Addressing Tea Party activists earlier this week, Rep. Michele Bachmann exploited U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan in an attempt to score some cheap political points, saying that passing the health reform bill would be a slam against the troops in Afghanistan and that the bill should be killed for the sake of the troops. Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent reports:

Bachmann: ‘Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes’

By Andy Birkey
The Minnesota Independent
March 11, 2010

Rep. Michele Bachmann told Tea Party activists on Wednesday to “take the town halls to Washington, DC” to defeat the health care bill. Bachmann suggested that passing the health reform bill would be a slam against freedom — and the troops in Afghanistan [emphasis added].

In a video spotted by the Washington Independent, Bachmann joined members of the Tea Party in calling for town halls in Washington, DC, by saying the bill should be killed for the sake of the troops [emphasis added].

“The men and women today who are bleeding for us in Afghanistan,” she said. “We need to think about them, what they gave to us, and recognize if this goes down in the United States, where does anyone go for freedom? Where do we go for freedom?”

“We the people are going to roll them out,” said Bachmann, “and when we roll them out we’re going to roll this bill back. … Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes.”

The report generated interesting comments:

magi
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 1:13 pm

WHAT? Bachmann makes absolutely no sense! How is passing HCR putting the lives of our soldiers anywhere in danger? She pulled this one out of the deep recesses of her derriere where all the rest of her rhetoric originates.

Maria
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 1:39 pm

It looks like at least one Congresswoman from the state of Minnesota is in URGENT need of MENTAL health reform. She belongs in the PSYCHIATRIC WARD!

tom
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

Freedom? What we all need is the freedom of Bachmann out of office. She put the loon in lunatic.

George Hayduke
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 2:11 pm

“Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes.”

Is Bachmann urging her followers to come to Washington to shoot members of Congress?

T-Bag Jones
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 3:07 pm

“The British are coming, the British are coming!!!”

She’s pathetic.

Eric
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 4:42 pm

I’m stuck between understanding her antics as evidence of mental instability or a shockingly unscrupulous mendacity that knows virtually no limits in its attempts to manipulate others.

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Bill Prendergast comments in the Daily Kos:

Michele Bachmann Update: Support Our Troops by Killing HCR

By Bill Prendergast
Daily Kos diary
March 11, 2010

Excerpts

Birkey thinks the money quote is Bachmann’s invocation of “the whites of their eyes,” the revolutionary call not to shoot your opponents until they get real, real close. (Bachmann’s done a lot of bloodthirsty imagery [link added] this year.)

Me, I think the heart this story is the logic of claiming that “supporting the Democratic health care bill equals a betrayal of our troops in Afghanistan.”

A close second is Bachmann’s suggestion that if this bill goes through, there won’t be any freedom left anywhere in the world (Britain, France, Canada, and Germany et al. are too socialist for her taste to be called “free”).

She’s said stuff like that before, long before HCR became the top priority of the Obama administration. She’s told conservatives we’re in the grip of “gangster government” [link added] and that there are no other bastions of freedom left in the world if Barack Obama (who is “practicing tyranny” according to Bachmann) isn’t stopped. So that’s why she’s urging supporters to look “for the whites of their eyes.”

Note: This is not the first time Bachmann has used the “whites of their eyes” line. On Oct. 30, 2009 Bachmann told Fox News’ Sean Hannity:

“I’d love to have every one of your viewers join me so that we can go up and down through the halls, find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, ‘Don’t take away my health care.'”

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Flag Waving Doesn’t Mean You Support the Troops

Rep. Michele Bachmann and her husband Marcus ride atop a military vehicle with “U.S. Army” emblazoned on it, Stillwater Lumberjack Days Parade, July 25, 2010. (Photo credit: Ken Avidor / Dump Bachmann; photo not part of original LTE reprinted below)

Anita C. Davis, Stillwater
Letter to the editor
Stillwater Gazette
July 30, 2010

My family recently enjoyed the Stillwater Lumberjack Days Parade. As a former Air Force officer, I take pride in standing with my community as flags pass and wartime veterans are honored.

However, I was taken aback when U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann passed by riding atop a military vehicle with “U.S. Army” emblazoned on it. I think it was totally inappropriate, and it causes me to once again question her judgment. Furthermore, I question the authenticity of Representative Bachmann’s care for military personnel and veterans.

In March 2007, Bachmann voted against a bill that increased veterans’ health and mental health budgets while delivering funds to reduce the V.A. backlog. The bill passed despite her lack of support.

And when the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010 came up for a vote, Bachmann was the only Minnesota representative who didn’t show up to vote. Once again, the bill passed despite her indifference.

Bachmann also voted against an amendment to the G.I. Bill expansion, which designated payments to be made to fund the higher education of those who have served on active duty in the Armed Forces beginning on or after Sept. 11, 2001. This amendment, which greatly benefits our service members who have given so much, also passed without a vote from Bachmann.

She does not represent my best interests as a veteran. Nor do I believe that she represents the best interests of my husband, who is a current Air Force Reservist. It takes more than flag waving and photo ops on a military rig to prove that you stand up for military service members and veterans.

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Related report on this site

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s proposal to freeze health care funding for veterans drew a sharp rebuke from veterans groups. (Photo credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / The Associated Press via Military Times)

Bachmann: Freeze Veterans’ Health Care, Slash Disability Compensation (Jan. 29, 2011)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 13, 2009

Family members of Suhaib Adnan, a TV reporter who was killed in a suicide bombing attack in Abu Ghraib, mourn during his funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday, March 11, 2009. (Photo credit: Loay Hameed / AP)

Devastating Blast Unnoticed

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that in the early years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, bombings with half the casualties of the March 11, 2009 Abu Ghraib bombing that killed 33 raised fears the U.S. might not prevail; yet six years after the invasion, that attack did not even make the front page of the Iraqi government newspaper.