Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is making headlines in the British press, where she is touted as “a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota who is being hailed as a new and increasingly powerful voice in American politics.” Excerpts from an article by Paul Harris, New York-based correspondent for The Observer and The Guardian, supplemented with annotated critique. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 16, 2008, I reported that racial incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are shattering the postelection illusion of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. There have been “hundreds” of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.

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Summary: A Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,000 likely Minnesota voters, conducted November 10, 2009, found U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s statewide job approval rating to be 51 percent, with 45 percent disapproving and 4 percent not sure. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 14, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported an Associated Press tally documenting at least 26 deadly bombings in Baghdad in the first half of November 2008, compared with 28 for all of October and 22 in September, with at least 102 people killed in the Iraqi capital in the first half of November 2008, compared with 95 in October and 96 in September.

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Summary: U.S. Rep. Steve Israel has called on U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to apologize for Holocaust imagery displayed at a rally organized by Bachmann at the U.S. Capitol on November 5, 2009 to protest health care reform. … Photos and video from Bachmann’s “House Call on Congress” protest rally. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 12, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the pendulum in Mosul, Iraq, had swung several times between stark violence and fragile security and that the future of Mosul hung in the balance. Immelman also reported that Taliban fighters had hijacked trucks carrying Humvees and other supplies for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan.

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Summary: Calling on supporters to descend on Washington to protest health care reform, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann resurrected the Ghost of Political Stunts Past. Bachmann pulled similar publicity stunts five years ago while crusading in the Minnesota state Senate for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 14th day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman drew attention to blogger Eric Zaetsch’s pointers for casting a write-in ballot and reported ongoing political wrangling and violence in Iraq.

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Summary: Recently, the New York Times published a poorly researched, superficial, misleading, mostly puff piece on U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, titled “A G.O.P. agitator not named Palin” (Oct. 14, 2009). Bill Prendergast’s responds. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 11th day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman posted his candidate information from the St. Cloud Times Voter Guide.

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Summary: This weekend marks the first anniversary of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s despicable Oct. 17, 2008 “anti-America” remarks on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews that made her a national celebrity. As I reported a year ago today, Bachmann “dishonored her office and brought shame to the Sixth District and the State of Minnesota by calling for a media investigation reminiscent of McCarthy-era witch hunts to ‘find out [which members of Congress] are pro-America or anti-America.'” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 39th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported that Pakistan was scrambling for foreign aid to ward off a possible economic meltdown while trying to contain sharply escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists. He also highlighted looming economic problems, citing a Washington Post report that the U.S. federal deficit was soaring toward the $1 trillion mark by the end of 2008, “creating the deepest well of red ink since the end of World War II.” In response to Rep. Bachmann’s shameful anti-American commentary on “Hardball” with Chris Matthews, Immelman petitioned the Minnesota Secretary of State to run as a write-in candidate against Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District election for U.S. Representative.

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Summary: Rep. Michele Bachmann says, “Quite honestly I don’t even know anything about MSNBC.” To refresh Bachmann’s memory, MSNBC is the cable network on which she dishonored her office on October 17, 2008, when she called for McCarthy-like witch hunts to find out which members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 33rd day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on a spate of attacks against Christians in Mosul, Iraq, forcing hundreds of families to flee for their lives.

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Summary: As though vying for the title of “World’s Greatest Exaggerator,” U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, U.S. Fearmonger-in-Chief, this week made the histrionic claim that by next fall “someone’s 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night … [with] Mom and Dad … never the wiser.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 23rd day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, provided an October 2008 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003. He also reported on suicide bombings at two Shiite mosques in Baghdad that killed 24 people and wounded more than 50, a missile strike by a suspected U.S. drone in the northwest Pakistan tribal region near the Afghan border, ongoing violence in Iraq, and the reduction of U.S. military deaths in Iraq as Iraqi security forces increasingly take the lead in counterinsurgency operations.

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Summary: Young Americans for Liberty refuse to publicize Michele Bachmann’s appearance with Ron Paul at a University of Minnesota rally, saying, “We don’t feel that we can promote her in good faith, because she represents none of the libertarian principles that we joined this group for.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 19th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on violence in Iraq’s disputed Kurdish region and bombings in Baghdad, posted a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq, and documented political assassinations and kidnappings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Summary: In St. Louis for the “How to Take Back America” conference, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has said she will not fully comply with the 2010 census, declined to respond to a question by Washington Independent reporter David Weigel regarding the apparent lynching — later ruled a suicide — of Kentucky census worker Bill Sparkman. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 18th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a skirmish between Kurdish security forces and Iraqi police in Iraq’s northeastern Diyala province near the disputed Kurdish autonomous region and provided a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq.

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