Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Sep 2nd, 2009

Summary: In a fiery speech at an Independence Institute fundraiser in Denver that at times sounded more like the plot of a slasher movie, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann railed against the dangers of health care reform and other Democratic initiatives, warning the proposals “have the strength to destroy this country forever” and calling on her audience to “make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 50th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reminded voters that there was just one week left until the Tuesday, September 9, 2008 Minnesota state primary election, offering disaffected Republicans, independents, and Democrats an opportunity to vote Rep. Bachmann out of office.


Aug 30th, 2009

Summary: Bombs struck Baghdad and remote communities in northern Iraq on August 29, 2009 as the visiting Iranian foreign minister warned that Iraq’s instability affected the whole region. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 47th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his campaign focus on national security issues, issued his statement opposing the war in Iraq.


Aug 27th, 2009

Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announces a joint “town hall” forum in St. Cloud, Minn., with Rep. Ron Paul as her guest. … Robert H. Reid of the Associated Press reports that it’s been a summer of setbacks for the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, with rising casualties, a divisive election, and growing public doubt about the war. … Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who wielded enormous influence after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, has has died, exacerbating the growing political upheaval among Iraq’s majority Shiites. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 44th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman traveled to White Bear Lake to record a candidate statement for the Ramsey / Washington County Suburban Cable Commission, through its Government Television Network (GTN). Immelman also reported on the high human and economic cost of the Iraq war.


Aug 24th, 2009

Summary: Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is urging President Barack Obama to postpone many of his health care reform initiatives because of the economic downturn. … On the 41st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman posted a public service announcement to publicize the St. Stephen Catholic Church Festival.


Aug 14th, 2009

Summary: Bachmann is at it again, making false or outrageous claims in the national media and then playing the victim by leveraging her disingenuousness, incendiary rhetoric and political paranoia into campaign cash. … One year ago today, on the 31st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman took a one-day break from his Sixth District walking tour to rest his feet and catch up on administrative matters and correspondence while tracking international developments relevant to his campaign focus on national security — specifically, the Russian invasion of Georgia and the emerging threat of female suicide bombers in Iraq.


Aug 10th, 2009

Summary: On August 10, 2009, the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics released the results of a psychological assessment of former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney. The key finding of the study is that Vice President Cheney’s most prominent personality patterns (or traits) are high levels of Conscientiousness and Dominance. The study sheds light on the extraordinary degree of power and influence Vice President Cheney exercised in the Bush administration and the former vice president’s apparent reluctance to follow the lead of former President George W. Bush to depart from the political arena upon completing his term of office. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on Sunday, August 10, 2008, the 27th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning and featured a St. Cloud Times news report about the first leg of his 100-mile walking tour of the Sixth District from Freeport to St. Joseph, Minn.


Aug 9th, 2009

Summary: Aubrey Immelman, director of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, has announced the release of a psychological profile of former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney on Monday afternoon, August 10, 2009. … Update: Barton Gellman reports in the Aug. 13, 2009 issue of the Washington Post that Vice President Dick Cheney’s memoir, to be published in spring 2011, will pull no punches in describing his policy differences and arguments with George W. Bush. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on Saturday, August 9, 2008 — the 26th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District and exactly one month before the September 9 primary election — Aubrey Immelman kicked off his 100-mile walking tour of the Sixth District from Freeport in the northwest to Stillwater in the southeastern corner of the district, on the Wisconsin border. … As a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Immelman featured Part 7 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).


Aug 5th, 2009

Summary: Aubrey Immelman describes the difficult challenges of mobilizing a cross-partisan majority in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District to defeat U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (who does not have majority support in her district), in the 2010 Minnesota state primary election. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 22nd day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman received a telephone call from a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps regarding a Spanish-language community forum in Cold Spring, Minn., “to help residents understand their rights and discuss legal and civil rights issues,” followed by a workshop “on immigration and detained immigrants’ rights.” He also featured, as a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Part 3 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).


Aug 3rd, 2009

Summary: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea on a mission to win the release of jailed American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and to ease tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear defiance. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 20th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Sunday, August 3, 2008, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning and posted, as a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Part 1 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).


Jul 29th, 2009

Summary: Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 15th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on an op-ed article dealing with energy prices that he had written for the St. Cloud Times the previous day; met with Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner and Emergency Manager Marvin Klug; announced the release of a new web video in which he discusses his core campaign issues; and challenged unendorsed Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson’s justification for the Iraq war.