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

Excerpts

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.

Some 30 miles to the north and with tea bag in hand, Bachmann was greeted with applause when she asked the crowd, “How about a United States president that gets what the American people want in 2012?” and later proclaimed, “Are you in for 2012? I’m in!”

She later clarified that she is committed to denying President Barack Obama a second term, not necessarily running herself. That decision will come by early summer, she said, adding that she was no closer to making it Saturday than she was before her first political trip to New Hampshire.

For the state that holds the earliest presidential primary, it was another day, another Minnesota politician with possible White House aspirations. Bachmann’s trip overlapped one day with former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s latest visit, offering voters a glimpse of their contrasting styles. …

Bachmann spoke before an enthusiastic, conservative crowd that included tea party groups from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. She called Obama’s health care overhaul the “ultimate example of arrogance.” …

She said the bill included $105 billion in spending that Obama and Democrat leaders intentionally hid.

“Did he just forget to mention that, oh, by the way, we’ve got $105 billion in this bill that we’re going to implement socialized medicine? No, this was intentional.

“It needed to be implemented immediately to get its tentacles all through your lives and our government and our institutions so that no matter who was elected in the future, your franchise, your vote would be neutralized. Because they would get their way.” …

Full story

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3/14/11 Update

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)

Questions Lawrence O’Donnell Wants You to Answer About Michele Bachmann

By The Last Word Staff
Mon. March 14, 2011 8:49 PM EDT

Rep. Michele Bachmann
(Photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

After her shocking failure in both U.S. history and geography this weekend, Lawrence would like your help. As he explained in tonight’s Rewrite, after Bachmann told audiences in New Hampshire that “you’re the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord” (as you know, Lexington and Concord are in this neighboring commonwealth), Lawrence wants you to take a crack at answering these questions:

1. How ignorant is Michele Bachmann and how did she get that way?
2. Where does she find her shockingly ignorant staff?
3. What explains the rank ignorance of 52% of the voters in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District?

As Lawrence said, good answers to any of these questions will be used on this show, and of course, you will get full credit.

Post responses on the comment thread here.

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Related reports

Video

Who benefits from the slow pace of the GOP primary? (MSNBC “The Daily Rundown,” March 14, 2011) — National Journal’s Ron Brownstein joins the show to go over the slow-starting Republican primary and its implications for the candidates. (04:33)

Michele Bachmann fails political geography 101
(Politico, March 12, 2011)

Bachmann speech includes history gaffe
(WMUR-TV 9, Manchester, N.H., March 12, 2011)

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Related reports on this site

Tea Party Presidential Primary (March 3, 2011)

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., arrives with husband, Marcus, at a state GOP fundraiser in Nashua, N.H., Saturday, March 12, 2011 (Photo credit: The Associated Press)

Michele Bachmann Eyes ‘Madam President’ (Sept. 9, 2009)

President Bachmann?

Democrats Link Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann (Sept. 20, 2009)

Michele Bachmann stumps for Tim Pawlenty in 2006.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 13, 2010

Bachmann Exploits Troops

One year ago today, I reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann, addressing Tea Party activists, exploited U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan in an attempt to score some cheap political points by 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.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — March 13, 2009

Devastating Blast Unnoticed

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)

Two years ago today, on March 13, 2009, 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.