Tag Archive for 'Michele Bachmann'

How the GOP would balance the budget: Eliminate Social Security and Medicare

by Jeff Rosenberg | 22 Comments

First of all, I should say that I respect Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for having the guts to release his budget plan, as it’s not politically popular at all. His plan also shows that balancing our budget is going to be a tough undertaking. That said, it is a terrible, terrible plan. I’ve been meaning to talk about this for a few days now, as it’s really stunning in its dismantling of our country’s promises to the elderly. Here’s the gist:

The Republicans’ budget would privatize Social Security and Medicare. Privatizing Medicare wouldn’t actually save any money in itself — so the government would slowly decrease the value of its Medicare vouchers, forcing seniors to dip into their own pockets. There are also a variety of smaller spending freezes, and the obligatory tax cuts. An analysis by the CBO shows that the plan would end the deficit… sometime between 2060 and 2080.

Our own Michele Bachmann apparently thinks we should go even farther and completely eliminate Social Security and Medicare:

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February 9, 2010, 8:00 am | Category: Misc. National Politics | Tags: .

Where is Michele Bachmann?

by Jeff Rosenberg | 23 Comments

She’s only very rarely in Minnesota, and it turns out that she’s not at the Capitol nearly as often as she should be. Looking at data on missed votes in Congress, Dusty Trice discovered that Bachmann has missed nearly one-sixth of all votes this year — putting her amongst the top ten vote-missers in Congress.

So where is she? Why, here, of course:

October 15, 2009, 7:24 am | Category: Misc. Local Politics | Tags: .

Bachmann almost says something sane

by Jeff Rosenberg | 2 Comments

Michele Bachmann, on Larry King Live, says she is not a birther:

I have no reason to doubt that he [was]* born in the United States. …The president has shown his birth certificate.

I was about to thank Bachmann for being reasonable about this non-issue. Then, though, she kept talking:

The only place that this issue comes up is on the left. You don’t hear people on the right bringing this issue up.

Um, are you frickin’ kidding me? The left couldn’t make up this sort of derangement if we tried. If the issue doesn’t come up on the right, why have no fewer than nine Republican members of Congress sponsored a bill to require prospective presidents to verify their citizenship?

I would think that even conservative readers of this blog would acknowledge that birthers are a particularly vocal hard-right fringe group. Of course, I stand to be corrected in the comments.

* Bachmann actually said “I have no reason to doubt that he wasn’t born in the United States,” but the context makes it pretty clear she just misspoke — even I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one.
October 8, 2009, 3:00 pm | Category: Misc. Local Politics | Tags: .

MDE is now completely surreal

by Jeff Rosenberg | 18 Comments

I know nobody really pays attention to Minnesota Democrats Exposed anymore, but it’s got another new author. First, I’d like to welcome Luke Helier. Now that’s out of the way, I’d like to ask: What are you thinking?

You’ve got to check out Luke’s first substantive post:

Tonight, Tax and Spend Liberal Senator Tarryl Clark is holding a fundraiser outside of the 6th District.  The fundraiser will be at Sweeney’s Bar which sits squarely in the 4th District.

I am sure this will be one of many fundraisers that Big City Liberal Tarryl Clark holds outside of the 6th.  MDE will post more information as it is received on all of Clark’s out-of-district events.

Seriously? You’re going to complain about Tarryl Clark holding a fundraiser outside the 6th district? Her opponent, Michele Bachmann, hasn’t had a spare minute for her district or her constituents since she realized she could get attention in the national media. She spends every possible moment on cable news shows, and can only be bothered to interact with her constituents in the very rarest of circumstances.

I’m afraid the new MDE-ers are going to have to do better than this. If 6th-district residents decide to keep Bachmann in office on November 2010, it sure won’t be because of all the attention she lavishes on her district.

October 1, 2009, 6:36 am | Category: Misc. Local Politics | Tags: .

