Bachmann Again Headlines Protest Rally

Local Tea Party Event Draws Bachmann Fans

By Dave Aeikens
St. Cloud Times
June 5, 2010

Excerpt

[An estimated] 200 people … showed up Friday at a tea party rally at Lake George. It was organized by the local Republican Party.

It featured Republican office holders, including Bachmann, Republican candidates and conservative bloggers.

Participants brought signs criticizing Democrats in general, the president, spending and taxes. They also held blue Bachmann signs and cheered as the congresswoman spoke for 35 minutes from the back of a haywagon parked on the edge of a lot. …

Full story

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Photo Chronicle

Tea Party Crowd in St. Cloud

Tea partiers listen to Rep. Michele Bachmann at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

Michele Bachmann Speaks at St. Cloud Tea Party

Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

Michele Bachmann Gestures at St. Cloud Tea Party

Rep. Michele Bachmann gestures at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

Tea Party Signs in St. Cloud

Tea partiers display signs while Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

Poster at St. Cloud Tea Party

“Liberate America — Say No to Socialism!” Poster displayed at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

Andy Aplikowski Speaks at St. Cloud Tea Party

Rightwing blogger Andy Aplikowski of the blog “Residual Forces” speaks at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

Gary Gross Speaks at St. Cloud Tea Party

Rightwing blogger Gary Gross of the blog “Let Freedom Ring” speaks at a Tea Party rally organized by the Republican Party at Lake George, St. Cloud, Minn., Friday, June 4, 2010.

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Related report on this site

Bachmann Heads Teabaggers (Sept. 13, 2009)

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6/9/10 update

Robert Creamer, long-time liberal political organizer and strategist, in a June 9, 2010 Huffington Post column, offers this perspective on the Tea Party movement:

The Tea Party is becoming an extremist cancer in the Republican Party.

The biggest winner [in the June 8 primaries] was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. …

Instead of facing a more mainstream Republican in November, his opponent will be Tea Party affiliated Sharron Angle who wants to privatize Social Security, abolish Medicare and replace it with vouchers, restore the prohibition of alcohol (in Nevada no less), eliminate the Departments of Education and Energy, and store the nation’s nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, not too many miles from Las Vegas.

It is true that her “mainstream” Republican opponent, Sue Lowden, looked pretty extreme herself when she proposed bartering chickens for health care. But Angle is way out there — a million miles from the political mainstream in Nevada.

The Tea Party, of course, was originally organized and funded by Dick Armey and his corporate clients in a bid to defeat the Obama agenda in general and his health care reform bill in particular. It has morphed into a Frankenstein monster that is now loose in the Republican streets and threatens serious damage to the party in the fall.

While the Tea Party has helped to energize the Republican base, it is wreaking havoc in primaries and will fuel the Democratic narrative that Republican candidates are extremists and completely out of touch with the aspirations of everyday middle class families — especially the key swing voting block of seniors.

Many seniors were frightened by the health care bill because they erroneously thought it would cut Medicare. Now they are coming to find that Republicans want to abolish Medicare altogether and replace it with vouchers not worth the paper they’re printed on — not to mention resuscitate George W. Bush’s scheme for privatizing Social Security. …

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Washington Post-ABC News poll

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone June 3-6, 2010, among a random national sample of 1,004 adults including users of both conventional and cellular phones. The results from the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

25. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the political movement known as the Tea Party? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

         ------- Favorable -------   ------ Unfavorable ------     No
         NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Somewhat   Strongly   opinion
6/6/10   36       17         19      50       25         24        14
3/26/10  41       21         21      39       16         23        20
2/8/10   35       20         15      40       20         20        25

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — June 5, 2009

Carradine Autoerotic Death

David Carradine (Photo: Getty Images / CNN)

One-year retrospective: One year ago today I reported that initial reports regarding the circumstances surrounding actor David Carradine’s death led me to suspect it was likely the result of a tragic accident, namely a botched case of autoerotic asphyxiation.