Archive for the ‘Michele Bachmann’ Category
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011
Friday, 01 Jul 2011
By Jim Meyers
For Rep. Michele Bachmann, staunch support for Israel is a personal matter: Teenage Bachmann spent a summer working on a kibbutz in Israel.
The 55-year-old Minnesota Republican, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus and a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, went to Israel in 1974, immediately after graduating from high school. Her mission was sponsored by Young Life, a Christian ministry.
“I always had this love and appreciation for Israel because I was a Christian,” Bachmann, who was raised as a Lutheran, said in an interview with Matthew Continetti, opinion editor of The Weekly Standard. “It’s the foundation of our faith. All of the Bible is about Israel.”
The Israel she found in 1974 was “pretty grubby,” she recalled — brutal heat, soldiers with guns at the airport, customs officers at card tables on the tarmac, chickens everywhere.
The youth housing where Bachmann — then Michele Amble — lived on the kibbutz was called the ghetto. Lizards climbed the walls. She rose at 4 a.m. and rode to work on a flatbed truck pulled by an old diesel tractor. Her job: pulling weeds from cotton fields.
Soldiers escorted the workers everywhere, searching for mines. “You’re hoping at 4 o’clock in the morning that they see everything,” she told Continetti.
The experience has never left Bachmann’s mind. “If you consider what it was like in 1948,” she said, “and literally watch flowers bloom in a desert over time — I don’t know if any nation has paralleled the rise of Israel since 1948.”
Today, Bachmann is a member of Christians United for Israel and one of Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress. She has visited the Jewish state several times since taking office.
One Jewish Minnesota Republican has told Continetti of speeches at local Republican Jewish Coalition events where Bachmann has brought cheering audiences to their feet.
Posted in Congress, Election 2012, GOP, Israel, Michele Bachmann, Women Candidates | No Comments »
Friday, July 1st, 2011
Thomas Dewey tried to run out the clock on Harry Truman. It didn’t work.
High unemployment, anemic growth, defections in key groups such as independents and Hispanics, and unpopular policies are among the reasons President Obama is unlikely to win re-election. But likely to lose is far from certain to lose. If Republicans make enough unforced errors, Mr. Obama could win.
The first such mistake would be forgetting that the target voters are those ready to swing away from Mr. Obama (independents, Hispanics, college educated and young voters) and those whose opposition to Mr. Obama has deepened since 2008 (seniors and working-class voters).
Republican presidential candidates at the Republican presidential debate earlier this month.
These voters gave the GOP a big win in the 2010 midterm. They are deeply concerned about the economy, jobs, spending, deficits and health care. Many still like Mr. Obama personally but disapprove of his handling of the issues. They are not GOP primary voters, but they are watching the contest. The Republican Party will find it more difficult to gain their support if its nominee adopts a tone that’s harshly negative and personally anti-Obama. (more…)
Posted in Budget for 2012, Conservatism, Debt Ceiling, Democrats, Economy, Election 2012, Entitlements, Environmental Issues, Foreign Policy, GOP, Government Regulation, Liberalism, Medicare/Medicaid, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Obamacare, President Ronald Reagan, Representative Paul Ryan (R), Spending, Tim Pawlenty | No Comments »
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Posted in Big Government, Budget for 2012, Congress, Conservatism, Constitution, Democrats, Economy, Election 2012, Environmental Issues, GOP, Government Regulation, Grassroots, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Politics, Small Business, Spending, Taxation, Taxes, Tea Party, Videos, Women Candidates, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2011
As the season of presidential politics 2012 unfolds, I’m struck by similarities between today and the tumultuous period in our history that led up to the election of Abraham Lincoln and then on to the Civil War.
So much so that I’m finding it a little eerie that this year we are observing the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War.
No, I am certainly not predicting, God forbid, that today’s divisions and tensions will lead to brother taking up arms against brother.
But profound differences divide us today, as was the case in the 1850’s.
