Not sure how I missed this one, but luckily John Aravosis from AmericaBlog saw it himself. Bachmann said this in the huge Star Tribune write-up this Sunday:
The congressional delegation met with Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.
What was the palace like?
“It’s absolutely huge,” she said. “I turned to my colleagues and said there’s a commonality with the Mall of America, in that it’s on that proportion. There’s marble everywhere. The other thing I remarked about was there is water everywhere. He had man-made lakes all around his personal palace — one for fishing, one for boating.”
Aravosis compiled a comparison sheet:
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You’re quickly approaching a jump-the-shark moment on your efforts to belittle Bachmann. I’d be more worried about your favorite Congressperson, “Brother Keith” Ellison who compared 9/11 to the Reichstag fire. Now THAT was a newsworthy quote.
I can’t believe you are honestly comparing Bachmann with Ellison. Are you serious? Michele Bachmann is an embarrassment. While you - and a lot of others - may not agree with Ellison’s comparisons, he is doing fantastic things that Bachmann couldn’t dream of. She is a twit. I hate to name-call, but come on! You should look at what Ellison is doing to fight the locust-like credit industry. What has she done? What bills has she put up? Furthermore, how much thought actually had to go into any of the bills she put up? Get real.
There was an interesting article in this Sunday’s Strib on Michelle Bachman. She is watching her step now as well as her words. So far, she has been keeping away from the General populace of her District for fear of having to actually ansewer for her votes.
Bachman was quoted as saying “that being in Congress wasn’t what I thought it would be like” due to her marginal role as the Minority Party. She still supports Bush with the Iraq War,” I have great respect for President Bush for the stand he has taken against radical Islamo-fascists,” but is wavering on Immigration and No Child Left Behind. Maybe the rock star gush crush she had for Bush is paling?
All I know is that the DFL has to work hard to get the 6th CD to go Blue in 2008.
wtm, please take a look at the following: http://mnpublius.com/2007/07/congressman-ellison-just-apologize-please/
Banana Republic and Banana Republic are the funniest analogies I’ve read on here in a while. Shooters and Hooters would be a close second.
Hate to drop a big stinking turd in your party punchbowl moonbats, well that’s a lie, but anyway you idiots seem to think that putting a piece of a sentance in bold highlight makes the rest disappear…it doesn’t.
“in that it’s on that proportion.”
You losers must be really worried about how craptacular Keith X Hakim Ellison is looking to the rest of the country with his America bashing rants to stoop to this level of bufoonery.
Swiftee, I don’t take issue with the applicability of her analogy; I have no doubt that it reminded her of the Mall of America. However, I just can’t shake the image of Michele Bachmann standing inside that palace with an escort of military personnel, among other Congressmen and saying “Jeez, this reminds me a lot of the Mall of America!” I mean, come on Swiftee, even that has to put a little pit in your stomach; she’s representing Minnesota.
Michelle Bachmann is an embarrassment and her new strategy is to be a stealth Congresswoman. She apparently is hiding in an undisclosed location with Dick Cheney.
When I went to Washington D.C. with a group of labor union members in May, including constituents from the 6th CD, we could not get an appointment with her or her staff. We could not get an answer as to why she or staff wouldn’t meet with us. All other members of the MN delegation would at least meet with us, Including Coleman, Ramstad and Kline along with all the Dems. She is apparently only representing those who voted for her, or more importantly contributed to her campaign.
I wonder how much the GOP paid the Strib for what amounts to a puff piece?
Michelle Bachmann is going to find it very tough next year when she runs for re-election. Her supportive base is small in comparrison to the size of the District. It is beyong me that she is serving in the House of Representatives in the first place.
There are many jobs she is more suited for like Room Mother or School Board Member, but not a member of Congress. She is a horrible Representative.
“When I went to Washington D.C. with a group of labor union members in May, including constituents from the 6th CD, we could not get an appointment with her or her staff. We could not get an answer as to why she or staff wouldn’t meet with us. All other members of the MN delegation would at least meet with us, Including Coleman, Ramstad and Kline along with all the Dems. She is apparently only representing those who voted for her, or more importantly contributed to her campaign.”
