McCain to Bachmann: Have You No Sense of Decency?

Kudos to Senator John McCain fighting back against Tea Party Queen and 21st Century Joe McCarthy, Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is claiming Secretary of State aide Huma Abedin is some sort of secret agent for the Muslim Brotherhood based on yet another wingnut conspiracy theory.

"These allegations about Huma [Abedin] and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant," said McCain in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning. The accusations stem from a report by the Center for Security Policy. The organization is run by Frank Gaffney, who has been crusading against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia law for years... 

..."The letter alleges that three members of Huma’s family are 'connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations,'" he said. "Never mind that one of those individuals, Huma’s father, passed away two decades ago. The letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government." 

"These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit," McCain added. "And they need to stop now."... 

..."Ultimately, what is at stake in this matter is larger even than the reputation of one person," he added. "This is about who we are as a nation, and who we still aspire to be ... When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it."

This is what we are dealing with, folks. Outrageous, idiotic, uneducated liars of the first order. Who are the elected officials that signed on to the letters sent to federal agencies demanding witch hunts on Abedin? Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). These, along with Michele Bachmann and Iowa's Republican Rep. Steve King (surprisingly not among the signers), are the looniest of the loons. The inmates that run the Tea Party asylum.

And they are dangerous.

(I suggest you watch the video of McCain's speech here.)


_______________________________
UPDATE: Rep. Steve King may not have signed his name to the Bachmann letter in question, but I included him in the wingnut pile for reasons like this.

Trump Takes Credit For Santorum and Bachmann

Say what now? Donald Trump hasn't been in the headlines for a week or so? Well, he'd better do something about that! We wouldn't want to forget about him, would we? So how about taking credit for Rick Santorum's frothy surge in the Iowa caucus last night?



Does Trump mean the debate that he backed out of because no one would be subjected to his idiocy? That debate? The one that didn't take place? I suppose that goes for Newt Gingrich as well, who was the first to accept Trump's invitation but came in fourth with 13% of the vote.

But not to leave well enough alone, he then explained why Michele Bachmann sank in the polls.



Ah, of course the reason Bachmann dropped in the polls wasn't her outlandish, gaffe prone rhetoric. Or that she would chest thump with Iran. It's because she denied The Donald and refused to kiss his debate ring. It has to be the only reason.

How many times in her life must Ivanka have uttered the phrase, "Daaaaaad... You're embarrassing me!!!"

Bachmann's Back!

After what seemed like an eternity of Herman Cain coverage and the Newt Gingrich resurgence, I started to feel the lack of Michele Bachmann ignorance stories in the forefront. But now I finally I feel like a kid who's awakened and pulled up his pillow to see a thick stack of hundred dollar bills where his tooth once sat.

In light of the British Foreign Ministry pulling all U.K. nationals out of the British embassy in Tehran after students stormed the building in protest, GOP presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann told a crowd in Waverly, Iowa, today that she would close the U.S. embassy in Iran.

...Bachmann applauded the U.K.’s move, adding, “That’s exactly what I would do [if I were president]. We wouldn’t have an embassy in Iran. I wouldn’t allow that to be there.”

Good thing Bachmann wouldn't allow it since the U.S. hasn't had an Embassy in Iran since NINETEEN-FUCKING-EIGHTY and the Iranian hostage crisis. And this GOP presidential dimwit nominee is on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. ...INTELLIGENCE!

Oh Michele, how I've missed you so.

Bachmann's "Flat Tax" Would Have "Several Rates"

From the annals of What The Fuckdom comes the latest from Michele Bachmann and her tax plan. A flat tax... with multiple rates.

“I would flatten the rates and simplify them, I would not have just one rate, but I’ll have several rates,” she said. “A flattened, simple, much fairer system, and one that would be equitable and raise revenues for the federal government as well.”

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

But you have to almost feel sorry for Bachmann. She keeps amping up the crazy but is continually outdone by Herman "Jesus was the perfect conservative" Cain.

So Much for Savior Perry

Well this can't be good for the Perry campaign.

Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, won the Florida straw poll today, defeating second-place Rick Perry after the Texas governor worked the crowd of activists with a breakfast speech Saturday morning.

Mr. Cain won nearly 40 percent of the 2,657 people who voted, more than doubling Mr. Perry’s total and that of Mitt Romney, who came in a close third.

