Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Bark louder, little dog.

T R E 4 5 O N

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

In my day, never was longer.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Everybody saw this coming.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Books are my comfort food!

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

You are here: Home / Politics / Bachman on Hardball

Reader Interactions

185Comments

  3. 3.

    Cathyish

    It was a typical "Liberal = un-American rant", but she added that she thought that the Media needed to do "some" investigating of "some" un-American members of Congress. Also. Youbetcha.

  8. 8.

    ThymeZone

    Yes, the GOP’s new talking points are "liberal communist socialist un-American terrorist liberal left."

    This is basically the noun, verb, 911 stanza, slightly modified.

    Now we are also adding "ACORN, threat to democracy, voter fraud, tainted election, cloud of suspicion, unrepentant, liberal, socialist, unanswered questions" to the mix.

    The GOP is now is nothing at all but a full time scary-phrase generator. It actually has no political substance at all, it’s just a caricature of itself.

    If you are a Republica, you can just start calling people and reading my lists of scary phrases interspersed with the names of Democratic candidates. Scary, Obama, left, socialist, un-American, fraud, threat, Obama. Mix up the words and the order, it won’t matter.

  9. 9.

    J.

    And you can catch Hardball on MSNBC again at 7 p.m. ET tonight.

    Btw, it doesn’t take much to get Matthews in a major (or minor) snit. ; )

  10. 10.

    Eric U.

    the "libertarian" students on the student radio station at Penn State were reading some wingnut’s article that said Obama wanted people to have abortions. I didn’t listen long enough to find out if they had some sort of reasonable conclusion to the segment, it sounded like they were just going to uncritically read that garbage and pass it off as truth.

  11. 11.

    ThymeZone

    BTW, your moderation algorithm now borders on idiotic. A handle change appears to trigger it. The only comforting thing about it is that it seems to make more work for you guys. For what purpose, one can only wonder. Turn it off.

  13. 13.

    James

    Well, I just gave $50 to Tinklenberg; another fascist uprising like 1954 would cost me a lot more.

  14. 14.

    char

    from Think Progress: (there’s video available there too)

    Appearing on MSNBC’s Hardball today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) attacked the patriotism of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), based on his alleged relationship to former Weather Underground member William Ayers and the values of Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views,” said Bachmann. “That’s what the American people are concerned about.”

    She then went further, suggesting that all liberal views — held by people such as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, professors, and all Americans who identify themselves as “liberals” — are “anti-American.” When host Chris Matthews, stunned by her remarks, asked Bachmann how many people in Congress hold anti-American views, she responded, “You’ll have to ask them.”

  19. 19.

    EddieInCA

    John –

    She, basically, said that anyone liberal is a leftist who is against America. She called for an investigation of Obama for his "associations" with Rev. Wright, Ayers, Pfleger.

    She said there are members of congress who are anti-American, and they should be investigated as well for their anti-Americanism.

    This ties in with the GOP talking points – which Sarah Palin so eloquently said yesterday – "I’m glad to be in a Pro-American part of the country."

    Rep. Bachman, basically, called for Congress to bring back the time of McCarthy.

    Unfreakingbelieveable…

  21. 21.

    AkaDad

    It’s clear that Liberals hate America. They should have to wear an identifying mark or patch on their clothing, so we can keep an eye on them.

  23. 23.

    Jeff

    Tweety seems exasperated. I want her to answer the question how many Congress people are anti-American.

  24. 24.

    Wini

    Why did he have to announce her state at the end? Crap. We really aren’t all insane here, though, also. And too.

  25. 25.

    Comrade Stuck

    She wants the US press to investigate any member of the US Congress with "left wing" views as Anti-American.

    We could call it the Great Liberal Inquisition with Sarah Serendipity and Frau Bachman as Chief Inquisitors.

    Did you or do you now belong to the ACLU
    Did you or do you now enjoy Barbara Streisand songs
    Did you or do you now disapprove of Herr Bush

    and so on…

    And BTW Michelle Bachman can kiss my crusty LIBERAL ass!!

  26. 26.

    dewberry

    Watched the video. It’s not Halloween for two more weeks. Please make the lady with the crazy eyes stop, mommy.

    Donated to her opponent.

  28. 28.

    SGEW

    Ya know, upon further thought . . . maybe Rep. Bachmann has a valid point. Seeing as how she thinks that she epitomizes what it means to be "American," she’s absolutely right. I hate it. Very very much. I am anti-"American" by that standard.

    (Also: Rep. Bachmann literally calls being a "business man" as being "very troubling," in regards to Rezko. Holy cow she’s so full of awful I cannot begin to discuss it)

  33. 33.

    Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM

    Matthews missed a good question; "Rep. Bachman, how do you feel about John McCain passing you over for Sarah Palin?" Followed by, "Someone call Security! I’m bleeding here!"

  35. 35.

    r€nato

    man the GOP is going into full-on meltdown and the election is still over two weeks away. Is it that they are losing the White House or that they are losing to an uppity negro with a suspiciously un-American name?

    God if that is all it takes to make a wingnut have an aneurysm, I am going to enjoy repeating "President Barack Hussein Obama" for at least the next four years.

  36. 36.

    SGEW

    O/T

    Holy crap, what’s up with this bombshell? From the Wall Street Journal:

    The Obama campaign charged Friday that John McCain, in concert with the Bush administration, has embarked on a studied effort to disrupt Election Day in many states and suppress the vote.

    In a conference call with reporters Friday, Robert Bauer, chief counsel for the Obama campaign, suggested that a flurry of fraudulent registration complaints recently, and a subsequent leak by FBI officials that the agency was investigating the incidents, were part of a coordinated attempt by McCain and the administration of President Bush to intimidate voters.