Has she started passing out smiley stickers to her contributers for their envelopes yet?
Yes, I read that post Matt, but it was posted, what, a week after Ellison’s quote had been published? Further, in the post, you pooh-poohed the substantive nature of Ellison’s quote and simply bemoaned the fact the issue had metastasized into a much greater controversy than you or other liberals think it deserved.
I don’t know about you, but I find it far more disturbing that a member of Congress compares this nation’s most devastating domestic attack to an event in Nazi history than a member of Congress who compares the size of the palace of a former foreign dictator to a structure that is comparable in size. Those comparisons are not on the same scale to me, and therein lies the difference between our worldviews: I am more worried about the guy who has no qualms invoking Nazi comparisons than the gal who invokes MOA comparisons.
WTM: I respectfully disagree. A representative of the United States, the most powerful nation in the world, who is thoughtless enough to compare the palace of the ex-dictator of Iraq - a country we are currently occupying - to that of the Mall of America is absolutely disgusting! Comments like those, made by dipshit (sorry) legislators are far more destructive to our political debate in this country than controversial comparisons between Bush and Hitler. Please, for the the sanity of everyone who enjoys this blog, wake the f up!
Yep, those comments by Bachmann really raised a firestorm of criticism like those of Ellison. Sorry, dude or dudette, but your the one who needs to wake up. And, as an aside, the appellations that you use to refer to Bachmann, such as “twit” and “dipshit”, is what is truly destructive to political debate in this country.
My apologies to all for the use of “twit” and “dipshit”. I agree, not needed. However, my point still stands. If you can explain to me in a logical manner why her comments are less ridiculous than Ellison, I am all ears, or eyes in this case.
wtm:
For the sake of argument we’ll say that Ellison said what he said exactly as you state it. Aside from hurt feelings and frustrations, what is the price of Ellison’s comments and how does that compare to that DIPSHIT Michelle Bachman voting to sustain the death brawl in Iraq? You see, her veiwpoint leads to her vote which leads to more deaths in Iraq.
The two aren’t even close to being analogous.
Well put DJZ, except for the use of the word “dipshit” of course.
Anon, do you really believe her comparison of the size of a building, a THING, to another THING has the same ramifications and effects on the political discourse in this country as Ellison’s insinuation the Bush administration is on par with Hitler? I was embarassed by those who outrageously implied that your guy, Bill Clinton, had murdered people. I can’t believe you wouldn’t repudiate such non-sense when one of your own states it.
As to you DJZ:
* By comparing 9/11 to the Reichstag Fire, Ellison bastardizes history and cheapens the meaning of the Reichstag Fire. See, unlike Nazi Germany in the post-Reichstag Fire era, opposition parties in this country have not been outlawed. In fact, quite the opposite has happened — the “opposition” party, the Democrat Party, controls Congress. And therein lies the end to that false analogy. Nevertheless, Ellison receives a free pass and the political dialogue in this country corrodes and descends to even lower depths.
* By your logic, the price of Ellison’s comments quite simply will be the human and political fall-out that will occur should the U.S. leave Iraq: genocide, a new safe haven for terrorism, emergence of another radical Islamic regime in the Middle East, etc. But, seeing that your side hasn’t had its way, we don’t know the outcome yet. But, if they should have their way, we’ll be sure to give you guys all the credit for the disastrous consequences that follow.
Wtm, what I would say is the real distructive element in today’s political debate is the rampant corruption and lack of integrity from the right. Early on in 2001, as the criminals in the white house were rushing to war, dissent was considered unpatriotic. The phrase “patriotically correct” was coined then. The Dixie Chicks expressed some embarassment at the president being from Texas and it nearly cost them their careers. I routinely get called a traitor and worse. I’m used to that because Reagan codified the practice of making liberal a dirty word. Lee Atwater and his famous seven words to throw into a sentence whenever you used the word liberal put Raygun in the oval office and began the United States experiment with fascism. Now we have rigged elections and illegal wars while citizens are starving and corporations are making record profits.