Herman the pizza guy beat Rick Perry, the GOP's flavor of the month, in Florida's straw poll after his performance in the most recent GOP debate. And I have to ask: what the hell is wrong with Republican voters? Arguably, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the most sane, responsible politicians vying for the GOP nomination, but they're not even close to what the polls say the voters want.

First it was Donald Trump, until he exposed himself as a complete buffoon when he jumped on the Birther bandwagon. Then came Michele Bachmann, whose buffoonery is usually excused until she suggested that the HPV vaccine could cause "mental retardation." Then it was Rick Perry, who got cheers for 234 Texas executions under his leadership, but jeers for his Texas Dream Act where illegal immigrants who came to this country when they were children are given a chance to go to college. They were also too quickly reminded of the 43rd president when Perry tripped over his tongue while trying to attack Mitt Romney. And we may as well forget the other six candidates, including Cain, considering the fact that week after week GOP pundits and talking heads are constantly touting new candidates and hoping they'll get in the race.

This week they're returning to the idea of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie yet again... until they take a cursory look and realize he called the fringe right wing "crazies" when it comes to their anti-Muslim rhetoric and the whole "banning Sharia law" thing in places where Sharia law doesn't exist and will never exist. And as of this writing, he had once again stated he's not interested in running for president in 2012.

Who'll be the flavor of the week next week?

Must See Interview

It's amazing how sharp former President Jimmy Carter still is at 86 years young. This interview is a must see just for the realization of how underrated and under appreciated Carter was and still is. His demonization by the right is shameful.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I'll update with the added video as it becomes available.

Iowa Loves Them Some Crazy, Hates Milquetoast

CNN: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll Saturday, besting eight other Republican candidates in a nonbinding but politically significant vote in the first caucus state of Iowa.

"This is the first step toward taking the White House in 2012," Bachmann told the crowd. "And you have sent a message that Barack Obama will be a one-term president. This is a wonderful down payment on taking the country back -- and it started in Iowa."

Once again, Iowa shows its irrelevancy by dismissing any possible legitimate candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in their Ames Straw Poll and instead choosing Michele Bachmann as the person they'd like to represent Iowans, closely followed by Ron Paul.

The vote tallies were:

Michele Bachmann: 4,823
Ron Paul: 4,671
Tim Pawlenty: 2,293
Rick Santorum:1,567
Herman Cain: 1,456
Rick Perry: 718
Mitt Romney: 567
Newt Gingrich: 385
Jon Huntsman: 69
Thad McCotter: 35

Of course, this poll means practically nothing if you look at past winners. I mean, Pat Robertson won the thing in 1987, the same Pat Robertson that said Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment because of America's abortion policy.

The real winners of this Straw Poll were Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who didn't even have to spend any time in Iowa and let Bachmann knock off Tim Pawlenty, a more legitimate but intensely boring candidate, who decided to call it quits after coming in, not second, but a distant third behind Ron Paul.

I suppose when you shoot yourself in the foot by coining "Obamneycare" and then show you have no balls by walking it back the next day in Romney's presence during the GOP's first primary debate, have no money and no support, it's probably the smartest thing you can do. No Pawlenty can go back to being irrelevant and ignored on the local level.

Bachmann's Newsweek Cover

Yes, folks. She IS that crazy. John Wayne Gacy crazy.

Cover via HuffPo

Who's Attacking Bachmann?!

Hey, Republicans. Hey, Conservatives. Hey, Teabaggers. Before accusing liberals of being scared soooo of Michele Bachmann that they feel the need to attack her in the press with this migraine story, maybe you should look at who broke the story.

The Daily Caller is a news website based in Washington, D.C., United States with a focus on politics, original reporting, breaking news, and YouTube videos, founded by journalist and political pundit Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney. The Daily Caller launched on January 11, 2010.

So as usual, please get your facts straight before assuming your loopy Queen was attacked by the left. In other words, shut the fuck up.

