Michelle Bachmann, welfare queen:
Michele Bachmann has become well known for her anti-government tea-bagger antics, protesting health care reform and every other government “handout” as socialism. What her followers probably don’t know is that Rep. Bachmann is, to use that anti-government slur, something of a welfare queen. That’s right, the anti-government insurrectionist has taken more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts thanks to corrupt farming subsidies she has been collecting for at least a decade.
I’d be worried this would make Glenn Beck cry, but everything makes him cry.
(via one of you commenters but I can not remember where)
r€nato
socialism for me, but not for thee!
jeffreyw
This hen kills soshulists!
asiangrrlMN
Every time I get to feel a bit cocky about having two great senators (well, one really good one, Amy K., and one awesome one, Al), I get smacked in the face with Michele Bachmann.
Typical Republican, though. Listen to the thing a Republican is most loudly decrying (sockulism, in her case), and it will inevitably turn out that she is indulging in that behavior.
@jeffreyw: You are such a tease.
Comrade Mary
DAMN it, jeffreyw! You’re killing me here.
Sam
It’s not socialism if white, right-wing, Christians benefit. Duh.
gonzone
IOKIYAR!! Dammit!
Steerpike
Projection? Naaaah.
Mike G
If there’s one thing teabaggers love more than bitching about government, it’s collecting government welfare.
Witness the thousands of senior teabaggers happily hoovering up Social Security and Medicare checks, while screeching about soshulism and the horrific spectacle of ‘government-run healthcare’.
I just can’t comprehend how they get through life with such a deficit of self-awareness.
GambitRF
Unless this information came to light via a doctored video with a guy dressed up as a pimp I’ve lost interest.
Mumphrey
And the sucky thing is that if anybody tried to tell this to the teabaggers and the other losers that Bachmann and those like her keep egging on and mining for contributions, they’d just wave it away or say “There’s no proof,” or, “Well, at least she has a birth certificate,” or some other such bullshit.
I don’t know who I hate more: the leeches like Bachmann bleeding poor ignorant yahoos dry while stoking their hatred, or the ignorant yahoos who are so wed to their rancid beliefs and bigotries that they won’t even bother to stand up for their own welfare, no matter how badly the Republicans shaft them.
freelancer
You forgot the Hoot Smalley tag.
GambitRF
And oh yeah, this is only coming up because liberals are afraid of a strong female conservative leader. Also, too.
slag
Keep the government out of my farm subsidies!
Zifnab
Glenn Beck won’t acknowledge this fact exists. He’ll mutter darkly about the liberals implementing the Sarbans-Oxley Act to destroy the currency, wave at a chalk board that spells out “FANCY PANTS” and use it as proof that the Illuminati wants to turn us all gay, and go into a crying screed over people trying to slander Bachman for crimes she did not commit.
Then he’ll try to sell you gold.
:-p
Besides, subsidies are for rich people. So long as those rich people live in red states.
tamied
@GambitRF: Terrified.
jrg
The fact that the teabaggers don’t care when someone like Bachmann gets free government cheese to the tune of $250K lends further weight to the theory that these teabagging clowns only raise hell about handouts because it makes them feel better about being clowns.
asiangrrlMN
@Mumphrey: Who says you have to hate one more than the other? There’s enough hatred to go around.
@GambitRF: Snort. You made a funny.
Look. She’s a fucking idiot. I doubt she herself would see the hypocrisy. In her mind, she ‘deserves’ the subsidies for whatever twisted, made-up logic she can fashion. That’s the way most people with limited self-reflection see the world.
Plus, the teabaggers and such are pissed-off people to begin with. They are sure that their ‘Murika is being ruined by…whatever. The fact that a black man is in office just gives them someone on whom to focus that inchoate fury.
licensed to kill time
They simply don’t see farm subsidies as government handouts, but as their just reward for being Real ‘Murkans In the Heartland of the Homeland.
Those Other people don’t count. No soup for you!
Bubblegum Tate
@GambitRF:
And because she’s such an effective fighter against tyranny, just like Sean Hannity said!