WTM: I honestly do not know where to start with you. There is so much hypocrisy in your post it is almost overwhelming. Therefore, I am just going to choose one thing.
“By comparing 9/11 to the Reichstag Fire, Ellison bastardizes history and cheapens the meaning of the Reichstag Fire. See, unlike Nazi Germany in the post-Reichstag Fire era, opposition parties in this country have not been outlawed.” In case you didn’t know, it took many years for the German population to prove that the Reichstag fire was an inside job, and to connect the dots on how it was used to coopt a monopoly on power. How does he bastardize history? I think some more information is necessary when you accuse a legislator who clearly is far more accomplished than Michele Bachmann of bastardizing history. Furthermore, you have exemplified a key parlor trick the United States government, in collusion with the private sector, has used for most of its history. That is, we cause “opposition” parties (notice the plural) to be completely irrelevant by calling all of their candidates radical nut jobs, and putting into place a system of getting elected that requires one to raise such obscene amounts of money that a grassroots candidate for president stands little to no chance of even being considered credible, much less actually winning a nomination. Wellstone might have been that guy, but his plane crashed, so mysteriously.
To the Democratic party the “opposition” party is such a cop-out. When it is clearly a two party system, with no room for any additional voices, there really is no opposition to the system itself, which is precisely what the role of real opposition parties are. If we allowed for real opposition in this country we would have social democrats, revolutionary communists, greens, libertarians, and maybe a few other parties actively engaged in the debates. Instead, what you get is a bunch of candidates all fighting to see who can best represent the establishment with a new face, name, and look, but the same old crap, shined a little. Sorry if I seem jaded, but unlike you, I am not AT ALL happy with the status quo, and that includes the wimpy Democrats that I shamelessly helped elect.
One last thing: I’ll try to say this again, in a language you might actually understand. Michele Bachmann’s comments are far more damaging, because the aid the rest of the world in their already intense desire to see Americans as non-thinking, self-centered, disassociated, apolitical, couch potatoes who can do nothing but watch so-called reality shows, and buy cheap crap they don’t need, at humongous MALLS! So her comparing a very historical building, even if it did belong to a murderous dictator, to the MALL OF AMERICA shows exactly how shallow and materialistic Americans are. Remember, Bachmann is representing you and me when she is over there! I would argue she dumped on history far more than Ellison did.
Bachman’s statement was a bit silly but I don’t know how damaging it could possibly be.
Richard, I would say your are half right but would add to your statement about the problems with corruption with the Republicans the similar corruption with the Democrats. It is the decades of see-sawing between the parties with each promising a new way and ethics reforms if they get elected only to at best produce window dressing for the problem. The Republicans have recently been the most offensive simply because they have been the ones with the power worth paying for. If the Democrats gain complete control the shoe will be on the other foot six years from now.
As far as the work liberal goes I am proud to be a liberal. The word that is commonly now used I would say is Liberal which has less to do with liberty and freedom and more in line with socialist ideals. I don’t mean to use that term as an insult, just a accurate description. To that end though it is well within somebody’s rights to disagree with an artists, or individuals politics and not support their actions with their purchases. I imagine you do the same thing if you “buy American” or refuse to watch shows on a station owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Anon, the Reichstag fire was not “an inside job.” Most historians agree that Marinus van der Lubbe, the Communist, started the fire. Dude or dudette, get out of the conspiracy stuff — it’s polluting your mind.
Again, Bachmann was comparing a very large thing to another very large thing, from an area in which she lives. It’s not unusual for individuals to compare foreign ideas or concepts to those that they know in order to understand them. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Rigged elections…illegal wars…criminals in the White House.” And I thought the black helicopters hovered over only the far right-wing. I guess not.