Bachmann Violates Regulations on Congressional Frank — Again

by Aaron Landry | 24 Comments

On top of the existing ethics complaint that is still in process, Bachmann is sending taxpayer-funded literature with “Bachmann Solutions” to citizens outside her district. In some cases, taxpayers are footing the bill for Bachmann to send her message to Colorado:


Photo: Matt Schmoeckel, Flickr

From the Regulations on the Use of the Congressional Frank by Members of the House of Representatives, Rule XLVI, 4:

A Member may not send any mass mailing outside the congressional district from which the Member was elected.

Considering Bachmann has an unusually high number of staffers dedicated to media, why is it that her press office is guilty of repeated violations of misusing taxpayer dollars and the congressional frank?

September 20, 2009, 11:03 pm | Category: CD6 | Tags: .

Michele Bachmann makes things difficult for reasonable* Republicans

by Jeff Rosenberg | 25 Comments

Politico has a great article about House Minority Leader John Boehner’s struggle to keep his head above water amidst the building flood of crazy coming out of the conservative wing of his party:

Like a surfer riding the heavy waves before a hurricane, Boehner, a conservative with a penchant for compromise, has spent the past few months trying to harness the anger of the GOP base without allowing his conference to veer too far to the right.

A particular danger to the party, Politico writes, is our very own Congresswoman Michele Bachmann:
Sources say they have been especially wary of the possible damage inflicted on the party’s reputation by bomb-throwing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who last fall called for an investigation into whether members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.”
But Boehner is way too late. The Republican party is now completely under the influence of people like Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and “birther” leader Orly Taitz. Reasonable* Republicans like Boehner are a dying breed.

*The word “reasonable” here means only “reasonable compared to the lunatic fringe,” and not “reasonable by most standards of logic.” Boehner is, in fact, an extremist in his own right, and it’s a sad day when he’s considered one of the more reasonable Republicans in the House.

September 18, 2009, 7:05 am | Category: Misc. Local Politics and Misc. National Politics | Tags: .

Bachmann’s rhetoric rises to a dangerous new level

by Jeff Rosenberg | 15 Comments

Earlier this year, I asked whether Michele Bachmann’s rhetoric has gotten so out of control that we need to start considering her more than just kooky:

For a long time now, she’s been Kooky Michele Bachmann. But at what point do we stop calling her “crazy” or “kooky” and start calling her something more dangerous? Despite nearly constant criticism, her overheated rhetoric has not diminished at all. It leads me to wonder: Does Bachmann really believe she is at war with some sort of communist regime?

Well if I thought her rhetoric was overheated before, that’s nothing compared to a speech she recently made to a group of Denver conservatives:

“This cannot pass,” the Minnesota Republican told a crowd at a Denver gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute. “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”

Does “whatever it takes” include violent, armed revolution? Because her rhetoric over the past year doesn’t seem to rule that out in any way.

Let me be absolutely clear for our conservative readers. Free speech is protected, and Bachmann has the right to voice her opposition to health reform. However, sedition and fomenting violent rebellion are most definitely not protected. Bachmann needs to cool it before the birthers-with-guns movement turns into something even more insidious. I, for one, would hold her partly responsible.

September 2, 2009, 6:14 am | Category: General | Tags: .

Bachmann deigns to give her constituents 45 whole minutes

by Jeff Rosenberg | 17 Comments

This past week, Michele Bachmann gave her district an incredibly rare gift: She took a 45-minute break from talking to the national media to actually have a brief discussion with her own constituents.

I suppose her constituents should be thankful for what they get — after all, we know how much she hates spending time in her own district. But after all the time they’ve spent waiting for a bit of dialogue with her, all she gives them is 45 minutes? They’d have been better off with Tim Walz, who extended his two-hour town hall meeting an extra half hour so more people could get the opportunity to speak.

I suppose Bachmann has more important things to do than speak with her constituents, like appearing for the umpteenth time on TV with Sean Hannity.

August 29, 2009, 6:26 am | Category: Misc. Local Politics | Tags: .

