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For Michele Bachmann, A Pattern of Getting Facts Wrong [makes Palin look like Count Metternich]
Politico ^ | 3/12/11 9:48 PM EST | By JONATHAN MARTIN & KENDRA MARR

Posted on 03/12/2011 9:38:34 PM PST by fight_truth_decay

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s suggestion Saturday that the Revolutionary War began in Concord, N.H., rather than Lexington and Concord, Mass., marks the third time in recent months that the potential GOP presidential hopeful has committed a puzzling gaffe about history and current affairs.

Making her first trek to New Hampshire as a 2012 prospect, Bachmann told a GOP crowd in Manchester: “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord.”

The Revolutionary War began, not in New Hampshire’s capital, but in the famous two towns more than 50 miles away in Massachusetts.

For Bachmann, who leads the House Tea Party caucus and champions a return to the Constitution, to get such basic facts wrong about the country’s birth is revealing.

Her comment wasn’t just an off-hand reference that she inserted in her remarks. At a fundraiser Friday night on the New Hampshire Seacoast, Bachmann said almost the exact same thing

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts; US: Minnesota; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: americanhistory; bloopers; failingschools; history; iwojima; kendramarr; ma; massachusetts; me; michelebachmann; minnesota; mn; newhampshire; politico4obama; politico4romney; politicoflacks; politicoprrep; teaparty; vt
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To: fight_truth_decay
Would it not be refreshing if they just spoke "straight from the heart".

Indeed.

21 posted on 03/12/2011 10:44:39 PM PST by GVnana
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To: fight_truth_decay

“had Palin simply said the nonsense Biden has voiced we would think she was lunatic and she should be gone from the race–and that disconnect reminds us again how the media sadly ignores the most unhinged things if only they come from the politically-correct.”

Imagine this: “If Sarah should say, as did Biden, that Americans once watched “President” FDR on TV in 1929 rally the public after the Great Panic—Sarah is history. Fact. End of story.” - Victor Davis Hanson


22 posted on 03/12/2011 10:46:13 PM PST by anglian
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From The Anchoress. Side-by-side Gibson/Obama and Gibson/Palin questions and more. There’s no doubt the Charles Gibson interviews showed extreme prejudice against Palin and extreme favoritism towards Obama…He constantly questioned her ability to lead but never questioned Obama’s ability to lead.
Obama interview:

How does it feel to break a glass ceiling? How does it feel to “win”? How does your family feel about your “winning” breaking a glass ceiling? Who will be your VP? Should you choose Hillary Clinton as VP? Will you accept public finance? What issues is your campaign about? Will you visit Iraq? Will you debate McCain at a town hall? What did you think of your competitor’s [Clinton] speech?

Palin interview:

Do you have enough qualifications for the job you’re seeking? Specifically have you visited foreign countries and met foreign leaders? Aren’t you conceited to be seeking this high level job? Questions about foreign policy -territorial integrity of Georgia -allowing Georgia and Ukraine to be members of NATO -NATO treaty -Iranian nuclear threat -what to do if Israel attacks Iran -Al Qaeda motivations -the Bush Doctrine -attacking terrorists harbored by Pakistan Is America fighting a holy war? [misquoted Palin] http://theanchoressonline.com/2008/09/12/side-by-side-gibson-questions-more/


23 posted on 03/12/2011 10:52:45 PM PST by anglian
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To: fight_truth_decay

They’re going to Quayle-ize and Palin-ize and marginalize her. She’s got to be perfect or they’ll jump on every gaffe as proof of her right-wing stupidity.

Very sad.


24 posted on 03/12/2011 10:57:07 PM PST by cydcharisse (`)
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To: fight_truth_decay

This is just what the liberal media needs to push the Japan earthquakes off of the front page.


25 posted on 03/12/2011 11:03:39 PM PST by webheart (Just saying.....)
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To: fight_truth_decay

But Hillary or Obama can make stupid statements and the MSM ignores them.

Let Michelle or Sarah slip up and they rant for weeks or months or years about it.


26 posted on 03/12/2011 11:04:01 PM PST by Aroostook25
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To: GVnana
Politicians are wise to have their stump speeches fact-checked before making them.

Exactly.

This is 3rd grade history for New England. There's a Patriot's Day Holiday in MA and ME.... The Boston Marathon is run on that day .... The Red Sox always play at Fenway at 11 AM on that day.....

If it had been off an cuff statement to answer a town hall question she would be given a pass. It is local history and voters wouldn't expect her to know every detail of regional history.

This is, however, a prepared speech in NH. It would have taken 10 seconds to fact-check on Wikipedia. Instead, she made a statement that any 3rd grader would know is incorrect. Why should anything else she says be taken seriously by an uncommitted voter scrutinizing her positions?

She will be dismissed out of hand as someone who doesn't do their homework.

She's a Tea Party spokesperson. She can't come across as someone who doesn't respect the intellect of local voters enough to get 3rd grade history correct on a topic she herself chose to present.

The arguments that other politicians have made gaffes is specious. Independent New Englanders already know they're bullsh.t artists. They're looking for someone who isn't.