Ha ha ha, very funny wtm. Black helicopters, conspiracy theories. Is that what you have to resort to. Sad, very sad. I could be wrong about the “inside job” statement, as I am merely using a statement I heard someone else say, someone I respect though, but still could be wrong. Either way, my point still stands, and I think it is unfortunate that you do not have to humility to even attempt to understand where I am coming from. I have admitted several times that I agree that Ellison’s statement is uncomfortable and that many people disagree with it. I made no illusion to you being a right wing nutjob or anything like that.
By the way, Kerosine Hat is very precise in his description of “liberal”. Today’s version of the word actually does associate with the social democratic values that the word progressive meant back in the 30’s. I still like the word progressive, but I can live with liberal.
As for conspiracy stories, you are simply dead wrong on the election issue. The record is well argued and available for public viewing virtual and hard copy. The 2000 and 2004 elections were both rigged. When you are ready to handle the truth you can easily go see the records. That’s all I will say about that. For now, the guys you like are the ones that rigged things, so you can much more easily live with it. When the Dems win the Presidency and maintain control of the House and Senate, and proceed to engage in crookery, we’ll probably be on the same side of the issue.
Osama Bin Laden has no better PR machine than the Bush Whitehouse, the RNC, the Republican party including Michelle who walks the party line, and the network of talking point repeaters on Fox news and right wing radio nationwide. To prop up this band of cave dwelling terrorist losers just to score political points is disgusting. I’m sure every rightie knows the only slim chance the Republicans have to win in 2008 is to exploit the hell out of the American people who fear Muslims. People are tired of it all. The Ellison comments postecd here by the trolls are all about that fear.
I don’t see any hope in the Republicans message to the people, just death and debt, blame, name calling, lies, smears, corruption, perversion, excessive greed, and violations of the Constitution. Michelle Bachmann wears these issues like a $400.00 pink pillbox.
The rapture would fix all that mess, right?
As far as the Mall of America comment goes, dumb, but that’s insignificant in comparison to the amount of embarassment Michelle Bachmann has brought to our great State with her opinions about a wide variety of issues and with her actions in Congress.
The “fool for Christ” may be just that, and that’s fine for her. Minnesota was a “fool for Michelle Bachmann”, and that’s not a good thing.
anonymous 35,
A link for you.
Emails Detail RNC Voter Suppression in Five States
“Previously undisclosed documents detail how Republican operatives, with the knowledge of several White House officials, engaged in an illegal, racially-motivated effort to suppress tens of thousands of votes during the 2004 presidential campaign in a state where George W. Bush was trailing his Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry.
The documents also contain details describing how Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign officials, and at least one individual who worked for White House political adviser Karl Rove, planned to stop minorities residing in Cuyahoga County from voting on election day.
The efforts to purge voters from registration rolls was spearheaded by Tim Griffin, a former Republican National Committee opposition researcher. Griffin recently resigned from his post as interim US attorney for Little Rock Arkansas. His predecessor, Bud Cummins, was forced out to make way for Griffin.
Another set of documents, 43 pages of emails, provided to Truthout by the PBS news program “NOW,” contains blueprints for a massive effort undertaken by RNC operatives in 2004, to challenge the eligibility of voters expected to support Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in states such as Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and Pennsylvania.”
More here, with links to documentation.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_072607A.shtml
Let’s not forget the caging efforts by the RNC(Whitehouse) used to supress the votes of troops in Iraq who resided in black majority precincts. The story is absolutely disgusting. http://www.gregpalast.com/massacre-of-the-buffalo-soldiers/
Thanks Nitro for putting up these links. I’ve been kind of busy, so didn’t have the chance to look them up yet, but was going to. I’ve met and talked extensively with Greg and anyone who has will tell you that there is no way in hell this guy would produce a single thing without massive documentation to back it up. He actually carries around more than 700 pages of documentation with him at all times! Truth Out has also done a fantastic job of not letting the journalistic establishment drop the ball on this issue.
Take note of these links WTM. They are really important, regardless of your or my political affiliation.