    As evidence of the coordination, Bauer pointed to recent rhetoric from McCain that Acorn, a left-leaning non-profit group implicated in submitting fraudulent voter registration forms in several states was, as McCain put it during this week’s debate, tearing at “the very fabric of Democracy.’’

    McCain’s comments about Acorn were quickly followed by a Justice Department news leak that the FBI was investigating the group. The leak, Bauer said, was a clear violation of Justice Department policies and likely came from the department.

    Bauer said the timing of the comments and the leak suggested a “partisan plot” to suppress the vote on Election Day.

    That is some heavy, heavy shit. Developing?

  37. 37.

    Polish the Guillotines

    Somewhere, in some secret lair under a volcano, SPECTRE is cranking out evil right-wing fembots.

  38. 38.

    Cris v.3.1

    Of course, it didn’t help that there was a significant lag in the remote feed, and Matthews — who obviously should know better — wasn’t waiting for the delay before interjecting another question to Bachman. It made the exchange seem that much more confrontational.

    @SGEW: Seeing as how she thinks that she epitomizes what it means to be "American," she’s absolutely right. I hate it.

    Hear, hear. Let’s have an investigation and publish a list of everybody Michelle Bachman considers "anti-American," so I can vote for every one of them.

  39. 39.

    ronathan richardson

    It was as head-explosion-inducing as anything I’ve seen on TV in the past year. Think about the McCain campaign and the PUMA’s when you evaluate that.

  40. 40.

    JL

    Remember McCain’s comment that we are all Georgian’s now, well Michelle’s were a tad different, we are all anti-American now. I have a question, can her opponent use her words and the tv clip against her? Does MSNBC have some type of rule that you can’t use their clips?

  42. 42.

    SGEW

    More O/T (from the NYT’s the Caucus):

    In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Mr. Bauer suggested that there was “an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics.”

    (emphasis added)

    OMG. Full of righteous awesome. It’s been in the works, just waiting for SCOTUS to slap down the G.O.P., and, right on cue, here it is.

    (runs around, clapping in glee)

    Fun!

  43. 43.

    r€nato

    That is some heavy, heavy shit. Developing?

    Of all the things I have come to love about Obama, this is surely one of the most endearing. He is fighting back hard against the Republicans. No sternly worded letters – he’s not taking any shit off these goopers in their last gasping breaths.

  45. 45.

    Jvstin

    My congresswoman ($deity help me!) strikes again.

    Unfortunately, the nature of MN-06 being what it is, our district might vote for Satan over a Democrat if Satan registered as a Republican and promised to cut taxes and defend family values.

    We were the district of Charles Lindbergh (the father of the aviator), after all. Even the times we’ve had a DFL rep, he was at best, centrist.

  46. 46.

    JL

    Phew, I listening to Michelle again and since I’m not on a College Campus, I could be saved. I could just be left and liberal but every College teacher and College student is definitely anti-american.

  48. 48.

    EL

    I’m watching it right now on the west coast. I’m also heading over to ActBlue to donate to her opponent.

    Bachman is disgusting, rabble rousing, and accusing all sorts of people of being "anti-American".

  52. 52.

    Josh Huaco

    If she’s so hot on "unAmerican" associations, then let’s talk about Todd Palin’s association with the far-right, secessionist Alaskan Independence Party, shall we? Of course, far-right secessionism being so beloved and fondly remembered by the GOP base, this probably isn’t seen as troubling.

  53. 53.

    Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM

    If Obama really hated America he would have spent his career providing legal counsel to investment banks and hedge funds.

  55. 55.

    Andy

    It’s on right now in the central time zone. She’s Katherine Harris with a better makeup person.

  56. 56.

    Laura W

    Careful. It is not to be viewed by those with a weak stomach.

    Or weak lungs. It sucked all the breath out of Katrina V. H.
    All the "fomenting" made her unable to breathe.
    That’s some powerful shit.

  57. 57.

    gbear

    I posted this a couple days ago but it actually fits here:

    I took a scooter ride this evening and wound up out in Michelle Bachman’s district (lots of windy roads with good fall color). The wingnut force is very strong there. Must have seen 20 Bachman signs for every Tinklenberg sign. LOTS of Bachman signs. Just awful.
    Lake Elmo seems to be a Democratic oasis though. Lots of signs for Obama, Franken, Tinklenberg and Bunn.
    Seemed to be a LOT of signs for Bunn. Gotta like Lake Elmo.

    Bachman can basically say anything she wants because the fiscal conservatives in her district will vote for her no matter how stupid she sounds. They’re all the types who live in starter mansions in developments with millions of dollars of infrastructure and services paid for by government but who refuse to spend one penny more on taxes. They think it all goes to pay for welfare in the city. Total DICKS, but I thank them for sending Bachman to DC and getting her OUT of State politics everytime she shoots off her mouth. She was seriously dangerous when she was local.

  58. 58.

    pikapicabi

    Yep, she got me to donate 50 bucks with the extra benefit that I now know the name "Elwyn Tinklenberg."

  59. 59.

    comrade scott

    The most amazing thing here isn’t what she said (it’s pretty par for the course for her) but the fact that Tweety’s actually reacted in something approaching an adversarial way.

    Tweety is the ultimate Beltway Insider Suckup–he sees which way the wind is blowing and it’s shown for the last 4 months or so. He’ll no longer let asshats like Bachmann get a free ride on his show…like he’s done for the last 8 years.

    He remains a poster child for what’s wrong with traditional media in this country.

  62. 62.