Michele Bachmann “Palinizes” herself

by Jeff Rosenberg | 12 Comments

Michele Bachmann, in a fundraising email, claims she is being “Palinized.” I say she’s Palinizing herself. Then again, we have very different views about Sarah Palin, how she’s been treated, and how she’s treated our country.

In the email, Bachmann says she is the second-most hated conservative woman after Sarah Palin, and a target for liberal attacks. She helpfully defines “Palinize”:

To smear or mock someone using falsehoods, baseless accusations or unsubstantiated character assassinations for the purpose of blocking them from achieving a goal. To exaggerate the truth or lie by omission. To attack a person for his or her conservative values by focusing an inordinate amount of attention on a single example of that person falling short (or being perceived as falling short) of the values they espouse. [Via Polinaut]

I’ve got another definition: To show complete contempt for the truth in your public statements. To obsess over the national political spotlight while ignoring the needs of your own constituents. To show a disturbing willingness to use your own children as political weapons.

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August 14, 2009, 6:17 am | Category: CD6 | Tags: .

Ethics Complaint Against Michele Bachmann

by Aaron Landry | 29 Comments

As a follow-up from yesterday’s post, Dusty Trice, Brian Falldin and I have filed an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics. A copy of the complaint is here and the press release is below.

MINNESOTA BLOGGERS FILE ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST REP. MICHELE BACHMANN FOR PARTISAN USE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS

ST. PAUL, MINN – Jul. 29, 2009 – Minnesota bloggers Dusty Trice, Brian Falldin, and Aaron Landry filed an ethics complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) requesting an investigation into whether Rep. Michele Bachmann’s office has violated House franking rules pertaining to proper e-mail usage.

The complaint points out that an e-mail sent by Representative Bachmann’s office on May 26, 2009, advocates for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), a political organization, which is in violation of the House Franking Rules.

Aaron Landry, who first began investigating the story said, “Michele Bachmann is no stranger to NADA, they’ve been a strong donor to her congressional campaign committee.” According to campaignmoney.com, Rep. Bachmann has received approximately $13,000 from NADA since 2006. Thus, Rep. Bachmann’s ties to the organization establish a potential quid-pro-quo scenario.

Brian Falldin, who began looking into filing the ethics complaint said: “While Michele Bachmann tends to moonlight on national news shows, she apparently spends little time following the rules of the road while at her day job, which is unfortunate for the 6th District and America.”

Dusty Trice, who is well known in Democratic circles for his firebrand commentary, stated: “It’s clear that Michele Bachmann cares about one thing – and that’s making sure she rewards those who give her the most money, regardless of the rules she needs to break in the process.”

Aaron Landry summed up the reasons for filing the complaint best: “There’s a reason why ethics rules exist: to keep our representatives ethical. I believe the Office of Congressional Ethics will continue to protect the taxpayers of Minnesota against the kind of activity Representative Bachmann’s office participates in.”

Dusty Trice, Brian Falldin, and Aaron Landry are well-known writers in the Minnesota political community. For more information or press inquiries, please visit www.dustytrice.com, www.brianfalldin.com, www.s4xton.com or call 612-234-5614.

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July 29, 2009, 4:08 pm | Category: CD6 | Tags: .

Michele Bachmann Violating Ethics Rules, Improperly Spending Taxpayer Dollars

by Aaron Landry | 10 Comments

Michele Bachmann has three staffers responsible for communications and press. Most representatives only have one, a few have two, but Bachmann has three. I’m not saying she doesn’t need them, I’m just saying that this means there are fewer staffers responsible for, let’s say, constituent services.

As she has three people in communications, at least one should really brush up on the Rules of the House of Representatives, read the “Involvement With Outside Activities and Entities” section from the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, browse the “Red Book,” or what’s otherwise known as the Regulations on the Use of the Congressional Frank by Members of the House of Representatives and lastly read the Member’s Handbook from the Committee on House Administration. If they read just one of those documents, they would have realized they’ve been making some huge errors — some of which may put Michele Bachmann in trouble.