Michele's Bridge to Nowhere

POSTED BY JHW22

Republicans like to say Obama is three years into his Presidency, so using their math, Michele Bachmann is one year into the new Congress -- the Create Jobs Congress. And thus far, she has sponsored seven bills in one year. Yep, seven. And none are titled "Job Creating Bill". From the way she talks, you'd think she has worked tirelessly (like the Founding Fathers on slavery) to create jobs. Nope. Seven bills. None of them job creators. Well, unless you think cutting taxes is a job creator and if you do, well, you don't need to be reading this. Or unless you think building a bridge is a job creator. (In fact, it is a job creator which is why I support federal infrastructure funding. More on that later.)

To be fair to her work ethic, she has co-sponsored 92 bills this year. But that's not really leadership, is it? I mean when you sponsor 7 and co-sponsor 92, ya look like a follower. In fact, she has only sponsored 38 bills ever. Heck, Obama sponsored 121 in only two years -- he sponsored at least one bill for every four bills he co-sponsored when he was in the Senate. In two years.

Now, about that one bill of hers, her one of her many, many (seven) bills that is a job creator. Its goal is

To facilitate a proposed project in the Lower St. Croix Wild and Scenic River, and for other purposes.

Sounds a little like earmarking to me. Hey, she did the proper thing by filing a bill and submitting it to committees. Heck, she even attached a Constitutional Authority Statement. But, still, when someone uses 1/7th of her bill-sponsoring time on a local district project, it's an earmark, because an earmark is an earmark is an earmark. Well, except when it's not. And this one is not.

This bill is not an earmark because there is no money attached to it. The bridge is estimated to cost between $334 and $373 million dollars. (Remember that other bridge that was going to cost the feds about that much?) But all THIS bill does it get permission to build it because it violates some environmental concerns. She's just asking for the green light from the federal government to be able to later ask for funding for it. So, because they can't build it, there's no need to ask for money and that means she can stick to her pledge to

not seek any earmarks this year [emphasis mine]

It seems rather easy to not seek earmarks when you're not really seeking much in general. I mean seven sponsored bills is an easy way to avoid asking for earmarks. Especially when the one you REALLY want earmarks for, isn't approved for funding yet.

Or IS it? I guess it depends on what your def... oops, sorry. Anyway, DID she avoid earmark requests for this bridge? Well, yes and no. She didn't ask for earmarks this year or even over the last two years. What she did do is send out letters requesting grant consideration for federal funding in 2009 in the ... wait for it ... stimulus!! Yes, the OBAMA stimulus. You know, the one she despises and said hasn't created jobs. She sent letters on behalf of her bridge to ask for funding from the very stimulus she spoke out against before, during and after the votes.

Is anyone really surprised? I mean the gal has a lot of "choots pa", after all.

Now, I was actually for the Bridge to Nowhere before I was still for it. It made sense to me considering the need. The problem was that it became a political football and people lost sight of the need. And, instead, they built a road to nowhere with the money. A bridge would have been the better use.

And I support more federal funding for bridges, light rail, broadband, alternate energy source conduits. I am a Democrat (although I was recently told I am not one because I don't agree with the Angry Left and I was told this by a woman threatening to vote third party so yep, I AM a Democrat). I love when the federal government employs people to make things people will use. I don't care where those things are as long as people work to make them and they make lives easier where they are.

So when a "Constitutional Conservative" who believes

that many of our problems result from the federal government's insatiable — and unconstitutional — grab for power and money

actually makes a money and power grab for a bridge in the middle of nowhere while condemning the very funding source she begs to be a part of, I think to myself, "How's that conservativey, hypocrisy thing workin for ya'?"

Oh, wrong Conservative hypocrite. It's hard to keep those two straight.

The President Has What Now?!

Michele Bachmann says President Obama has a lot of... a lot of... uh... "chootspa"? Is that a disease?



Does her religion forbid her from using the Yiddish pronunciation?  ...Oy vey!

The Stupidity! It Burns!!!

Behold, the Mr. Bean of the House of Representatives, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa, IOWA for fuck's sake!) getting together with Michele Bachmann and Louie Gohmert (now that's a trifecta of idiocy) claiming that there is no risk of default.

WARNING: Watching this video will increase your blood pressure, cause you to lose some brain cells (and not in a good way) and possibly induce stroke-like symptoms. If you smell toast, immediately cease viewing.

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Sorry, Family Leader. Too Little, Too Late.

The Family Leader's controversial "Marriage Vow" pledge they are trying to garner GOP presidential candidate signatures for is now being revised:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President.