    JL

    @Laura W: The problem with breeding hate is that the extremists act upon their worse impulses. There are so many hate groups and the McCain campaign is inciting them. Homeland Security and the FBI must be working overtime.

  63. 63.

    ThymeZone

    Changing your handle always triggered it.

    A new handle triggered it. Once the handle was established, once the pair of handle plus email address had been established, switching from one to other didn’t trigger a moderation stop, did it? Not in the old version, to my knowledge. Now it’s not a new handle, it’s any change in the combination of handle and email address.

    The take away would be, every new handle requires a new email address, otherwise, moderation. Which, considering the rate at which people swap handles around here, would seem to me nuts. But, whatever.

  64. 64.

    Comrade Jake

    How is that nutjob a fucking representative? What the goddamn fuckity-fuck is wrong with Minnesota?

    She’s like a poor-man’s Anne Coulter, for Chrissakes.

  65. 65.

    ThymeZoneThePlumber

    This is just to test the point. This is not a new handle, it’s just a change in the handle=addy pair from the last post.

    Lo and behold, no moderation. So, whatever the scheme is, it is either being changed as we speak, or else it is sort of capricious. I’d guess the latter, but I can’t be right about everything. Well, I can, but who’s keeping score?

    Okay, I can’t. But almost.

    Well, mostly.

  68. 68.

    Incertus

    It was like two minutes hate, only it was ten minutes long, and it felt even longer. And I got the feeling that Tweety didn’t want her on the show, because he looked like he wanted to be doing anything other than talking to her.

  70. 70.

    SGEW

    I suddenly have an understanding of what my family went through in the McCarthy era. A visceral empathy.

    I don’t like it. Nope.

  71. 71.

    TenguPhule

    Rep. Bachman, basically, called for Congress to bring back the time of McCarthy.

    Can we skip ahead to the part where Bachman gets thrown out of office as a disgrace?

  72. 72.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    @JL:

    @Laura W: The problem with breeding hate is that the extremists act upon their worse impulses. There are so many hate groups and the McCain campaign is inciting them. Let us all hope that Homeland Security and the FBI must be are working overtime.

    Fixt … and I’m not so sure that’s snark on my part.

  73. 73.

    CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII

    BTW, your moderation algorithm now borders on idiotic. A handle change appears to trigger it. The only comforting thing about it is that it seems to make more work for you guys. For what purpose, one can only wonder. Turn it off.

    It has a mind of its own.

    I don’t even change handles and when posting (without links) I still sometimes get moderated.

  74. 74.

    Halffasthero

    How is that nutjob a fucking representative? What the goddamn fuckity-fuck is wrong with Minnesota?

    She’s like a poor-man’s Anne Coulter, for Chrissakes.

    There are 8 districts. She is only MN-6. With gerrymandering, that place became far more Republican. That is neither good nor bad, it just is the way it is. And bear in mind that MN is likely going to go Obama in double digits. A poster above described that district perfectly.

    If she loses, it is because she threw it away. A 4% lead (if that is correct) for an incumbent, is a major problem if she is below 50%.

  75. 75.

    gbear

    Gawd, I just watched the video. That’s our Michelle. I hope that a whole lot of people in her district just curled up into fetal balls and cried. Man, that was as bad as it gets.

    I’m actually glad that Tweety let her run and instead egged her on, only occasionally droping hints that she’s batshit insane. She wouldn’t have listened to him anyway so letting her expose her thoughts in all their glory was the most damaging thing he could do to her. She’s such a Palin.

    edit: Comrade Jake, read my post above. Her district is fiscal blockheads and also whacko churches. God has lead her into politics the same way as Palin.

  76. 76.

    CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII

    Re: Bachmann – every time I watched that woman I came away feeling dirty. This is just a better example of what she’s been doing all along.

    I no longer have MSNBC, so I guess I’m spared that much, only having to view her on youtube videos when she goes super loony… but I miss KO, and I never got a chance to see Rachel Maddow.

    I guess I’ll have to spend time on the MSNBC video links TZ sent me. (videos don’t work well on this computer half the time though… ::whimper:: )

    ARGH!

  78. 78.

    Comrade Jake

    @gbear:

    Yeah, Matthews’ goal seemed to be to see just how batshit crazy she would get if he gave her enough rope. I’m still reeling from the video. I just can’t get past the shear amount of one-stop-shopping vile.

  82. 82.

    twostepcub

    Wow. I had Hardball on while I was putting the groceries away. She was at full seething tilt. She was the perfect example of the current Palin-esque Republican that this is more about a race than a policy. Not once did she expound on any policy issue she is for…this was about fear and hate-mongering. There’s one thing about being strong in one’s beliefs – there’s another to be so maniacal in your mindset that you actually wish the other side DESTROYED. Pathetic. Commericals for our side should be made with snippets of her animalistic McCarthyist rant.

    FYI Americablog at least has the clip up.

  83. 83.

    ThymeZoneThePlumber

    Well, you all are right about Bachman. She is …. I don’t even know how to describe her. She is Palin and all of those right wing fuckheads wrapped up in one big toothy smile. Crazy shit.

    Sometimes I like Tweety, and I give him props for drawing her out and trying to expose her, but damn …. what is wrong with these journalists? Can they not ask what John McCain is doing palling around with wannabee terrorist and known felon, G. Gordon Liddy? WTF?

    We know from experience that every time these Goopers lash out, they are covering up for their own faults so that people will look away from theirs and focus on somebody else’s. WHY do we let them get away with it?

  84. 84.

    Tom Ames

    My $50 has gone to Michelle McCarthy Bachmann’s opponent El Tinklenberg.