1. Bachmann is helping and endorsing outside organizations using taxpayer communications. Here’s an excerpt from an email from Bachmann.Bulletin@mail.house.gov, Tue, May 26, 2009, sent to constituents:

My staff and I have been in close contact with the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which represents auto dealers’ interests in Washington.  NADA has hired a firm to represent the legal interests of those auto dealers that have been chosen by the Task Force to close.  Any such auto dealer should call 703-821-7000 for more information.

Michele Bachmann’s office violated House Franking Rules by using taxpayer resources to tell constituents to call the National Automobile Dealer’s Association. House offices can’t even encourage people to donate blood, let alone ask them to call a national organization to get legal representation. Unsurprisingly, Bachmann has received $13,000 from that very same organization in 2006 and 2008.

Regulations on the use of the Congressional Frank prohibits the helping or endorsing an outside organization with official communications (see the bottom of page 16).

2. Bachmann is improperly linking from her federally-funded house.gov site to the highly-partisan Townhall.com.

Illegal Link to Townhall.com

It’s taxpayer dollars pushing people to a right-wing propaganda portal run by the Salem Web Network. It is deceptive as it is integrated as part of the navigation of the page and with the use of the RSS icon — a symbol used to indicate a feed related to the page you’re currently on.

3. Bachmann’s house.gov site deceives visitors when they are leaving the official government website and entering a third-party site. From the Committee on House Administration, a House website will:

…display an exit notice stating that users are leaving the House of Representatives prior to linking to a non-House of Representatives Web site. The exit notice will include a disclaimer that neither Members nor the House are responsible for the content of linked sites. Member offices maintaining their sites on the Public web server are required to incorporate the exit notice into their external links.

Sure, it’s legal for Bachmann to have a blog on a partisan site but she is not allowed to seamlessly integrate it with her non-campaign, taxpayer-funded site. Especially for constituents that are less familiar with the Internet, this is incredibly dishonest and misleading for them.

From the Committee on House Administration’s rule on this as of October 2008:

The official content of any material posted by the Member on any Web site must be in compliance with Federal law and House Rules and Regulations applicable to official communications and germane to the conduct of the Member’s official and representational duties.

When a link to a Web site outside the Member’s official cite is imbedded on the Member’s official site, the Member’s site must include an exit notice advising the visitor when they are leaving the House. This exit notice must also include a disclaimer that neither the Member nor the House is responsible for the content of the linked site(s).

This is extremely important, and easy for their webmaster to implement (see page 113). So why did they not do this? One thing is certain: it diminishes the line between what is government, taxpayer-funded and what in this case, is incredibly partisan and certainly not government-sponsored.

(Note to SEO nerds: in addition, do you know what kind of impact you get when you’re direct linked from a dot gov? Yeah. Uh hum.)

Maybe handling situations like this is why she has three press people.

July 28, 2009, 4:51 pm | Category: CD6 | Tags: .

Our very own birther

by Jeff Rosenberg | 8 Comments

Ugh. Michele Bachmann just blocked a House Resolution, the purpose of which was “Recognizing and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the entry of Hawaii into the Union as the 50th State.” Why would she do such a thing? Apparently because of this provision:

Whereas the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii

I was wondering when Bachmann would join the birther movement. It’s far too crazy for her to avoid; after all, she wouldn’t want anybody stealing her spotlight!

Watch Bachmann block the resolution below:

[via Think Progress]

UPDATE (9:45 PM): Salon (and commenter yaz) says this wasn’t craziness, just a boring procedural move:

This time, though, Bachmann was being criticized unfairly. She did indeed block a vote on the resolution, noting the absence of a quorum, but that move wasn’t about Abercrombie’s resolution specifically. She was just playing her part. The House had already decided to postpone the votes on all of the resolutions being considered under a suspension of the rules until Monday evening. Bachmann noted the absence of a quorum for several other non-controversial pieces of legislation so that those votes, too, could be postponed until the scheduled time.

