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The Aug. 15, 2012 issue of St. Cloud Times had a letter to the editor by Marilynn Maizan of St. Cloud, in which the writer assails 6th District Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for her “unproven accusations, allegations, disrespectful remarks, twisted facts, delusions and innuendoes.” Following are excerpts from the letter annotated with added content for background context.

“[Political candidates] should be given civics, geography and history tests to see if they know even basic facts about our country and our government.”

» ‘Balloonhead’ Bachmann (Jan. 27, 2011)

Chris Matthews: Michele Bachmann a ‘Balloon Head’

Bachmann thinks Founding Fathers worked ‘tirelessly to end slavery’

Video

How should Obama treat the Tea Party? (MSNBC “Hardball,” Jan. 25, 2011) — Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo and Salon.com’s Joan Walsh explain whether the Tea Party and President Barack Obama can find a way to reconcile their beliefs on various issues affecting the government. (09:14)

The Huffington Post
January 25, 2011

On Tuesday’s “Hardball,” Chris Matthews was so incredulous about Michele Bachmann’s interpretation of American history that he called her a “balloon head” …

Matthews was speaking to Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo. He played the same tape which had also gotten Anderson Cooper riled up, where Bachmann lauds the Founding Fathers for working “tirelessly to end slavery.” …

“Why do you put someone like this forward who is a balloon head?” he said. “Who knows no American history? … Do you know how little this woman knows about our history?” …

Chris Matthews: Bachmann Displays ‘Profound Ignorance’

Video

Bachmann: The actual face of the Tea Party? (MSNBC “Hardball,” Jan. 26, 2011) — Tea Party coordinator Phillip Dennis and Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post join Hardball’s Chris Matthews to discuss the lawmaker’s response to the State of the Union and recent remark that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to get rid of slavery. (10:18)

Keeping Them Honest: Bachmann Flubs History?
(Anderson Cooper 360°, Jan. 25, 2011)

Video

» Bachmann Says First Shots of Revolutionary War Were Fired in New Hampshire (March 13, 2011)

Bachmann Flubs Revolutionary War Geography in New Hampshire

Representative from Minnesota confuses Concord, N.H., with Concord, Mass.


U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., arrives with her husband, Marcus, to a state GOP fundraiser on Saturday, March 12, 2011 in Nashua, N.H. Bachmann recently has visited two other early nominating states and is expected to announce whether she’s running for a Republican presidential nomination by early summer. (Photo credit: Jim Cole / AP)

By Holly Ramer

March 12, 2011

NASHUA, N.H. — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota stood before New Hampshire Republicans with a tea bag clutched in her hand Saturday, but her grasp on Revolutionary War geography wasn’t quite as tight.

Before headlining a GOP fundraiser, the possible presidential hopeful told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord,” according to video posted online by WMUR-TV [link added].

But those first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire. Though Bachmann probably wasn’t the first to confuse Concord, N.H., with Concord, Mass., her mistake was striking given her roots in the Tea Party movement, which takes its name from the dumping of tea into Boston Harbor by angry American colonists in December 1773, 16 months before the Battle of Lexington Green. …

Video

Bachmann flubs simple U.S. history fact (MSNBC “The Last Word,” March 14, 2011) — Rewrite: While speaking at an event in New Hampshire, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., incorrectly said, “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord.” That shot was heard in Massachusetts. (06:54)

“There should be a codicil attached to their election stating that if they miss a certain amount of votes and days on the job, as Bachmann has done, they are relieved of duty. While campaigning for president, she was not working to represent the district. Even without the excuse of campaigning, her attendance record is poor.”

» Michele Bachmann Found in Ohio (March 1, 2010)


Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks at a Republican fundraiser in Archbold, Ohio, May 20, 2011. (Photo credit: JD Pooley / AP via USA Today)

» Native Bachmann Running Hard in Iowa (April 12, 2011)


U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., greets Irene Blom (right) before speaking at a Presidential Lecture Series sponsored by The Family Leader, Monday, April 11, 2011, in Pella, Iowa. (Photo credit: Charlie Neibergall / The Associated Press)

» Michele Bachmann Raises the Roof in Ohio (May 23, 2011)

» Iowans Are ‘Chomping At the Bit’ for Bachmann (May 28, 2011)


Michele Bachmann dances on stage with her husband, Marcus, after speaking at a Tea Party Rally on July 2, 2011 outside the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines. (Photo credit: Justin Hayworth / AP via Washington Post photo gallery)

» Michele Bachmann Flying High in Iowa (June 26, 2011)

Image: Rep. Michele Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is statistically tied with Mitt Romney at the top of the first Iowa poll of the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign season. (Photo credit: Sean Gardner / Reuters)

“Her latest accusation is that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government. She named Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as Abedin’s entire family and Keith Ellison, a respected Minnesota representative in Congress.”