    (I’ve been following Bachmann’s career on Pharyngula for awhile. This footage just seals the deal on that anti-rational christofascist wingnut.)

  85. 85.

    SGEW

    Words of wisdom from Rep. Bachmann:

    I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they are pro-America or anti-America.

    See? She only wants the media to do it. Not, say, a House Committee or anything. So it’s cool. Not McCarthyism at all.

    But wait . . . isn’t the media, itself, unAmerican? (Besides patriotic Fox, of course). So I don’t get it.

  86. 86.

    gbear

    Here is your glorious Rep fondling Bush (oops!) after the 2007 SOTU.

    Not gonna watch it. I just ate. I remember it well anyways.

    Betty McCollum is my rep and she’s a good one. Please keep in mind that one MN district elected the first Muslim congressman. Pretty much all of the concentrated stupid in MN is located in Bachman’s district.

  87. 87.

    Mike

    It’s an old Mad Magazine bit:

    This man is a Super Patriot. He loves real Americans. He hates liberals, hippies, teenagers, gays, government workers, atheists, people on welfare, college professors, unions, politicians, the people who show that filth on TV, the people who watch that filth on TV, people who don’t look like real Americans, people who don’t sound like real Americans, and people who don’t think like real Americans.

    A Super Patriot is someone who loves his country while hating 90% of the people in it.

  90. 90.

    CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII

    A Super Patriot is someone who loves his country while hating 90% of the people in it.

    That’s a great line, can I steal that, with your permission of course? ;)

  91. 91.

    Laura W

    JL
    @Laura W: The problem with breeding hate is that the extremists act upon their worse impulses. There are so many hate groups and the McCain campaign is inciting them. Homeland Security and the FBI must be working overtime.

    Um…I don’t know why this is directed at me. I know this. I agree with this. My comment about Katrina was not snark. I happened to be watching the Hardball piece for the second time and tried to tie a funny ha ha quip from the "weak stomach" post I’d just read to the "weak lungs" comment Katrina made as I read this blog.

    You don’t seriously think you have to edumacate me on hate groups a la McFailin, do you? I’m gonna believe either you misunderstood my post, or I am misunderstanding yours.

  92. 92.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    @gbear: Word. MN is a beautiful place and I spend a week or two in the Twin Cities every year. Any state that can spawn a Cossetta’s Italian Market is a damn fine place. Besides it looks like Al Franken may be taking out that phony Norm Coleman.

  94. 94.

    CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII

    If I didn’t already have a SO in my life, I’d send love letters everyday to Katrina Vanden Heuval ;)

    She’s my #2 hero, Molly Ivins being #1 in perpetuity.

  95. 95.

    tripletee (formerly tBone)

    Didn’t see the Bachman piece and don’t care to – she’s the distilled essence of empty-headed wingnuttery, like Erick Ericson with boobs.

    However, my shallow little mind really enjoyed this couplet for the (presumably) unintentional double-entendre:

    Did you or do you now enjoy Barbara Streisand songs
    Did you or do you now disapprove of Herr Bush

    I think wingnuts would answer yes. Yes they do.

  96. 96.

    Laura W

    If I didn’t already have a SO in my life, I’d send love letters everyday to Katrina Vanden Heuval ;)

    and furthermore, JL…I get The Nation!
    So there.
    And I subscribed just because I heart her so much when she is on the tee vees.

  97. 97.

    Brian J

    she thought that the Media needed to do "some" investigating of "some" un-American members of Congress.

    How fantastic. While she’s at it, why doesn’t she push for Sean Hannity to be appointed the head of this Twenty-First Century Committee on Un-American Activity?

  98. 98.

    gbear

    Any state that can spawn a Cossetta’s Italian Market is a damn fine place.

    Umm, I don’t know how to say this…but…. I don’t like Cossetta’s. There are 50 better places for pizza within 12 miles of there. I liked it when it was 20′ wide and had 6 stools and no tables (it used to be where the west half of John’s Lamps is now), but it changed when it went big time. Next time you’re in town go to Savoy on East 7th (the place that keeps getting hit by cars because Highway 3 literally ends at their front door).

  99. 99.

    Ella in NM

    Bachman is the Republican Party’s latest mindlessly loyal "Go-to-Gal". She could be an anatomically correct blow up doll with the McCain campaigns daily talking points on a tape recorder inserted in her ass and pretty much no one would even know the difference.

    It’s great the Matthews is going after the "Is this McCarthyism 2.0" line, but the problem is, he needs to start the conversation by debunking the false statements McCain’s robo-calls and ads are making by telling the facts on Weather Underground and Bill Ayers, as well as the facts about the limited interactions Obama has had with him. It doesn’t help the uninformed "low information voter" who’s teetering between McCain and Obama to argue about meta issues if that voter has no idea what the true story is.

    Jeebus, all these "reporters" gotta do is Google "Bill Ayers" on the Chicago Sun Times website and they can get all the facts they need instantly. WTF!!?

  100. 100.

    SGEW

    Jeebus, all these "reporters" gotta do is Google "Bill Ayers" on the Chicago Sun Times website and they can get all the facts they need instantly. WTF!!?

    Google, the Chicago Sun Times, and facts are all liberal anti-American constructs. Not to mention elitist. And probably "afrocentric" too, to boot.

  101. 101.

    Far Left American Hater Incertus

    @Ella in NM:

    but the problem is, he needs to start the conversation by debunking the false statements McCain’s robo-calls and ads are making by telling the facts on Weather Underground and Bill Ayers, as well as the facts about the limited interactions Obama has had with him

    But that would be partisan, at least in his mind, and he has to be the even-handed tool.

