Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
Loading

Featured Posts        



categories        



Links        



archives        



meta        





Reckless, irresponsible peddling of conspiracy theories — sometimes meandering into the realm of political paranoia — has been a fixture of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s political career. Here is a sampling of Bachmann’s extremist rhetoric, incendiary demagoguery, and fringe beliefs documented since her first Congressional reelection campaign in 2008.


Feb 3rd, 2010

Summary: At a political forum in Rochester, Minn., U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann makes the wild claim that the president’s health reform proposals, beyond being “the crown jewel of socialism,” could lead to “gangster government” and “absolute abject corruption,” with people terrified to speak out against the government for fear of being blacklisted for denial of health care. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman highlighted some Afghanistan-Vietnam parallels: A president, eager to show his toughness, vows to do what it takes to “win”; the nation we’re supposedly rescuing is no nation at all but rather a deeply divided, semi-failed state with an incompetent, corrupt government held to be illegitimate by a significant portion of its population; the enemy is well accustomed to resisting foreign invaders and can escape into convenient refuges across the border; there are constraints on America striking those sanctuaries; neighboring countries may see a chance to bog America down in a costly war; and there is no easy way out.


Jul 20th, 2009

Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s outlandish behavior, uninformed, misleading, and unsubstantiated comments, and inability to craft viable public policy may have reached critical mass, crossing the tipping point beyond which Minnesota media can no longer tune out the insanity. … One-year retrospective: On the sixth 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, Sunday, July 20, 2008, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning on the day of rest.


Apr 11th, 2009

Summary: Minnesota Public Radio political analysts Todd Rapp and Tom Horner weigh in on whether U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is a liability to the Republican Party. Includes analysis of Bachmann’s assertion that AmeriCorps amounts to a “reeducation camp” for young people.


Apr 8th, 2009

Summary: U.S. 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. Said Bachmann: “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concern is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go and work in some of these politically correct forums.”