GReynoldsCT00
@jeffreyw:
oh MAN that looks good… you’re killing me! I love boudin
gex
@asiangrrlMN: This. These guys think they are being screwed over, and that’s with the quarter mil handout from the government. You don’t even want to know how cranky she’d be if they had to make that farm profitable on their own smarts and work ethic.
Malron
Glenn Beck once begged his supporters to send him $1 each to help him purchase a $148,000 Mercedes Benz.
Really.
Comrade Dread
Well, that money is going to get spent by the government anyway, so it’s better that it goes to hard working farmers and real Americans with the purple mountains majesty and amber waves of grain, doncha know?
jeffreyw
@GReynoldsCT00: Decided to make that at the last minute, toasted some wheat bread, diced it small with some green onions, moistened it with beef broth and crammed it in there. It was great tasting! Gonna make some for xmas dinner.
bemused
Uber Christianist & Republican is a nasty combination. Lying, cheating, stealing is okiyar but people like Bachmann also think they have God’s blessing. She turns my stomach. All you have to do is look at her eyes & you can tell she’s bat shit crazy.
SGEW
[Requisite Bloom County reference:]
OPUS: Go ahead, quiz me on chapter two.
MILO: “Say the following two things in one breath without cracking up.”
OPUS: Okay, shoot.
MILO: “Keep those flat-footed goombahs in Washington out of my hair…”
OPUS: “Keep those flat-footed goombahs in Washington out of my hair…”
MILO: “….Hurry up with my federal bail-out check.”
OPUS: “Hurry up HEE HEE HEE HEE!!!!!”
Larv
It’s only welfare when it’s poor (mostly black) urbanites taking money from the government. White farmers, on the other hand, receive vital governmental assistance in order to preserve the American agricultural tradition and it’s unique folkways. A prerequisite to Republicanism is the ability to maintain that distinction in your mind without being overwhelmed by cognitive dissonance.
asiangrrlMN
@gex: Exactly. She (and others of her ilk) see it as just due. Entitlement. They haz it.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Someone smarter than me originally formulated this description, but these are people who would happily live in a cardboard box if it meant those people wouldn’t even get a box.
gsim
Unfortunately, the most infuriating part of this story isn’t the off-the-charts levels of cognitive dissonance that the teabaggers and other GOPers must possess to casually disregard this sort of conduct, but rather the fact that we’ll likely never see this sort of story burning up even one 24-hour news cycle.
Something Fabulous
@jeffreyw: Hey! Could you post a recipe for that? (Cooking times, do you baste? etc) I just bought a pair for the first time b/c they were such a bargain, and now am a bit flummoxed about what to do with them. Seem like the perfect thing for one person, but am a-feared of overcooking and dryness…
GReynoldsCT00
@jeffreyw:
oh, I was thinking of boudin sausage…either way, good stuff. I’m hungry!
Col. Klinlk
Come on, this can’t be true. Next you’re going to tell me the champions of Family Values are somehow perverts or closet cases.
asiangrrlMN
@GReynoldsCT00: I’m guessing the sausage is in the stuffing which is in the bird….kinda like the democratic process (to try to, unsuccessfully, tie it back to the topic at hand).
The Grand Panjandrum
The article lists several Blue Dogs are recipients of government largesse. Most of whom voted against the stimulus and the health care reform package. But the one that galled me the most was the disingenuous prick Grassley. He and his family have received more than a million dollars over the past 11 years. Oy.
@slag:
Win.
Eric
I am from small town Iowa and you have no idea how many farmers I know who receive subsidies but cannot stand socialist government programs.
jeffreyw
@GReynoldsCT00: There was boudin sausage in there, just didn’t mention it seeing as the caption on the pic did.
Dreggas
@GReynoldsCT00:
Just finishing a grilled Cheese and a bread bowl of broccoli cheese soup from Boudin…of course the sandwich was also on sourdough from there.
GReynoldsCT00
@jeffreyw:
gotcha!
Splitting Image
You’re not remembering your Joseph Heller correctly:
Federal aid to everyone except farmers is creeping socialism.
Robin G.