  103. 103.

    Brian J

    So I just watched the video at TPM. I am just appalled.

    She implies that Biden, Reid, and Pelosi are anti-American. She does the same for Obama, only a little more strongly. She claims that Wright, Rezko, and Ayers were mentors to Obama, which is just insane. And towards the end, she says the media should look into it. Like a true coward, she goes only so far, and then tries to get other people to throw the mud.

    If I had to guess, this is going to be a great fund raising tool for Obama and possible for Bachman’s opponent as well. A disgusting display like what we just saw from Bachman can do that.

  106. 106.

    Comrade Stuck

    But wait . . . isn’t the media, itself, unAmerican? (Besides patriotic Fox, of course). So I don’t get it.

    Because it’s all they have left, the caricature of the liberal commie radical democrat. It’s like a dead possum in the road that makes the same gurgling squish each time another car runs over it. It’s the sound of defeat and we will hear it often in the foreseeable future.

    BTW there will be a delicious Possum fixing at the Funhouse this weekend. Details later. I know yooze all can’t wait to know.

    The BSoD is near!

  107. 107.

    rob!

    A few minutes after taking the oath, President Obama needs to find someone to run against Bachmann in MN, and then funnel, like, A HUNDRED JAGILLION DOLLARS to their campaign chest.

    Michelle Bachmann doesn’t have ANY business being near the levers of power. She’s bat-shit crazy.

  109. 109.

    Trinity

    We.Must.Destroy.Them.

    Seriously. The Republican party is beyond a joke. They are evil and must be voted out of every office.

  112. 112.

    Jay C

    Heh – if the reaction here (and at dKos) is any indication, El Tinklenberg is going to have to hire a couple of temp bookkeepers on Monday to deal with the flood of donations. It’s weird: Rep. Bachmann, his opponent, will probably turn out to be his best fundraiser…. Hope it helps him: although the venom of the gerrymander is usually fatal to challengers.

    Sheesh, 100 comments already: and our resident trolls like ajuanatwat and no-balz haven’t come out to gloat over how all we libs are going to be SOOO sorry when President McCain (in the full flush of his landslide victory) appoints Michele Bachmann to chair the new HUAC? And investigate all our un-American asses into obloquy and oblivion?

  113. 113.

    passerby

    Here’s a tidbit from Huffpo that’s running the Bachman story:

    A Democratic campaign official emailed that Bachmann’s Democratic opponent has raised at least $23,000 online since the Hardball segment aired.

  114. 114.

    gbear

    I just finished donating $10 to Tinklenberg. All I could afford right now but I wanted to be a part of this Tinklensurge. I’m actually very glad to see Bachman go viral like this. No one has been more deserving of the exposure.

  116. 116.

    kommrade jakevich

    Why does the GOP let BachmanTurnonOverdrive out of her cage? There really is no need to allow that woman near any sort of recording/transmitting device because she only hurts herself and her party.

    But hey, if this leads to TDS digging out her grope session with George, I’ll drink to that.

  117. 117.

    passerby

    I threw $10 into his hat after watching the video.

    The naked ambition of politicians like Bachman, Palin, Kathryn Harris, Lindsay Graham, et al is sickening.

    Even tho I’m way down here in E. TN, I think the ability to support non local candidates thru the internet gives all of us a voice we didn’t have 8 years ago.

    In the end, it’s up to the Minnesotans in that district to GOTV, but perhaps knowing that the rest of us are watching and supporting will yield positive results.

    I also gave to Martin in neighboring Georgia when John ran that story a couple of days ago.

    Katrina gave an impassioned condemnation of Bachman to tweety afterwards. Fired me up.

  118. 118.

    LiberalTarian

    I love me some Rachel Maddow. Girl, where you been all my life? I’m not gay … but, shoot, maybe I oughta be, huh??

  120. 120.

    SGEW

    I love me some Rachel Maddow. Girl, where you been all my life?

    Everyone can love Rachel Maddow: gay, straight, bi, queer, or trans, yo.

    My crush on her transcends my gender and sexuality. It’s almost uncanny.

  121. 121.

    Xanthippas

    Lest we forget who Michelle Bachman is. Remember her attempted public fondling of the former Cheerleader after the 2007 SOTU?

    Ha…would’ve been better if Laura Bush had come up and karate chopped her in the neck. Video editing software, here I come…

  122. 122.

    Comrade Jake

    Bachmann is on CNN now… Larry King.

    There’s everything that’s wrong with cable news, in a nutshell. Bachmann’s main accomplishment appears to be that she’s willing to come on these shows and parrot GOP talking points. The bar should be a little fucking higher there Larry. Asshat.

  125. 125.

    kommrade jakevich

    @JL:

    …

    Hang on a minute.

    How about … No, he won’t have anything to do with this B.S. …

    Uh … Oh, I know! Lincoln Chafee.

    Oh wait, he quit.

    Hmm. Non-stupid Republicans who support McPalin …

  126. 126.

    SGEW

    I’m pretty sure she winked at me the other night so everyone else just back the fuck off

    Um. Were there starbursts? Did you sit up straighter on your couch?

  127. 127.

    Gunga Dean

    Saw her performance on Hardball. What a glassy-eyed, wingnutty, wackjob!

    This is exactly the kind of nutcase that needs to be driven out of Congress on a rail. Just donated money I don’t have to Elwyn Tinklenberg.

    It hurt my wallet but it felt so good, and I needed to share.

    Good Luck, Minnesota getting rid of this embarassment.

  130. 130.

    eglenn

    In for $25. I saw that interview live and I do NOT know how Chrissy kept from saying "Michelle, you ignorant slut.".