» Michele Bachmann’s Muslim Brotherhood Conspiracy (July 18, 2012)

“When asked to show proof to substantiate her claims that both are directly tied to this group, her answer has been silence and avoidance.” [Actually, Bachmann doubled down on her far-fetched crackpot allegations.”

» Bachmann Sees al-Qaida Influence in U.S. Government (Aug. 11, 2012)


U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann gave credence to attempts by former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy to connect Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, to the al-Qaida terrorist network in what Washington Post opinion writer Dana Milbank described as “a twisted line from Abedin all the way to al-Qaeda.” (Photo credit: Charlie Riedel / Associated Press via Star Tribune)

“Many Republicans, including John McCain and Ed Rollins, her former campaign adviser who quit her campaign, have spoken out against her outrageous assumptions.”

» Ten Reasons Why Republicans Should Vote Michele Bachmann Out of Office (Aug. 14, 2012)


Ed Rollins, former campaign manager of Bachmann for President and national campaign director for the Reagan-Bush ‘84 campaign: “I have to say that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s outrageous and false charges against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin … accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest. Having worked for Congressman Bachmann’s campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level. … Shame on you, Michele! … As a devoted Christian, you need to ask forgiveness for this grievous lack of judgment and reckless behavior.”

————————————————————

FULL TEXT OF LETTER

District Should Vote Out Bachmann

By Marilynn Maizan, St. Cloud
Letter to the Editor
St. Cloud Times
August 15, 2012

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann represents my 6th District.

After listening to Michelle Bachmann’s unproven accusations, allegations, disrespectful remarks, twisted facts, delusions and innuendoes, I believe that all candidates running for re-election and those campaigning for the first time should undergo a psychological examination.

In addition, they should be given civics, geography and history tests to see if they know even basic facts about our country and our government. (Remember the Sarah Palin debacle?)

There should be a codicil attached to their election stating that if they miss a certain amount of votes and days on the job, as Bachmann has done, they are relieved of duty.

While campaigning for president, she was not working to represent the district. Even without the excuse of campaigning, her attendance record is poor.

Her latest accusation is that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government. She named Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as Abedin’s entire family and Keith Ellison, a respected Minnesota representative in Congress. When asked to show proof to substantiate her claims that both are directly tied to this group, her answer has been silence and avoidance.

Many Republicans, including John McCain and Ed Rollins, her former campaign adviser who quit her campaign, have spoken out against her outrageous assumptions.

However, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck wholeheartedly support Bachmann’s delusions. They can give her a job in their research departments. Fox News could hire her as a spokeswoman.

It is time to vote Bachmann out and elect a sensible, intelligent, reasonable person who will work for us in the Sixth District and make us proud.

———————————

9/28/2012 Update

Fact-Checkers Worry About Bachmann ‘Overload’

Fact-checkers worry about Bachmann 'overload'
The Associated Press realized that if they wrote about all of Bachmann’s lies, falsehoods, misstatements, etc., the overall effort to fact-check the field of Republican candidates would be thrown too far out of balance. (Photo credit: Reuters / Joshua Lott via MinnPost)

By Eric Black
MinnPost
September 27, 2012

Jim Drinkard, an Associated Press (AP) editor who oversees the wire service’s fact-checking work, said, “We had to have a self-imposed Michele Bachmann quota in some of those debates.”

The quote above, which refers to the 101 Repub presidential debates and obviously refers to the ones that occurred while Rep. Bachmann was still running for president, comes from a Washington Post piece about the journalistic “fact-checking” business. Drinkard made the statement at an event yesterday at the National Press Club about fact-checking.

Drinkard later clarified that the AP didn’t have a literal numerical quota on Bachmann-said-something-untrue pieces. Rather, the news agency just realized that if they wrote about all of Bachmann’s lies, falsehoods, misstatements, etc., the overall effort to fact-check the double-digit field of Repub candidates would be thrown too far out of balance. …

Full story

————————————————

Related reports on this site

Bachmann Brainwashing Paranoia (April 8, 2009)

Video

Bachmann’s Brainwashing Paranoia (MSNBC “Hardball,” April 7, 2009) — Sideshow: 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. Hardball guest host David Shuster reports. (02:34)

Bachmann’s ‘Anti-American’ Rant (Oct. 18, 2009)

Video

‘Bizarre’ Bachmann ‘No Friend’ (Feb. 18, 2010)


Michele Bachmann is the modern face of an emerging brand of American protofascism being spawned by the “perfect storm” of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the election of America’s first African-American president.

Bachmann Conspiracy Nation (Feb. 20, 2010)


Town Hall Face. (Photo credits: Landov, AP, Getty Images / Newsweek)

MN-06 Endorses Conspiracy Nut (March 22, 2010)


False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story

Michele Bachmann’s Record of Reckless Conspiracy Theories (July 24, 2012)

Catholic Bishops, Lutheran Church Condemn Bachmann (July 27, 2012)

Video

Video courtesy of Jim Graves for Congress





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