Well, isn't that nice? They think that it was better for African-Americans during the good ol' slavery days because hey, at least you had two parents. But seeing the ruckus this single sentence is causing, The Family Leader decided to drop if from their pledge.

But it's too late, because Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum had already affixed their names to it while the comment was still included. Whether they thought it was a casual little line, that they could later disagree with or deny is irrelevant. We now know A) they truly feel this way or B) they'll say anything to anyone for support, including crazy shit like this.

Not Even Hiding It Anymore

If there was any doubt that the Republican Party has no problem with sacrificing the American economy, the American people, the unemployed and underemployed in the country, and possibility of sending the world into a global recesssion, then look no further than at one of its shining stars. They're not even trying to hide the notion that they're selling America down the river solely for political gain.

“Does it strike you that as the unemployment rate goes up, your chances of winning office also go up?” host Carl Quintanilla asked. “Well, that could be. Again, I hope so,” Bachmann replied.

Why be part of the solution when rising unemployment numbers are helping your presidential run? Michele Bachmann has already said that she will not vote to raise the debt ceiling, despite the dire consequences that have been stated by the Speaker of the House, a member of her own party. That in itself is enough to disqualify her from consideration of the office that she seeks.

Evangelical Girl

(Sung to the tune of Tom Petty's "American Girl")

Well she's an Evangelical girl
Raised in Waterloo
She couldn't stop talkin' 'bout
The fact that John Wayne (Gacy) was born there too

After all it is a great big world
With lots of people to lie to
Yeah, and if she had to keep lyin', she
Was gonna go for the top and not the V.P.

Bachmann, so uptight
She's a flake, baby
Chris Wallace was right
She's an Evangelical girl

The lies she tells are out of sight
Like she denies getting farm subsidies
But she could hear the Tea Party cry
At the DC rallies, and they needed a leading queen

And with Palin imploding
She just co-opted the new party
God it's so painful, the sound of that crazy voice
She's still so far out of touch

Bachmann, please don't lie
John Quincy Adams
Was not a founding guy
But she's an Evangelical girl

© Broadway Carl, 2011

This Happens Every Election Season

When will politicians who roll out their campaigns have the courtesy and respect to ask permission from a songwriter to use their creations legally?

Renowned rocker Tom Petty hit Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann with a cease-and-desist letter Monday following the congresswoman's decision to close out her campaign announcement to the tune of "American Girl," Rolling Stone reports.

And it always seems to happen to the Republican candidates, doesn't it? Don't they understand the implications of copyright infringement? Why are they not supporting the rule of law?

Scarborough's Cognitive Dissonance

This morning I was fortunate enough to witness Joe Scarborough and the entire Morning Joe crew make fun of Michele Bachmann's John Wayne Gacy gaffe for a good four straight minutes and then immediately turn on a dime and mock bloggers for doing the very same thing.

It was mind numbingly astounding.

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So, Joe, I won't make fun of yet another of Bachmann's gaffes, but I'll point out your hypocrisy for making fun of bloggers daring to write about a little trivial thing like Bachmann confusing one of America's movie icons with one of the most notorious serial killers in US history, while you went on taking little jabs forever with your Al Bundy/Ted Bundy comparisons.

ADDING... Bachmann should know that full names count. John Wayne is not the same as John Wayne Gacy, just as founding father John Adams is not the same as not founding father John Quincy Adams.

Bachmann's Chances

No chance.

That's what I told a colleague of mine when he came up to me and said this: "You're a level headed liberal like myself. Does Michele Bachmann really have a chance at winning the nomination?"

My friend was concerned about the talking heads and pundits going gaga over Bachmann after her first debate appearance. Let's call it the Sarah Palin Low Bar Syndrome. The problem with mainstream media is that instead of reporting the news and sticking with facts, they need to inject their opinion into everything. And after they witnessed Michele Bachmann's performance at last Monday's CNN New Hampshire debate (and considering some of the questions included, "American Idol or Dancing with The Stars?" or "Deep dish or thin crust?", I use the word "debate" loosely) the MSM gave her high marks because they didn't see her drooling, staring off into another camera or vomiting on herself. This of course, was after some of her more ridiculous comments earlier in the year like the Founding Fathers working tirelessly until they abolished slavery, or thinking Lexington and Concord were in New Hampshire and then trying to laugh it off with an Obama teleprompter joke.