  131. 131.

    eglenn

    In for $25. I saw that interview live and I do NOT know how Chrissy kept from saying "Michelle, you ignorant slut.".

  132. 132.

    rob!

    if Minnesota can get rid of Bachmann and add Franken, they will wake up Nov. 5 a 1000% improved state.

  133. 133.

    Comrade The Other Steve

    Bachman is a loon. Has been for years. She tried to push David Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights through our state legislature.

  134. 134.

    Bubba Dave

    Just sent $150 to El to help him make the stupid go away– he’s a smidgen shy of $50k on ActBlue, in case someone else wants the glory of pushing him over that milestone.

  135. 135.

    Calliope

    I’m out of work, but I sent $25.00 to El. I’ve been making most of my donations to Obama and No On Prop 8, but I would love to see Bachmann shown the door.

  137. 137.

    Comrade MS-4

    Tinkenberg just passed 50K. It looks like the number goes up by a 1000 every 5 minutes or so.

  138. 138.

    LiberalTarian

    Um. Were there starbursts? Did you sit up straighter on your couch?

    Heh. Girls express their, um, appreciation differently. :D

  139. 139.

    bvac

    Funny they keep bringing up Ayers. During an Obama administration, violence against the government will be labeled ‘patriotic’ by the right. I’m calling it right now.

  141. 141.

    SGEW

    Girls express their, um, appreciation differently.

    You do not understand what a very wise TV executive once told me. The dreaded "Lowry Effect" may strike anyone, of any gender or preference. It is a quality that cannot be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t.

  143. 143.

    Halffasthero

    I just noticed my block quote somehow didn’t enclose part of Comrade Jakes post. It looked like it blocked when I submitted. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked.

  144. 144.

    Phoenix Woman

    SGEW @ 36:

    It means that Obama is taking the fight to McCain AND the RNC in a BIG way. He’s also ripped the framing controls out of Karl Rove’s hands.

    He is not only going to make it impossible for them to even attempt to smear ACORN ever again, he’s going to make it so they will wish they’d never ever thought of trying to smear ACORN in the first place.

    He is Muhammad Ali screaming "Get UP SUCKA!" to McCain’s Sonny Liston, sprawled helplessly on the canvas.

    http://roadkillrefugee.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/obama-ali.png

  145. 145.

    Comrade Jake

    I just noticed my block quote somehow didn’t enclose part of Comrade Jakes post. It looked like it blocked when I submitted. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked.

    Your eyes are fine. It’s a BJ problem. If you have a blank line in a blockquote, that’s what happens.

    Instead you need to insert

    & nbsp ;

    without any spaces between the characters, on the blank line.

  146. 146.

    jcricket

    Of all the things I have come to love about Obama, this is surely one of the most endearing. He is fighting back hard against the Republicans. No sternly worded letters – he’s not taking any shit off these goopers in their last gasping breaths.

    Two words: FUCK YES.

    Fight back.

    The facts are on our side. The law is on our side. The people are on our side (on an issue basis). There are more registered Democrats than Republicans.

    We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

    Republicans are paper tigers.

    BTW – there is a reason why lawyers (many of whom are rich, rich, rich) are voting Democrat 4-1 these days. Politicize the law, hammer lawyers and judges for ruling based on/enforcing the law, and are you surprised the people who know the law hate you?

    Doctors are up there too. Teachers. etc.

    Republicans, like the Iraq war, are all about making enemies faster than than they can kill them.

  148. 148.

    Tymannosourus

    Esquire said it best when they said that her blank stare reminded them of one of the Manson Girls in their "10 worst."

    Can anybody tell me what this succubus is polling at? I’m from MN, and I can’t even find a poll result.

  149. 149.

    ScreamingInAtlanta

    Bachman was extremely effective on Hardball tonight. I sent Mr. Tinklenberg 50.00.

    Gov Palin had the same effect, Barack got a bunch of $ after her debut.

  150. 150.

    OC in MN

    I’m an MN resident and I’ve watched her for the past four years. It’s not so much that she said ridiculous things – it’s that I truly think she believes them. She used to foam at the mouth about gay marriage saying it would literally destroy the foundations of our country and democracy. She even hid in the bushes and spied on a Democratic rally at the state capital at one point (it was captured on camera.) The woman is a loon. She is one step above the guy on the street corner wearing the sandwich board ranting about government/alien consipracies. She is not to be taken seriously.

  151. 151.

    Jay C

    @Tymannosourus:

    last available poll (via the GOS) on MN-06:

    Grove Insight for the DCCC. 10/10-12. Likely voters. MoE 4.9% (No trend lines)

    Bachmann (R-inc) 42
    Tinklenberg (D) 38

    20% undecided? Wonder how they’re going to break?

  152. 152.

    ComradeJ. Michael Neal

    Betty McCollum is my rep and she’s a good one. Please keep in mind that one MN district elected the first Muslim congressman.

    Yep. And in good news, the Gophers bused up from said Islamofascist district to MN-06 and beat St. Cloud State tonight. That’s always a good time, but it felt special tonight. Jordan Schroeder picked up two assists in his college debut.

  153. 153.

    kommrade jakevich

    BTW – there is a reason why lawyers (many of whom are rich, rich, rich) are voting Democrat 4-1 these days. Politicize the law, hammer lawyers and judges for ruling based on/enforcing the law, and are you surprised the people who know the law hate you?

    It is so unfair, isn’t it? The GOP might be the first political party to fail because it was just too fucking annoying.

    Prediction: By the 2012 elections we’ll see people running for office as members of a new Conservative party. What is now the GOP will be left with the loons.