27 posted on 03/12/2011 11:21:14 PM PST by longjack
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To: fight_truth_decay

ROTFLOL They are such liars.


28 posted on 03/12/2011 11:28:45 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: fight_truth_decay

Ever notice how it always takes TWO liberal jugheads to write this crap.


29 posted on 03/12/2011 11:51:39 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Look for the union label and just say, NO!)
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To: fight_truth_decay
There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I'm not coming home to Selma, Alabama. .....Barack Obama

Selma was in 1965 —
Obama was born in 1961

30 posted on 03/13/2011 12:40:40 AM PST by Jackson Brown
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To: fight_truth_decay

Besides the media double standard (everyone gets details wrong), we should keep in mind that Michele may have had the right Concord in mind and not paid attention to the fact that she was in the wrong one. I’ve been on the road, and it’s not easy to remember where you are.


31 posted on 03/13/2011 1:31:09 AM PST by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: Aroostook25

But Hillary or Obama can make stupid statements and the MSM ignores them.

I agree about Obama but Hillary gets tons of crap. That whole getting off the aircraft and running for safety due to bullets being fired overhead was played over and over again on the media during the primaries.


32 posted on 03/13/2011 1:59:07 AM PST by napscoordinator
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To: fight_truth_decay

Uhgg.. The snobbery in this article is so offensive. None more than the comment “She makes Sarah Palin look like Count Metternich” from a so-called GOP consultant Mike Murphy.

I hope someone does a piece on Mike Murphy. I want to know who exactly consults him. It would help reveal more of the left-leaning, big-government, old-guard appeasers and compromisers in the GOP. (James O’Keefe, are you available?) These guys see the writing on the wall. They know they are dinosaurs about to eat their last meals and they are lashing out at those who represent the common man of the United States.

Bachmann is loved and admired precisely because she is not a card-carrying member of the elitist Washington clique of snobs. She is uncompromisingly conservative, she is a God-fearing family woman, she is a brilliant, hard-working, and accomplished lady, she is a fearless leader and exudes confidence, and she is drop-dead gorgeous. The same could be said about Sarah Palin. The opposites could be said about the old-guard GOP who have been too quick, too often to surrender their positions and vote with the big government socialists.


33 posted on 03/13/2011 4:15:28 AM PDT by GreatJoeMcCarthy
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To: longjack
"This is, however, a prepared speech in NH. It would have taken 10 seconds to fact-check on Wikipedia. Instead, she made a statement that any 3rd grader would know is incorrect. Why should anything else she says be taken seriously by an uncommitted voter scrutinizing her positions?"

If you actually take the time to check Wikipedia, you will find that for much of it's existence, pre-Revolution, New Hampshire WAS part of Massachusetts. They were joined and separated several times. So the real facts of history are a bit more nuanced than you think.

34 posted on 03/13/2011 4:16:20 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog
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To: fight_truth_decay

Does she know there are 50 states in the US?


35 posted on 03/13/2011 4:17:52 AM PDT by Conservativegreatgrandma
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To: Wonder Warthog
So the real facts of history...a bit more nuanced

I grew up in Massachusetts. I don't need to hear the nuance BS about Concord & Lexington. We're not talking about King Philips's war here.

Her statement is an automatic double facepalm for the residents of the area she is campaigning in, from 3rd graders on up.

If Bachmann is serious about campaigning outside of Minnesota she needs to have local people proofread her speeches.

36 posted on 03/13/2011 4:30:46 AM PDT by longjack
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To: fight_truth_decay

I guess only Jeopardy winners can run for office. Ken Jennings, where are you?


37 posted on 03/13/2011 5:28:25 AM PDT by New Jersey Realist (Congress doesn't care a damn about "we the people")
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To: fight_truth_decay

Forgive her. Several generations of us have been brought up on falsified history. I’m just now correcting that for myself.


38 posted on 03/13/2011 6:17:02 AM PDT by RoadTest (Organized religion is no substitute for the relationship the living God wants with you.)
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To: fight_truth_decay

She was just complimenting the people of New Hampshire on their tremendous sense of hearing. She didn’t say the shot was fired in New Hampshire, she said they heard it there. Those New Hampshireinians have many abilities.


39 posted on 03/13/2011 9:50:48 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: longjack
She's a Tea Party spokesperson. She can't come across as someone who doesn't respect the intellect of local voters enough to get 3rd grade history correct on a topic she herself chose to present...[and all]

Agree 100% "longjack"..and we all write that the other side says "this" and "that"..but I must admit is no excuse.

Fox News [by hiring] and other media outlets have overexposed [for media ratings] our best possibles.. they,therefore, become political celebrities/actors and are not taken seriously anymore.

So we are left without a Republican leader, not that I thought Bachmann stood any kind of a chance as President. But, I am disappointed.

...maybe there is no one out there with presidential leadership material, the "right stuff and IT factor".. and we go as a popular comment always made- "the worst of all evils".

40 posted on 03/14/2011 6:56:31 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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