible thumper"
They will ultimately be the reason for the destruction of this once great republic.
Haley Barbour does not impress me one bit. Glad he decided not to get in.
I am already sick of the discussion about who the GOP candidate should be. As of right now, I don’t have a favorite among those who have announced.
I do have some questions/thoughts though:
1) What are these awful things that Sarah Palin is supposed to have done during the ‘08 campaign? I keep hearing talk show hosts reference her baggage from 2008 and I can’t think what it might be.
2) I, for one, have voted for my last lesser-of-two-evils candidate. The beltway GOP can either let the grass roots have the candidate of their choice in 2012, or they can do without my vote. I am sick of the McCains, Doles and Romneys.
3) One other comment I’d like to make. The next time that someone asks if there is “room” for Michele Bachmann if Sarah Palin announces, I would like someone from the GOP stand up and say - women comprise more than half the population, so why do men seem to think that only one woman at a time can run for the GOP presidential nomination?
They will ultimately be the reason for the destruction of this once great republic.
Not true at all, the fall will be the big picture RINOs....you can support those types, but I will not in a million years. You and I both must stand before God and will be asked questions about keeping our principles. I want to ensure that there is no problem with my principles.....I hope you do the same.
So what happens when these people find out that Bachmann new campaign manager Ed Rollins has been trashing Sarah for a while?
I’ll be in good shape as I am sure you will be too.
This guy is a jerk. Huckabee is a snakeoil salesman. He wouldn't know a real Christian if he tripped over her.
Well that settles it. Somebody needs to DO something about this.
Thanks....It would be cool to have a FREEPER Friend area up there.
She speaks in tongues, tailored to pull the wool over the rubes’ eyes, and she just hired the serpent master RINO insider scumsucker Rollins to knead and mold the final touches on her flimflam snake oil roadshow.
This article is a direct assault on the intellectual abilities and mental faculties of evangelicals... it’s quite an interesting article for me to read, because I honestly don’t know enough (southern, western) Evangelicals to see how they themselves see the writings here, as the intended audience, of the motives of the author, and the motives of Bachmann...
I’m assuming they’re concerned about issues, not what some campaign aid said about a potential rival candidate.
2 high level female tea party candidates. If there was a RINO female, there wouldn’t be an apparent conflict, but Palin and Bachmann really go after the same basic supporters. It’s like if Ron and Rand Paul both ran.
In the country, Palin and Bachmann are the top 2 conservative women. They are pretty similar in a lot of ways.
I better point out that Bachmann has led a life of good deeds, I’m just not sure how getting paid national strategy consultants like Rollins, and unpaid or contract state level consultants like Dacosta is going to jive, and this adds a very specific religious tint to the old song,
we’ve seen it so many times,
Play the good old-timey conservative on the campaign trail, get to DC and surround and consort oneself with the likes of Rollins and his morass of eels.
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