CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Oct. 20, 2008 – 6:32 p.m.
Self-inflicted Wound Puts Bachmann in Jeopardy
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
If Rep. Michele Bachmann limps to the finish line on Election Day — either ahead or behind — it is because she shot herself in the foot.
The freshman Republican from Minnesota’s 6th District is suddenly in danger of losing her seat after she questioned whether Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama harbors “anti-American views” and called for an investigation into whether members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America” in an interview last Friday on MSNBC’s program “Hardball.”
Bachmann’s remarks infuriated Democrats and turned the campaign of her opponent, Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg, into an overnight cause celebre.
Tinklenberg, a former state Transportation secretary, had collected more than $810,000 between Friday night and Monday afternoon, after raising $1 million for the entire election cycle through the end of September.
“It’s hard to give a completely accurate number because the money keeps rolling in,” said Tinklenberg spokeswoman Kate Monson.
“We’re in the middle of a political earthquake here,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar , a Minnesota Democrat, said on Hardball Monday evening.
CQ Politics is moving its rating of the contest from Republican Favored to Leans Republican, a more competitive category.
Tinklenberg had shown signs of competitiveness before Friday, but Bachmann’s Hardball appearance transformed the dynamics of the race in a district she won 50 percent to 42 percent in 2006 with a third-party candidate taking 8 percent of the vote. There is no strong third party candidate running this year.
Asked by Hardball host Chris Matthews whether she thinks Obama has anti-American beliefs, Bachmann said “Absolutely . . . I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views.”
Pressed about whether members of Congress other than Obama, who is a senator from Illinois, should be put in that category, Bachmann called for a media probe into the question.
“The news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America or anti-America. I think people would love to see an expose like that,” she said.
That has Democrats comparing her to Joseph McCarthy, the demagogic late senator who was eventually censured for the tactics he used in the 1950s investigating communism in the United States.
High-profile Republicans, including Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman , have distanced themselves from Bachmann’s comments, and GOP strategists concede that the race has been fundamentally altered.
Self-inflicted Wound Puts Bachmann in Jeopardy
“The race remains very winnable but has become a much steeper climb,” said one Republican strategist. “She effectively put the race into play by herself.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is poised to flood the suburbs north and east of Minneapolis and St. Paul with advertising to help Tinklenberg.
“We’re going up on TV this week and next week and we’re spending over a million dollars,” said DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell.
“She’s made herself the issue,” Thornell said. “It altered the race almost instantaneously.”
In just two years in Congress, Bachmann’s spirited delivery of conservative orthodoxy has made her a popular guest on the television talk-show circuit on issues ranging from energy independence to the presidential campaign.
But comments like those made on Friday have sometimes alienated Republicans, and GOP sources said they were not surprised that Bachmann had put herself in political jeopardy.
“She’s always been viewed as a potential liability,” the Republican strategist said. “It was bound to happen.”
Monson suggested the newly flush Tinklenberg war chest would not be used to point to Bachmann’s remarks but to enunciate the Democrat’s platform.
“It’s a very positive development and we’re going to deploy it in a very positive manner,” Monson said. “The message we are delivering is a positive message on El’s plan to rebuild our economy.”
Bachmann could be saved by the district’s strong Republican tilt. It gave President Bush his strongest performance — 57 percent — in the state in 2004, and it was the best district for Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2006.
Comments
Disgression are common sense are not included in the playbook of right wing religious freaks these days. Their totally conviced self righteousness impels them to speak out - - loudly - - no matter how stupid and repugnant their pronouncements. Rep. Bachmann has sown verbal excrement and may well reap the foul wind that she deserves.
It's beginning to look like alot of Republicans feel this way by their behavior,like for instance in the McCain and Palin rallies.How dare they act like they are the only ones that loves their Country!!! If you can't beleive in the people that share this great country with maybe they should live at a country that can't accept all their neighbors like Iraq where shites and sheas can't live together.If were going to be lecturing to other countries to get along,I think we'd better practice what we preach!!!