They did the same with Sarah Palin in 2008 after the only Vice Presidential debate in which she stated she wasn't going to answer the questions posed of her, just blurt out any talking points she could remember (this was before the hand prompter) and occasionally wink at the camera. But Palin didn't soil her undies on camera, so she must have won the debate, right?

Now, I'll give Bachmann some credit. The smartest thing Bachmann did in the debate was steal the headlines by announcing her candidacy right then and there. And she's shown she's a little more than cunning. She's not dumb enough to use her Tea Party incendiary rhetoric on a national stage. She's not going to ask people to be armed and dangerous because of cap and trade. She's not going to outwardly ask for an investigation to see which members of Congress are "un-American." It doesn't suit her to let her wingnut freak flag fly when speaking to a larger audience. Doing it with some more isolated crowds will do the trick just fine. Especially when sprinkling in the veiled biblical verse here and there.

But that's the difference between Bachmann and Palin. Michele may say some crazy shit, but she knows when to tone it down to appeal to a larger contingent. Sarah takes a scorched earth approach and usually doubles down on the stupid.

Not to worry, though.  There is still another 17 months before the general election, plenty of time for the media microscope to start scrutinizing more carefully below the surface. That's also plenty of time in which I'm sure Bachmann will eventually slip and show the country how loony she actually is. Sure, she might win in Iowa where she's taking advantage of a large evangelical population and where nearly half of primary voters think President Obama was not born in the United States, but she'll most likely fade back after New Hampshire.

Talk About Thin Skin!

Look, I've always said Sarah Palin isn't going to run in 2012, and if she does, there's no way in hell she can get enough Independent votes, and moderate Republican votes for that matter, for her not to get stomped in the general election should she win the GOP primary. But Palin's main problem, besides being a mentally deficient, catty narcissist, is that she can't let any negative comment roll off her back without retaliating.

Newly hired Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins told us what he thought of Palin in no uncertain terms. "Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," she was pulled from obscurity and given the gift of a VP nomination, and she quit as Governor of Alaska when not being in the spotlight didn't suit her. All of what he said was true.

If she were serious, she'd still be in office, wouldn't be working for Fox, wouldn't have starred in a reality series, wouldn't be horking in on someone else's reality TV time, and wouldn't be traipsing around on "vacation" in a billboard with wheels. If she were serious, her team wouldn't asking for Rollins to retract his statement either.

"Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth," said Sarah PAC chief of staff Michael Glassner in an emailed statement. "To no one's surprise he has done it again, while also fueling a contrived narrative about the presidential race by the mainstream media. One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming and that a retraction will be issued soon."

Ok, here's Rollins' "correction":

Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins' response to the sharp criticisms from Sarah Palin's world just now was to "let it go."

But he didn't go quietly, telling me, "I haven't lived in Washington D.C. in 15 years, and I've been taken to the woodshed by the big boys."

"As far as we're concerned, it's not" an ongoing fight, he insisted. "This was my one comment, which I shouldn't have made, at the end of the day this has nothing to do with Michele, Michele's campaign, or any of the rest of it. This was my transition from being an analyst to a political strategist, and I missed a step."

..."What's the retraction? I say she's serious?"

You see, Palin is so hypersensitive to anything anyone says about her in a negative light, she has to lash out, whether she does it personally or those hired by her do it. She just can't take Rollins' advice and "let it go." And it makes her look all the more petty and vindictive; not a couple of attributes becoming of a possible presidential candidate.

And good for Rollins in making a perfectly thought out statement. It wasn't an apology, nor was it a retraction, just a "maybe I shouldn't have said it" moment, but never taking back what he did say. But if Sarah is this thin-skinned now, what's going to happen if she decides to join the campaign trail? She'll never make it out of New Hampshire.

Pot, Meet Kettle

I can't wait for the hijinks and hilarity to ensue.

Michele Bachmann's new top consultant, Ed Rollins, began his tenure with scathing criticism of potential Bachmann rival Sarah Palin.

"Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," Rollins told Brian Kilmeade on his radio show, Kilmeade and friends. "She got the Vice Presidential thing handed to her, she didn't go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance, she gave up her governorship."

The only way this can end well is by steel cage match. I'd buy that on pay-per-view!