2006 Elections
Do we really have to take Michele Bachmann “seriously” now?
With a history of rapid staff turnover and embarrassing past escapades, she's more credible than Cain how?
Possible 2012 presidential hopeful, U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn. speaks during a dinner sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, Friday, April 29, 2011 in Manchester , N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)(Credit: Jim Cole) There is talk, now, that we should all be taking Michele Bachmann a bit more “seriously.” She is, after all, polling better than Tim Pawlenty, whom we are all definitely supposed to take seriously, no matter how difficult he makes that for us. Jon Chait lays out the case for taking Bachmann seriously at the New Republic. It’s hard to argue with the basic point — true conservatives like her and basically hate the rest of the candidates — but I take some issue with this:
But while Bachmann may be even crazier than Palin on questions of public policy, she seems to manage to hold things together as a candidate. She can answer questions from the news media. She is putting together a professional campaign rather than relying on amateur advisors. She takes care to point out frequently that she is a former tax lawyer, and she does not engage in Palin’s visceral anti-intellectualism, giving herself the aura of a plausible president, at least in the minds of Republican voters. Bachmann may well combine Palin’s most powerful traits without her crippling organizational failures.
Sometimes she skillfully answers questions from the press, and sometimes she has meltdowns. She can also do anti-intellectualism with the best of them — she got into politics in part in order to attack educational standards and push “Intelligent Design” — and while she is not quite as organizationally challenged as Palin, she has had her problems.
In fact, Andy Barr just wrote about those issues in February, when Bachmann’s spokesman and district director both left their jobs:
But even without any fireworks, the two exits add to a long a long line of recently departed Bachmann aides, as her office has had an extremely high turnover rate since the Minnesota Republican was first elected to Congress in 2006.
Bachmann has had four chiefs of staff leave since coming to Congress — Rich Dunn, Ron Carey, Michelle Marston and Brooks Kochvar. The Minnesota firebrand also had her campaign finance director Zandra Wolcott leave during the middle of her reelection campaign last year.
I think Barr may have left out one of her chiefs of staff or two? As an unnamed “conservative Republican House member” told Politico when Marston quit for unknown reasons in 2009: “When your captain’s crazy, it’s time to find a new ship.” (Her current chief of staff is taking a “leave of absence” in order to work on her presidential campaign.)
So, how seriously should we be taking Bachmann? Isn’t it more or less appropriate to continue treating her as a very popular sideshow? (And if she ran for real would she really want people dragging out stories like the time she claimed lesbians kidnapped her and trapped her in a bathroom?)
The fact that she has managed to convince 50% of suburban voters in a Republican district to send her to Washington does not actually make her more a more credible candidate than Herman Cain, who has at least run a major industry lobbying organization.
I agree Jennifer Rubin on one thing: The similarities between Bachmann and Sarah Palin are mainly superficial; they’re both attractive ultra-conservative women who routinely say stupid, extreme things on television. I am pretty sure Michele Bachmann is smarter than Sarah Palin. I also think she more sincerely believes the sort of rube-pleasing bullshit Palin cranks out primarily for attention. Bachmann is relentless, while Palin is erratic. Palin actually governed for a while, before giving it up for celebrity. Bachmann has never legislatively done anything, at all. Palin seems driven primarily by resentment, paranoia, and profit, whereas I imagine Bachmann probably thinks she’s doing the Lord’s work. She really would like to impose some sort of libertarian theocracy, where the government has no authority to regulate anything beyond the stoning of abortionists and homosexuals.
So I dunno. She might do OK in Iowa but the wheels would come off that campaign very shortly afterward.
Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
Michele Bachmann thinks the world is ending and the pope is the antichrist
Her friends want to bring about the end times in Israel and her church has an issue with the papacy
Michele Bachmann Mother Jones writes about Rep. Michele Bachmann’s, R-Minn., connections to Olive Tree Ministries, an evangelical Christian operation founded by a former Jew for Jesus and longtime friend of Bachmann’s named Jan Markell.
Olive Tree Ministries, based out of Maple Grove, Minn., produces a weekly radio show and a newsletter, and it is also obsessed with Israel because it believes we are living in the end times. Bachmann’s been on Markell’s radio show multiple times, attended an Olive Tree Ministries conference, and left a testimonial on its website. As MoJo says:
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
Five political books that were doomed before they were even published
"Donald Trump on policy" and other ideas that briefly sounded very good
Donald Trump On May 12, it was reported that Donald Trump was working on a “policy book,” to be released this summer by the right-wing Regnery Publishing. No surprise there: All candidates and would-be candidates for president release either memoirs or policy books, or both. On May 16, less than a week later, Trump announced that he will not be running for president. Whoops! Now that book is pointless, months before the ghostwriter has finished it.
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
When George W. Bush killed bin Laden: An alternate history
Or: An exploration of Dick Cheney's recent daydreams
The White House said on October 29, 2003 that it had helped with the
production of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as a backdrop for
President George W. Bush's speech onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln to
declare combat operations over in Iraq. This file photo shows Bush
delivering a speech to crew aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln, as the carrier steamed toward San Diego, California on May 1,
2003. REUTERS/Larry Downing/FILE
KL/GN/GAC(Credit: © Larry Downing / Reuters) President Bush announces the news to the nation on May 24, 2006, immediately following the East Coast airing of the finale of “American Idol.” He appears in military fatigues and, for some reason, spurs. Behind him, an oversize Osama bin Laden “Wanted” poster, with the word “LIQUIDATED” stamped on the terrorist mastermind’s face. The camera pulls back to reveal that the president’s East Room audience is in fact made up entirely of firefighters. The Marine band plays “Stars and Stripes Forever” as the president speaks, forcing Bush to address the room, and the nation, through a bullhorn.
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
John Boehner’s policy director gave out Abramoff favor money
He greased the wheels for the symbol of GOP corruption, now he works for the leader of the new majority
Jack Abramoff and Sen. John Boehner John Boehner is so obviously a favor-trading tool of monied interests — this is the man, it must never be forgotten, who literally handed out tobacco company checks on the floor of the House — that sometimes it hardly seems noteworthy when he again proves that he is nothing but a puppet of well-heeled lobbyists. But we must guard against cynicism and always take opportunities to remind the nation that Speaker Boehner is a corrupt tangerine.
So documentarian Alex Gibney writes today of Boehner’s recently hired policy director, Brett Loper. Before joining team Boehner, Loper was, naturally, a medical device lobbyist, whose job was to protect the profits of the medical device industry at the expense of, among other things, the federal deficit. And before that, he worked for the gloriously amoral Tom DeLay.
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
Viral video star Ted Williams (and his golden voice) detained in Hollywood
The homeless man turned MSNBC voice held by police after an altercation with his daughter in Hollywood
In this photo provided by NBC Universal, homeless man Ted Williams prays during NBC's "Today" show, in New York, on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. Williams, who was living in a tent near a highway in Columbus, Ohio, just days ago, was in New York for an emotional reunion with his 90-year-old mother, media appearances, and to do some commercial voiceover work. On the "Today" show, he described his previous 48 hours as "outrageous." (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer) NO SALES(Credit: AP) The Hollywood Reporter blog confirms that Ted Williams, the man with the golden voice, was briefly detained after a yelling fight with his daughter on Monday night. The event comes just four days after his debut appearance voicing the MSNBC “Lean Forward” campaign commercials.
Here’s the touching story of Williams’ rise from sleeping on the streets to a national media sensation — all thanks to YouTube.
Adam Clark Estes blogs the news for Salon. Email him at ace@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @adamclarkestes More Adam Clark Estes.
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