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Oct 23rd, 2010


On July 21, the St. Cloud Times published a letter to the editor in which the writer offered a broad-ranging indictment of Rep. Michele Bachmann, characterizing her as self-centered, unresponsive to the needs of her district, meager in her legislative accomplishments, and shirking the hard work of effective governance. But, as I reported at the time, it was not until the end of the letter that the writer touched on what I consider to be the real problem with Bachmann: her delusion-like paranoia, her shameless conspiracy-peddling, and her incessant fear-mongering.


Rep. Michele Bachmann at one of her last public debates, with Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson, left, and DFL candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg, right, in Stillwater, Minn., Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008. (Photo credit: Marlin Levison / Star Tribune)

As it turns out, Bachmann’s contact with reality has become even more tenuous than previously thought, as she descends deeper into the grip of political paranoia – to the extent that she asked the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office to remove her name from the publicly available voter registration records under a legal provision designed to protect past or potential victims of domestic abuse.

The St. Cloud Times has the story:

Bachmann doesn’t appear on voters list; she asked to be removed for privacy

By Mark Sommerhauser
St. Cloud Times
October 22, 2010

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s voting history doesn’t appear on Minnesota’s public list of registered voters — at her own request, her spokesman said Thursday.

The list details when more than 3 million registered Minnesota voters cast ballots since 1994.

It also lists each voter’s address.

Bachmann asked to be removed from the list for privacy reasons, her spokesman, Sergio Gor, said Thursday.

As a result, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office has no publicly available record of the congresswoman’s having voted. The secretary of state’s office maintains the state’s voter registration records.

Bachmann, R-Stillwater, is a registered voter and voted regularly during those years, Gor said.

The St. Cloud Times requested the state’s voter registration database for a routine review of area candidates’ voting history dating back to 1994.

Minnesota statute says registered voters may request their information be pulled from the public list if it “is required for the safety of the voter or the voter’s family.”

Gor said Bachmann’s safety had not been threatened when she made the request.

Bachmann’s key election opponents, DFLer Tarryl Clark and the Independence Party’s Bob Anderson [and unaffiliated independent Aubrey Immelman — information added] are in the public list, as are the seven other members of Minnesota’s U.S. congressional delegation.

“I don’t think we can speak to the other members of Congress,” Gor said. “For her, it was just a privacy issue.”

Gor said he didn’t know when Bachmann asked to have her name removed.

Before 2005, the law required a voter to have a court order of protection to have his or her information removed. State legislators voted in 2005 to amend the provision that eventually allowed Bachmann and others to have their names removed from the list.

Mark Anfinson, an attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper Association, said the law was changed to protect past or potential victims of domestic abuse.

“Simple privacy would not suffice” to meet that standard, Anfinson said.

Bachmann also cited concern for her privacy as a reason for not responding to all the questions on the 2010 U.S. Census. Bachmann said in 2009 that some of the census questions are unnecessarily intrusive.

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Bachmann Brainwashing Paranoia (April 8, 2009)


Bachmann’s Brainwashing Paranoia (MSNBC “Hardball,” April 7, 2009) — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is warning that a new bill expanding the AmeriCorps community service agency could lead to the “brainwashing” of America’s youth. Said Bachmann: “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concern is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go and work in some of these politically correct forums.” Hardball guest host David Shuster reports. (02:34)

Bachmann’s Census Paranoia (June 27, 2009)


Bachmann: “If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I’m not saying that’s what the Administration is planning to do. But I am saying that private, personal information that was given to the census bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up.” (05:15)

Bachmann Healthcare Paranoia (Feb. 3, 2010)


At a political forum in Rochester, Minn., Monday, Feb. 1, 2010, Rep. Michele Bachmann makes the wild claim that the president’s health reform proposals, beyond being “the crown jewel of socialism,” could lead to “gangster government” and “absolute abject corruption,” with people terrified to speak out against the government for fear of being blacklisted for denial of health care. (Photo credit: Michele Jokinen / Post-Bulletin).

The Real Trouble with Bachmann (July 21, 2010)


Bachmann claims the President of the United States wants to “annihilate” conservatives and heads a “gangster government.”

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — October 23, 2009

St. Cloud Veterans Day Parade


St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis thanks veterans and parade organizers and participants (02:30)

One year ago today, as a public service announcement, I provided information about the upcoming 2009 St. Cloud-area Veterans Day Parade and Social.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — October 23, 2008

Image: Wreckage after suicide bombing in Baghdad
Iraqi army soldiers inspect a damaged car after a suicide car bomber targeted a government convoy in Bab al-Sharji, central Baghdad, on Oct. 23, 2008. (Photo credit: Hadi Mizban / AP)

Write-in Campaign: Day 5

Two years ago today, on the fifth day of my write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I reported ongoing violence in the Iraq war. I also noted that Chuck Norris, in an article published Oct. 21, 2008 at HumanEvents.com, cited research conducted at my Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics.

Chuck Norris

Obama’s Personality Pendulum

By Chuck Norris
Human Events
November 21, 2008

Obama will not lose his bid for the presidency because of his connections to Ayers, ACORN or socialist politics. In fact, he won’t lose it because of his stand on any issue. The coup de grace for Obama’s presidential election downfall will come only through convincing the American public of his lack of decisive leadership under pressure. I’m not just talking about facing rogue nations or terrorist thugs. I’m referring to making major choices in conflict. Indecisiveness is his greatest weakness, and it’s one this country cannot afford at this time in its history.

Interestingly, a while back, the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, did a professional personality profile “for anticipating Obama’s likely leadership style as chief executive, thereby providing a basis for inferring the character and tenor of a prospective Obama presidency.” The study concluded:

“The combination of Ambitious, Accommodating, and Outgoing patterns in Obama’s profile suggests a confident conciliator personality composite. Leaders with this personality prototype, though self-assured and ambitious, are characteristically gracious, considerate, and benevolent. They are energetic, charming, and agreeable, with a special knack for settling differences, favoring mediation and compromise over force or coercion as a strategy for resolving conflict. They are driven primarily by a need for achievement and also have strong affiliation needs, but a low need for power.” …

Read the full story





4 Responses to “Bachmann’s Blooming Paranoia”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Michele Bachmann Up-Close Says:

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    […] Michele Bachmann’s Blooming Paranoia […]

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