Posted on 07/05/2011 2:18:53 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
There's no question that Michele Bachmann has captured the imagination of the tea party, but is that a good thing for Republicans? Judging by the nervousness among them, they're worried she could turn out to be another Sharron Angle or Christine O'Donnell. Remember them? They were tea party favorites in the 2010 election, who lost Senate seats in Nevada and Delaware that the GOP could have won with less extreme candidates.
Bachmann performed well in a debate in New Hampshire earlier this month, but she has a history of making off-the-wall comments that in ordinary times would disqualify her from being seen as a serious contender for the presidency. But these are not ordinary times, and Bachmann's spirited style and often willful disregard for facts plays well with tea party Republicans even as more traditional Republicans fret that her candidacy could be a train wreck for the party.
The tipoff came when Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Bachmann point blank, "Are you a flake?" Wallace later apologized for his less-than-artful phrasing, but the voting public deserves an answer to the question, if not from the candidate herself, then from the other contenders on the campaign trail, and from the journalists tracking her candidacy.
So far, Bachmann's competitors are treating her with kid gloves. They don't want to alienate her tea party fans, and they don't want to be seen as picking on a woman. As the only female on the stage, Bachmann has the advantage of standing out and benefiting from what appears to be a vestigial chivalry among the male candidates. They don't want to mess with a mother of five and foster mother of 23.
Bachmann is enjoying the same kind of meteoric rise that marked the entry of Sarah Palin onto the political scene, and with it comes increased scrutiny. Palin wilted under the attacks, retreating to Alaska and nursing grudges before emerging as a personality-based, anti-media candidate. Whether Palin intends to run remains a guessing game, though it appears she is more interested in cashing in on the political circus than actually throwing her hat into the ring. In the meantime, Bachmann is filling the void with a campaign that is highly professional, winning over voters who otherwise would have gravitated to Palin.
It's worth recapping some of the Bachmann-isms that have made her famous. She prides herself on being a Constitutional literalist, yet her knowledge of American history is so faulty that she credited the Founding Fathers with ending slavery and complimented residents of Concord, N.H., with sounding the first shots in the Revolutionary War.
More recently she has compared today's budget deficit with past deficits without taking into account inflation. In her indictment of the Obama economy, she claims gas prices have risen tenfold, when if today's dollars are measured against what yesterday's dollars were worth, it would be more like an increase from $2.60 a gallon to $3.90. But Bachmann doesn't let facts get in the way of a good rousing stump speech, and she's very good at rallying Republican primary voters who want to believe the worst about Obama and his policies.
She's running into some headwinds though as the facts catch up with her. She loves to rail against big government programs, but has benefited from agricultural subsidies paid to a farm owned by her late father-in-law. She insists she and her husband have never received a dime from the government, but financial disclosure forms she has filed as a member of Congress report receiving between $32,000 and $105,000 income from the Bachmann Farm Family LP between 2006 and 2009.
There have also been questions raised about her husband's counseling business which receives substantial payments from Medicaid, another big-government program Bachmann loves to lambast. Hypocrisy is not new in politics, but Bachmann is taking it to new heights, and if her rise to prominence continues unimpeded, the tea party may be following her over a cliff.
Wouldn’t that be a subsidy? ;’)
not paid by taxpayers.
Let the MSM pay them for silence, might help them get readers
Surprise, surprise! Is it any wonder the state run media are terrified of her and feel compelled to destroy her now?
/r
Compared to the corrupt, incompetent clown posse in the White House today, any of the current Republican candidates would be a significant improvement
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