  154. 154.

    LiberalTarian

    @SGEW:

    Ok, I followed the link.

    Let’s just say, There’s Palin … EW. And Rachel … oh yeah baby. ;)

  156. 156.

    yam

    Oh yeah, I’m represented by a black Muslim. I’m getting ready to suicide myself when called upon because I hate America…

    Bachmann is such a c*nt.

  157. 157.

    gbear

    the Gophers bused up from said Islamofascist district to MN-06 and beat St. Cloud State tonight.

    Ugh, St. Cloud. All of the alcohol without any of the fun. At least they have an Electric Fetus up there. Go Gophers!

    edit: oops. I bet you’re in St. Cloud. sorry.

  158. 158.

    gbear

    Prediction: By the 2012 elections we’ll see people running for office as members of a new Conservative party.

    How about the Conservative Reform Alternative Party? CRAP.

  159. 159.

    Brian

    It was an interesting, but odd at times, ep of Hardball all-around. It had Bachman’s deranged rant, Vanden Heuvel’s fiery rebuttal, and then Katrina’s cell phone went off during her segment and the ringing was playing on top of Matthews asking a question to Buchanan.

  160. 160.

    gbear

    Man, Elwyn Tinklenberg’s at 81K as of midnight. He’s going to go to work on Monday with an extra 150K to play with.

  161. 161.

    Big E

    Chris played her, and she walked right in unabated……
    Bachman, a ‘far away looking’ evangelical advocated investigations to find the ‘leftist anti-americans’ in the U.S. government..
    Bachman exists in another reality, 1950’s McCarthism…

    To hear a sitting congresswoman accuse others in the government as being anti-american is something new in modern politics.
    The seething hatred and paranoia was evident and on display.

    Made me think of the other crazed Republicans like Jean Schmidt, Marcia Brown and Heather Wilson all heinous shrews of the right.

  162. 162.

    Johnny Pez

    The only thing better than seeing a Republican beat by someone named Barack Hussein Obama would be seeing a Republican beat by someone named Elwyn Tinklenberg.

  164. 164.

    Church Lady

    Wasn’t Michelle Bachmann the bizarre woman that practically sexually assaulted George Bush after his State of the Union address a couple of years ago? I didn’t see Hardball tonight, but she sounds like a crazier cousin to Marsha Blackburn (a truly odious woman).

    My husband, son and I all went to see "W." tonight. Do not waste your money. My husband was bored to tears, my son’s review was "that really sucked" and I left the theatre wondering why, with a subject so ripe to exploit, I felt like I had just completely wasted two hours of my life.

    My only praise is for Richard Dreyfuss as Cheney. He actually seemed more menacing in the role than the real Cheney, if that’s possible. The worst casting was Thandie Newton as Condi Rice. Her voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard and she had this really strange look on her face throughout the movie, like she was sucking on a lemon. Given she was in so much of the movie, it was really distracting. The Rove character was also distracting, but only because he was even uglier than Rove is in real life – he looked like someone in a funhouse mirror, with a really huge forehead and the rest of his face being sort of squished up. For me, the only fun thing was Rob Cordry as Ari Fleisher. Sadly, he only had two or three lines in the entire movie.

  165. 165.

    Allan

    I want this evil bitch to grow malignant tumors all over her face that make her as ugly on the outside as her soul is inside.

    There, that felt good.

  166. 166.

    binzinerator

    Yep. I’ve got a thing for Maddow. (I’m pretty sure she winked at me the other night so everyone else just back the fuck off.)

    No way pal. I spotted her way before you did. And it was like being whanged upside the head with a tire iron, but in a good way. I was love sawed. For her I am a moil of desire and grue. And when I complete my sex change operation and sex orientation reprogramming I will have her baby.

    Er, wait a sec. [thinking: Hmm. Straight married male transgendered to gay female for purpose of baby with smart, funny and sexy gay female. Hmm. Aww, fuck it. I still want to have a baby with her, dammit. And Jebus how I love short hair on a woman. Damn. The back of her neck is just made for a gentle bite. Uhhhh! Must stop thinking about that. Must stop.]

    Or something like that.

    But lissen up you no-account drunk clobbered lame headed compendium of foolishness. You are goo that once looked sapient. She’s mine way before you saw her. So fuck off.

  167. 167.

    D-Chance.

    October… surprise!

    That Palin pulls this out on a Friday, a bombthrower pushes it even harder on a Friday evening, and now we’re seeing several corners of Conservative Blaghistan poking and prodding the meme tonight… this is Trial Balloon Weekend to see if the "Anti-American vs Pro-American" slant is going to have traction by Monday.

    It ain’t gonna help, though. Country’s having a hissy fit, and they won’t shush until they’re given their Obamamerica lollipop.

  168. 168.

    Josh Huaco

    I believe Bachmann was one of the first back in September advancing the "blame the darkies" meme as the cause of the credit crisis. She was also the one who said that there’s no need to save the planet now from global warming because Jesus saved us all 2000 years ago. $8.08 from this grad student to Tinklenberg, money well spent.

  169. 169.

    gbear

    The only thing better than seeing a Republican beat by someone named Barack Hussein Obama would be seeing a Republican beat by someone named Elwyn Tinklenberg.

    As a bonus, some people in Bachman’s district also get to vote for a state rep named Julie Bunn.

  171. 171.

    Josh Huaco

    Why is Michelle Bachmann so ugly?

    Because Joe McCarthy is her dad.

    /rimshot

    Hey come back, I got more!