McCain-Palin and their surrogates have nothing more to say about the economy, foreign policy and healthcare, they will take help of the race, color, religion and terrorism as their main weapons to scare the voters from Obama and alike. But Americans both democrats and Republicans are scared to death of the Bush-Cheney-Mccain's 8-years failed policies, they are not going to change their minds but will VOTE FOR OBAMA AND DEMOCRATS and dumped Republicans from the White House, Senate and Congress.
If God loves the US, she and everyone who thinks like her will be thrown out of office come election day. They are the "enemies within", who would divide our house against itself making it so we can not stand. If these traitors had their way, we would tear ourselves apart and violate individual liberty looking for the "unpatriotic"(whatever that means), while our enemies around the globe would be sharpening their knives, waiting to kill whoever came out on top. Fools.
Hmmmm.....couldn't happen to a nicer (non-)guy. Palin, Pfotenhauer, Bachmann....pretty on the outside, poison on the inside.
Hmm Norm Coleman has distanced himself from that? But when Todd Palin stood next to Coleman during a rally a few days ago with a sign (given to him by an audience member) that said "Charles Manson was a Community Organizer". THAT was perfectly ok. What a weasal
It's refreshing to see a conservative hate-monger state his/her views frankly instead of using the code words so many do. Conservatives like Bachmann do believe in their moral superiority and that those who feel disagree are unpatriotic. She was like Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men: "You can't handle the truth! I and those who feel like me are pro-American! All you others are anti-American!"
As damning as the comment were from the McCarthy era congresswoman from Minnesota ; we have to ask a question.Why has Chris Matthews of hardball had her on when she is standing for re-election ... but never her opponet ? this goes straight to the reason the Congress has less turnover than the Soviet Unions Politburo.... In an effort to gain ratings hacks like Mr. Matthews pander to these people who claim to love America but clearly cannot stand Americans. We can agree or disagree about the merits of the long dead equal time requirements but it would be fair to say the lleast to have Mr. Tinkleberg on at some point, while Matthews has bowed to Ms. Bachmann several times. We dont expect the matthews of the world to have true moral courage (thats a lost cause ) But to give a congressional candidate a weekly 3 minute commercial while pretending there is no race in the home district severly handicaps her challenger. Michelle Bachmann could not afford to buy the kind of exposure a show like hardball has given her in the last 3 weeks ; and then the latte sipping info wimps have the audacity to say things like "we didnt cover him because he never had a chance" ...you think ?? This calls to mind a commercial that was run by moveon.org early in the campaign season where a fellow POW questioned John McCains temperment ... did this recieve the same treatment as the swiftboat Ads ? no! and we can't say its because the Media has suddenly found religion they tip their hand as being merely tools that areas self serving as they are flawed.
Here is a person who has no grasp of (recent) American politcal history. The Joe McCarthy connection still resonnates with the pundit/mature voting population (the people who vote). If her constituents re-elect her, they are the ones who are anti-Americans!
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez: TOAST!
What a gift to the democrats - which we gladly accept!
Accusations of being "anti-american" and "unpatriotic," have become commonplace in politics. Representation Backmann like other members of the GOP called Senator Obama antiamerican, and when cornered was too spineless to stand by it when the opinion shifted. It says a lot about Representation Backman's character that she's willing to engage in sleazy attacks, but unwilling to accept the consequences when they backfire.
I was so incensed about Bachman's McCarthyite comments that I sent her opponent 25 bucks and apparently a lot of others did as well. If there is ever somebody who does not belong in Congress, it is Michelle Bachman. Send her packing, please, for the good of the country.
This election cycle, it seems like one faction of the Republicon party has it out for another faction with all of these backhanded leaks and off-the-record commentary. I love watching them self-destruct into a heaping mess, tossed out into the political wilderness for a generation. Good riddance.
Ask Ms. Bachmann for her list of those in the US Congress she considers " Un-American" in addition to Senator Obama. Instead of asking the press to investigate these charges - to her dirty work, ask her if she intends to investigate? And how?