July 27, 2009, 7:31 pm | Category: General | Tags: .

What’s important about healthcare to Michele Bachmann

by Jeff Rosenberg | 10 Comments

Michele Bachmann understands what the debate over healthcare is all about. It’s about helping Americans struggling with healthcare costs scoring a political victory over Barack Obama. She, like most Republicans, has no real plan for how to overcome the enormous obstacle posed by soaring healthcare costs. All she’s really interested in is attacking Obama.

Speaking to the Conservative Women’s Network, Bachmann spent quite a bit of time attacking the Democrats’ health reform bill, but told the women “don’t lose heart.” After all the time she spent criticizing Democrats’ health reform efforts, was she telling them not to lose heart because she was going to fight for a more conservative health reform bill? Was she promising to stand up for her principles and put forward her own policy ideas? No, she was just excited that health reform might harm Barack Obama:

…don’t lose heart. Because the polling data is showing — Rasmussen for instance — polling data is showing that President Obama’s numbers are dropping like a rock. As a matter of fact, his polling data now says that President Obama is a mere mortal. (Laughter) And so we can take heart. [Via Think Progress]

That’s beautiful. Bachmann really has the ability to get down to the nuts and bolts of a topic, doesn’t she? At its heart, health reform really isn’t about improving our economy. It’s not about improving the health of our country. And it’s not about lowering costs and reducing the long-term federal deficit. It’s not about what’s best for the American people; it’s about who wins and loses in politics.

July 27, 2009, 8:00 am | Category: Misc. National Politics | Tags: .

Klobuchar asks Minnesotans to fill out census

by Jeff Rosenberg | 17 Comments

In a welcome departure from Michele Bachmann’s fear-mongering, Amy Klobuchar is asking all Minnesotans to follow the law and fill out the census:

As you know, Bachmann has aggressively crusaded against the Census as an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.

Klobuchar, by contrast, is urging Minnesotans to fill it out — for their own good. “The Census has a profound impact on Minnesota’s communities,” said Klobuchar in a statement given to Minnesota press by her office. “It’s important that every Minnesotan is counted, so we get our fair share of congressional seats and federal funding.”

I still can’t even believe this is a topic of discussion. I just hope Bachmann’s latest loony crusade doesn’t cost Minnesota a congressional seat, not to mention millions of dollars in federal funding.

July 23, 2009, 11:00 am | Category: General | Tags: , .

Bachmann doubles down on census craziness

by Jeff Rosenberg | 65 Comments

Remember Michele Bachmann’s recent gaffe in which she said she would not fill out her census? Well, she’s decided not to backtrack on the ridiculous statement. In fact, she’s upping the ante:

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02) and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information solicited by the US Census Bureau. The American Community Survey is a mandatory survey from the US Census Bureau sent out yearly to a random sampling of 3 million households. However, the current survey solicits unnecessary personal information. The American Community Survey Act would make the survey voluntary and only require people to answer four questions: a) name; b) contact info; c) date of response; d) number of people living or staying at the same address.
…
“Under the U.S. Constitution, a count of the nation’s population is required to be conducted every ten years. This is not only a legitimate purpose, but essential in order to apportion representatives in Congress and direct taxes,” said Congresswoman Bachmann. “But throughout the years, additional questions of a more personal nature were added so that the federal government could have more detailed information to make and implement its ever-expanding public policy. [Emphasis added]

Oh, the horror! The federal government is asking its citizens to provide information to inform public policy!

Only Michele Bachmann could attempt to make this a controversy. The Census has been collecting this data for decades — since 1940. It plays a huge role in policy research in this country; without it, our policymakers would find it difficult to get answers to even simple questions about the potential impacts of their proposals. In fact, I think the collection of basic data about American households to inform public policy is one of the least controversial things our government does.

July 14, 2009, 8:00 am | Category: Misc. National Politics | Tags: .