  172. 172.

    comrade pseudonymous in nc

    Assholes of a feather flock together, or get gerrymandered together in weird districts. Bachmann Crazy Overdrive happens to represent a lot of crazy people. She’ll probably get re-elected by them, because no amount of money to an opponent will make them less crazy.

    While this is a closer race than it should be on basic demographics, sometimes I think it would be better just to distribute the $100k that her opponent will from donors tonight in small amounts, with $100 going to everybody who says ‘shut the fuck up, you crazy fascist zealot’ to Bachmann’s face when the cameras are rolling. Let’s call it ‘WorkBlue’: a fundraising pool for people to tell Michele Bachmann to shut the fuck up. Invited on to Larry King when she’s there? Tell Michele Bachmann to shut the fuck up on basic cable and we’ll give you five grand. Chris Matthews? Tell her to shut the fuck up and it’s ten Gs.

  173. 173.

    Comrade Kevin

    @Laura W:

    I have liked a lot of stuff that The Nation has printed, but as long as they’re paying Alexander Cockburn, they’re not getting a cent out of me.

  174. 174.

    conumbdrum

    What struck me about the Bachmann segment is how utterly, tooth-grindingly stupid she is, in addition to being as pure a GOP brownshirt as I’ve ever seen. My brainbox was so hammered by the ig’nance spraying from her gob that it took me three tries to take in all seven minutes of the YouTube clip.

    Presented without comment, from March of this year:

    "How many members of Congress does it take to change a light bulb? Americans may soon find out, courtesy of a contrarian piece of legislation introduced this month by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

    "Titled the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, the bill seeks to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional light bulbs, the kind that have been used for more than a century — pretty much since the invention of the incandescent light bulb.

    "Bachmann, a first-term Republican, is challenging the nation’s embrace of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights, saying the government has no business telling consumers what kind of light bulbs they can buy.

    "’This is an issue of science over fads and fashions,’ Bachmann said in an interview Tuesday."

    This woman needs a swift kick… specifically, one that swiftly propels her to the end of the unemployment line.

    Okay, Tinklenberg, here’s forty bucks from the swear jar. Make me proud.

  177. 177.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    I tinkled the Tinklenberg bell this morning. Also.
     
    He’s up over 97K now. I dunno if he’ll be able to beat Bachman, but hopefully he’ll be able to wipe her eye, at least.
     
    Plus, also.
     

  180. 180.

    Zuzu Hussein's Petals

    @Quinn:

    I just gave too. I love that the "bloggers against the new McCarthyism" have raised $91K + already.

    I’m also donating again to Franken, just because of the nasty taste that Coleman/First Dude rally left.

  181. 181.

    Zuzu Hussein's Petals

    The good thing is that Obama will have a half hour on prime time less than a week before the election to just blow these jerks out of the water. He’ll have the luxury of tailoring the message to whatever monkey poop they’ve settled on tossing.

    The downside is that people will still be casting early ballots in the meantime, and it’s also possible the polls might be uncomfortably close by then.

    Or so it seems to me.

  182. 182.

    ultima

    You are all attacking this problem all wrong. Why not begin with a definition of what is unAmerican, anti-American or just American in terms of their historical values.

    Americanism: a trait, custom, or tradition especially characteristic of the people of the United States or some of them.

    So what are these traits, customs, or traditions. I submit that perhaps they are the work ethic, patiotism, personal responsibility, a willingness to make the most of one’s talents and intellect, self-sufficiency, a recognition that what one man receives without working for, another man must work for without receiving, that the government cannot give to the people what it does not first take from them, that you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it, that you cannot legislate the poor independence by legislating the most productive members of society out of it. It is also a recognition that population-driven economic growth is unsustainable, that open borders mean Mexico Norte will replace the U.S., that the limit of finite natural resources per capita as population increases without bounds is zero, that the American culture, language, ideals, standard of living, quality of life, etc. are worth defending against all enemies foreign and domestic.

    It then follows that the opposite of these ideas constitutes anti-Americanism. Such ideas as socialism, socialized medicine, wealth redistribution, robbing Peter to pay Paul, open borders, unrestricted immigration, multi-lingualism, ancient religious doctrines that deprive women of their rights and that contribute to overpopulation, the idea that the 1st amendment only applies to liberals, that the fourth estate has no obligation to provide the unbiased news, that buying votes is democratic, that the millionaires and billionaires who finance campaigns through 527s still represent a one person = one vote concept.

  183. 183.

    ultima

    No one seems to have an objection to the fact that this election is being bought lock stock and barrel with the obscene amounts of money being spent on TV ads by Obama. What’s fair about that? There is someting wrong with campaign finance laws if they permit a billion dollars to be spent. How democratic can that be?

  184. 184.

    gbear

    No one seems to have an objection to the fact that this election is being bought lock stock and barrel with the obscene amounts of money being spent on TV ads by Obama. What’s fair about that? There is someting wrong with campaign finance laws if they permit a billion dollars to be spent. How democratic can that be?

    Look moron, the average donation to the Obama campaign is less than 200 dollars. Nothing illegal or obscene about that. The fact is that millions of normal, non-wealty Americans feel compelled to donate to Obama BECAUSE THEY REALLY REALLY WANT HIM TO BE PRESIDENT. That is why he has so much money and that is why, when he wins, it will be because the majority of people in this country voted for him. It’s that fucking simple. Get your head out of your ass. There is NO evil conspiracy here, you just can’t stand to be on the side that’s going to lose. Your problem, not ours.

  185. 185.

    gbear

    A correction to my above post:

    A record 632,000 new donors gave to the campaign, with the average contribution under $100. More than 3 million donors have given so far.

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