I watched her on Hardball and immediately sent Tinklenberg a $100 campaign donation. After reading her denial in Politico I'm preparing to send him more. The woman is either delusional or a liar to attempt to argue that blogs and the media have miss-represented what she said. She's the un-American one and my hope is that her opponent defeats her so we don't have an enemy of democracy in Congress.
Just as Trent Lott was punished by republicans for giving us a peek at the dirty little racist secret hidden in their closet, Michele Bachmann will be abandoned by the GOP for reminding us that Joe McCarthy still has admirers within the republican party.
Her website is no longer accepting email from people outside her district. What a coward.
Light bulb Bachman does it again. I couldn't be happier!
Ms. Bachmann needs to settle down . Take a deep breath. Get off the front page for awhile. Her speech is quite pressured. Her cognitions seem to be compromised. She says one thing and then says the opposite without realizing she has done so. Possibly she is under too much pressure with her campaign and the extreme difficulties with the national campaign her party is having. A little medication or some rest might be in order so that she is able to function better.
No, Bachmann consistently denies having done or said things she has clearly done and said. She and Sarah Palin might have been separated at birth.
Dear Republican Surrogates... If you believe patriotism is only found in blind allegiance to what our government feeds us, you are sadly mistaken. This great country, my friends, was born out of dissent. Your party, and its "leaders" have had the reins of power for 8 years now. You have blown it, and we doth protest. We despise your uneccessary war, we scoff at your allegations that we spend money unwisely, when it is YOU that live in a very fragile glass house. Each and every time one of you call us un-American because we do not like your failed president, and his criminal understudies, you be-little yourselves. We wish only to dispatch your candidate as Bush's successor to the ash bin of history, along with his cynical vice presidential candidate. We do not seek to question his patriotism or his loyaties, only to rebuke his methods. You however cannot exit with grace it appears. You must slander those who feel maybe it is time for the government to work for it's citizens as opposed to imposing it's will around the globe-- while ignoring pressing needs like alternative energy, healthcare for those left behind, and a crumbling infrastructure. Calling us un-American because we oppose YOU casts you in the same light as McCarthy. The tactics are not unlike a certain German leader in the middle of the last century. You should be ashamed of yourselves, and next time you place a flag pin upon your lapel, or hang a flag beside your front door, consider the lives given in support of freedom, and understand, please, that to be free is not the same as to be sheep. I am proudly American, and yet I am ashamed by the tactics of the right. If you cannot defend your candidate with dignity, then shut up.
She holds in her had a list of 25 Anti=Americans in the Us Congress@!!!!!!!!!
She's right, there are many with anti-American sentiments in congress, and most of them have a little -R behind their name. The deliberate attempt to supress and disenfranchise new and poor voters is outrageous and shameful. They obviously do not hold the same reverence and respect for democracy that most of us learned as children. They just want to remain "in control". It's sad that the Republican candidates will not talk down their crazed supporters when they yell things like "Obama Bin Lyin" and "Kill Him!" They just pretend that they didn't hear it. What a magnificent display of patriotism and leadership! Not. By the way, I'm a middle class white guy and I'm voting Obama because of these things and because eight more years of the insanity that we've witnessed could be devastating to our country and possibly lead us into another great depression. Call me nuts but I don't think that would be good... or Pro-American.
Ask her to name names. She dared the media to name them for her. Let her do the naming herself. Remember slander and libel laws. Get the checkbook out for the legal team, Michelle. Your comments were not made in the House and are not priviledged. Time to back out with abject apologies and regret.
I do believe the ultra right wing of Republican party has weaken the group to the point it's impossible for a moderate to stay in the party. Who do you blame for this is the non-existent leardership that has no stomach to control the sector that is ripping it appart. Fox News Channel has added to the breakup with it's far right wing at all cost verbage. What will Fox do when it tries to interview those at the top of the goverment and find an empty seat to communicate with. If I handled the leadership I would tell everyone "No Fox News" access for their past antic's.
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