printAt last, presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) is deploying a tactic touted by this column in hammering home her own intellectual heft (relative to a politician, that is). She has to. Fox News’ Chris Wallace apparently thinks that asking Bachmann (as opposed to John McCain and progeny) whether she is a flake amounts to hard-hitting journalism.
Then and there, the “seldom fazed” representative replied (paraphrased):
Well, I think that would be insulting, to say something like that, because I’m a serious person. I’m a 55-year-old woman. I’ve been married for 33 years, and I have a post-doctorate [I think she meant post-graduate] degree in federal tax law. I have five children, and have raised 23 foster children and opened a charter school for at-risk youth.
[Note how the Fox News article is written in the passive voice, so as to avoid implicating its hired hand, Wallace.]
As I’ve written repeatedly, Bachmann is nothing like Sarah Palin. Palin is Bush in a bra (with all the implications about brain power that implies).
Rep. Bachmann, on the other hand, as was contended back in September of 2009, is very clever.
Back then , this column had already picked the GOP’s winning ticket: Ron Paul for commander-in-chief; Michele Bachmann as second-in-command.
Bachmann is eloquent and is seldom fazed. As attractive as Sarah, she is also cerebral, a quality poor Palin is without. Bachmann is not yet a libertarian, but neither is she wedded to the warfare state, and is wise enough to recognize the political value of denouncing America’s forays abroad in order to bring moderates and independents into the fold. Given guidance (and a good kick), she is not beyond apologizing for her unforgivable vote for the Patriot Act.
Conversely … Paul has gone from immigration hawk to toying with amnesty (with an asterisk or two). Bachmann will bring Paul back from the brink. Americans inhabit a world of reality TV and other frivolity. To win the GOP nomination in this parallel universe, Ron Paul needs political bling—he will want the punch, pizazz and money bombs a Bachmann can provide.
“Bundle Rand (Paul) and Bachmann—and the opposition, both Republican and Democratic, will be vanquished. But that’s for another day.”
UPDATE I: A Facebook friend wants an analysis of Sarah palin’s unraveling. Okay, here.
UPDATE II: Bill, as I wrote in “Bachmann: Bling For Ron Paul?”, Paul would not take MB on unless it was under his tutelage, after she was, “Given guidance (and a good kick),” and made to “apologize for her unforgivable vote for the Patriot Act.”
Alone, how is Paul to win? We’re in this to win, right?
UPDATE III: (June 29): WINNING. Myron, what is wrong with wanting Paul to win? He can win the nomination if he and MB combine forces. Alone he is unlikely to get anywhere. Defeatism is a luxury only well-funded, spoilt brats (like these) can afford.
Bachmann “has jumped into second place in the New Hampshire Republican primary. … While Bachmann remains well behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has 36 percent support, the other sixteen Republicans included in the survey all had levels of support in the single digits.”
The results of the Gallup poll released on Tuesday showed that Bachmann’s name recognition is up to 69 percent from 52 percent in a poll conducted in late February/early March. With the increase, Bachmann is behind only Romney, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, in terms of name recognition, Gallup also noted that Bachmann has a positive intensity score of 24, which ties with pizza magnate Herman Cain’s as the highest such score of any candidate
Ilana, Bachmann votes to extend the Patriot act and brags about it. It’s hard for me to get excited about any further hardcore GOP police state enablers, even if “second in command” on the ticket. True, she’s no Sarah Palin, and a very clever politician. Perhaps that is enough.
Ilana’s prognostication here is that two wrongs – neoCon Bachmann + libertarian Paul – make a Right. Don’t think so. In the unlikely circumstance that this odd couple somehow mates and wins the election, I predict the same old Monster offspring: open boarders sweatshopping, job-exporting free trade, and the usual Zionist wars, er, ‘scuse me, the “War on Terror”. It’s long past time to give up on both Demicans and Republicrats.
A Paul/Bachmann ticket makes sense b/c each one runs stronger in areas & constituencies that the other is weaker in if you read some of the cross tabs in the polls
What kind of damage could MB do as VP to Prez Ron Paul ? LOLLLL !!!!!!!!!
Job 1 should be get RP the Rep. nomination …. then worry about the VP pick
Adjust thinking to how We are going to WIN IT !
Several points:
1. Sarah Palin has the philosophical depth of a puddle in the Sahara Desert. An excellent article/video of the Palin/Bachman/Romney/Paul dynamics is in the American Conservative:
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2011/06/20/identity-vs-philosophy/
2. I disagree with the blaming of US interventionism on Israel or Zionists even if neoconservatives are diehard supporters of the Israeli right. (e.g. CompassionateFascist)
3. Conservative Republicanism, which mismanaged the country 2001 – 2009, is not remotely libertarian. In Civil Liberties, the War on Drugs, Interventionist Foreign Policy, Rightist Social Engineering (such as Federal abstinence education and Federal Aid to Private Schools), TSA, NATO/Empire, Agribusiness…, there is a radical disconnect. That a Bachmann seems better than Whitebread Mitt or Neocon Pawlenty or Loquacious Egomaniacal Newt says very little about Bachmann vs. the large gap that she has to cross to be in the Johnson or Paul side of limited government libertarianism.
4. About “winning” – hell, if it is all about “winning”, just cancel the elections and make Obama the President for Life like Baby Doc Duvalier. Winning has to mean something – so count me skeptical for 2012. The American people love Big Government as long as they don’t have to fork up the costs (e.g. Borrow and Spend).
Bachmann is hot stuff and would be great for the country. I’m sure she’s ready for the slings and arrows coming her way from the depths of the leftist, primordial swamp that begets Democrat politics. But, I like Sarah for many reasons. Maybe I would support Michele over her but I don’t relegate Sarah to the little room where they keep the idiots. Maybe Sarah is no Ilana Mercer, but then who is?
My comment on winning is that while I certainly want a limited government person like Paul or Gary Johnson to WIN
(in fact, even getting 30% of the delegates to the Republican convention instead of 8 delegates obliged to shut up or get arrested! – would shake things up…) – the Mainstream Media focuses on the Horserace. Replacing Bush with Obama with Pawlenty is merely cosmetic [ Hence the comment “Bush in a bra” for Palin ].
So my focus is on fighting first with winning a long term goal. In that sense, I feel like the Taliban – never give up!