Anti-Spending Rally Gives Bachmann a Platform

Photo not part of excerpted report

By Larry Bivins
Times Washington Correspondent
St. Cloud Times
April 5, 2011

Excerpts

WASHINGTON — Rep. Michele Bachmann will lead a noon anti-spending rally [on Wednesday, April 6] outside the Capitol near where she stood about 18 months ago before thousands of angry tea party activists protesting a Democrat-sponsored plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

The size and passion of the crowd Bachmann helped draw to that November 2009 event confirmed her celebrity status among tea party conservatives. …

Bachmann is billed as the keynote speaker for Wednesday’s “Cut Spending Now” event, which is expected to draw busloads of protesters. …

“She’s clearly positioning herself as a tea party candidate, and this is another way for her to advertise her bona fides as a tea party leader,” said Larry Jacobs, a politics expert at the University of Minnesota.

In cultivating the tea party crowd, Bachmann is diminishing the prospects for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to gain a foothold among the Republican Party’s most activist conservatives, Jacobs said. …

Full story

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4/6/11 Update

Bachmann Headlines Anti-Spending Rally

Politico video not part of excerpted report

By Larry Bivins
Times Washington Correspondent
St. Cloud Times
April 6, 2011

Excerpts

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann celebrated her 55th birthday in part Wednesday with a familiar rant against President Barack Obama, liberal Democrats and government spending.

Bachmann, R-Stillwater, who is considering a bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, used a microphone malfunction that delayed her remarks as an analogy for what might happen if the federal government continues to spend more money than it takes in. A $1.6 trillion deficit is projected for the current fiscal year.

“This is a real-life example of what’s going to happen in the United States of America if we don’t get serious about cutting spending,” Bachmann told hundreds gathered outside the Capitol. “If we don’t get serious, a lot more than this microphone will be shut down.”

The Minnesota Republican’s remarks came as the federal government faced the prospect of a shutdown Friday barring an agreement between Republicans and Democrats on a spending plan for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. …

Bachmann was the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s rally, which was organized by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative, free-market group, to pressure lawmakers to cut spending. Some protesters toted signs that read “Cut Spending Now.” Others took the message a step further with signs reading “Cut Spending or Shut it Down.” …

Bachmann said a “shutdown” was a misnomer because the government would not completely come to a halt if no new spending plan is approved. Social Security checks would still go out, she said, and military operations would continue.

“It’s a government slowdown,” Bachmann said. “There is no such thing as a shutdown. Let’s be clear about that.”

Whatever it is called, Bachmann accused Democrats of causing it.

“Their goal, as they’ve already stated, is to shut the government down, and they want to blame you,” Bachmann said. She accused liberal Democrats of leading the nation down a “road to planned bankruptcy.”

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image (Nov. 12, 2009)

Bachmann Stunt Back to Roots (Nov. 1, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — April 5, 2010

Tea Party Fomenting Rebellion?

A billboard ordered and paid for by the North Iowa Tea Party shows President Barack Obama, Adolf Hitler, left, and Vladimir Lenin, on South Federal Avenue in Mason City, Iowa, July 12, 2010. (Photo credit: Globe Gazette / Deb Nicklay — AP via The Washington Post)

One year ago today, I featured an Associated Press analysis of tea party operations in almost every state and examined whether the movement could be fomenting extraconsitutional rebellion.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — April 5, 2009

North Korea Launches Rocket

Two years ago today, on April 5, 2009, I reported that North Korea had fired a multistage rocket over Japan, defying Washington, Tokyo, and other world leaders who suspect the purpose of the launch was to test its long-range missile technology.