The difference in presidential approval rates between Democrats and Republicans over the course of the Obama presidency and the last few years of the Bush presidency has been in the neighborhood of 70 points. This is the most polarized the nation has been in modern times.
This deep division is driven, as was the case in the 1850’s, by fundamental differences in world view regarding what this country is about. (more…)
Posted in American History, Conservatism, Democrats, Election 2012, GOP, Grassroots, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Tea Party | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
WASHINGTON TIMES
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 – The Tygrrrr Express by Eric Golub
LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2011 — Republicans never learn. Putting lipstick on a pig does not make it gorgeous. All the ketchup in the world will not make a veggie burger taste anywhere near as good as beef.
One can take MSNBC, hose it off, dress it up in moderate looking clothing and call it CNN. It is still a liberal network with an agenda that includes ridiculing Republicans and ensuring that their deity Barack Obama is reelected.
From left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and businessman Herman Cain are seen on stage during the first New Hampshire Republican presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., Monday, June 13, 2011. (Image: Associated Press)
John King is more dangerous than Chris Matthews because at least with Matthews the screaming leftist lunacy is laid bare for all to see. Short of Bernard Shaw returning to the network, there is no hope for Republicans to get a fair shake from the network created by Jane Fonda’s ex-husband Ted Turner. (more…)
Posted in Democrats, Economy, Election 2012, GOP, Media, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Politics, Tim Pawlenty, Women Candidates | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
‘On the Beach, I Bring von Mises’
The tea party favorite on her start in politics, where she learned her economics, and why she disagrees with Reagan on the War Powers Resolution.
“If I’m in, I’ll be all in,” says Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, artfully dodging my question of whether she’s running for president. Given that she just hired campaign strategist Ed Rollins, whose past clients include Ross Perot and Mike Huckabee, rumors abound. “We’re getting close,” she says, “and if I do run, like all my races, I will work like a maniac.”
That’s pretty much how she does everything, and it helps explain how the relatively junior congresswoman has become a tea party superstar—and uniquely adept at driving liberals bonkers.
After spending a good part of two days with her in Washington as she scurries from one appointment to another, I have no doubt that Ms. Bachmann will announce her presidential bid soon. And it would be a mistake to count her out: She’s defied the prognosticators in nearly every race she’s run since thrashing an 18-year incumbent in the Minnesota Senate by 20 points in 2000. Says Iowa Congressman Steve King, “No one has electrified Iowa crowds like Michelle has.”
Ms. Bachmann is best known for her conservative activism on issues like abortion, but what I want to talk about today is economics. When I ask who she reads on the subject, she responds that she admires the late Milton Friedman as well as Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. “I’m also an Art Laffer fiend—we’re very close,” she adds. “And [Ludwig] von Mises. I love von Mises,” getting excited and rattling off some of his classics like “Human Action” and “Bureaucracy.” “When I go on vacation and I lay on the beach, I bring von Mises.” (more…)
Posted in Banking, Bankruptcy, Big Government, Congress, Conservatism, Constitution, Economy, Election 2012, Entitlements, Federal Reserve, Financial Meltdown, Foreign Policy, GOP, Interest Rates, Libya, Medicare/Medicaid, Michele Bachmann, Milton Freidman, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Politics, Spending, Stimulus, Taxation, Taxes, Tea Party, Women Candidates | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Posted in Big Government, Election 2012, Entitlements, GOP, Healthcare, Libertarians, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Obamacare, Politics, Space Exploration, Spending, Tim Pawlenty, Videos | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Posted in Economy, Election 2012, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Obamacare, Politics, Tea Party, Tim Pawlenty, Unions, Videos | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Posted in Economy, Election 2012, Foreign Policy, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Obamacare, Spending, Tea Party, Tim Pawlenty, Videos | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Posted in Big Government, Constitution, Economy, Election 2012, Entitlements, Foreign Policy, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Obamacare, Tea Party, Tim Pawlenty, Videos | No Comments »