@asiangrrlMN: Amen. (Well, except for the part about Amy. I find her fair-to-middlin’.)
Col. Klink
The mystery of the tubes changed my name up-thread. Nevertheless I shall now refer to Michelle as Welfare Queen Bachmann from this day forward.
General Winfield Stuck
@jeffreyw:
That Hen’s Goose is cooked, though deliciously.
Tom Hilton
I just saw Jane Hamsher on Fox defending Michelle Bachmann, and calling criticism of her ‘sexist’.
Okay, I didn’t…but it’s not wholly implausible, is it?
Socialist Health Care
Talk about change from the top down. What nefarious purposes will evil liberal scientists put this blood to? What? H1N1 vaccine? MEH – the faux nooz version was sexier.
http://wonkette.com/412873/americas-new-health-care-plan
jeffreyw
@Something Fabulous: Pretty straightforward recipe: brine the birds for a few hours, rinse and pat dry, salt and pepper inside and out. I have a roasting pan that is a slotted top with a catch pan-I roast them on that with some water in the pan, helps to keep them moist. I gave them 30 minutes at 350, then basted with butter. They spent another 20 minutes or so getting browned. The stuffing will increase the cooking time a bit but since it’s made from already cooked ingredients I don’t fear under cooking. Since these birds are so small, it didn’t take much stuffing. I used one boudin link, three slices of toasted bread, a half dozen green onions, and maybe 1/3 cup of beef stock.
gbear
I wonder how much government money Bachman has received for the dozens of foster children she’d brought in to her little christianist indoctrination farm?
And Another Thing...
We have got to stop using terms like “cognitive dissonance.” Most people just do NOT know what that means, so the point blows right past them. Try “effing hypocrite.” That’s what she is. And another thing, stop using “mendacious” instead of “lying” or if you’re fainthearted use “deliberately deceptive.” They say “death panels” and we say “they’re mendacious”…sheesh, no wonder we lose the PR battles.
Martian Buddy
One day soon Glenn Beck will tell the moon about the crying game.
Also, remember the days when conservatives used to snark on being paid not to farm?
Nellcote
There are some interesting reductions in farm and oil co. subsidies in the FY2010 budget. Here’s the pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/trs.pdf
Something Fabulous
@jeffreyw: Thanks! you are my hero! copy-pasted for immediate dinner use!
Bobby Thomson
Farked the link.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/22/michele-bachmans-farm-received-over-250-000-in-federal-subsidi/
Sad_Dem
@Mike G
I’m of the school that holds that most of the time, most people know what little shi-ites they are being and only pretend otherwise for practical purposes, such as preserving the scam.
Bill H
@Robin G.:
Except she’s cute enough to make a freight train follow her down a dirt road. Look at who California has; Boxer and Feinstein. If Senators can’t govern, at least they could look good.
bemused
@And Another Thing…:
rotfl. Yeah, makes it sound like we went to some fancy college or something. Or we recycle & eat arugula.
gnomedad
@Malron:
That deserves some sort of Exemplary Shamelessness aware even by his standards.
“Now is your chance to real make a difference in someone’s life.”
Pure ipecac.
El Cid
Bachmann is merely nobly sacrificing in order to keep that $250K out of the hands of Obama’s terrorist ACORN pals.
Chuck Butcher
My industry, construction, does very well out of the income tax deduction for mortgage interest. There is a social and economic point to such a deduction, home ownership but once the median housing price is exceeded it becomes about something else.
Much of the farm subsidy program suffers from the same deficits, what makes economic and social/environmental sense gets lost in the give away rush. Well, you certainly could spread that out pretty broadly.
Joshua Norton
Rep. Bachmann is, to use that anti-government slur, something of a welfare queen.
Fish don’t fry in the kitchen,
Beans don’t burn on the grill.
Took a whole lot of tryin’
Just to get up that hill….
Chuck Butcher
@Bill H:
Who are you talking about? I sure hope it isn’t Bachman because that’s enough to send my gonads stomachward.
asiangrrlMN
@Robin G.: Lowered expectations, my friend. After Normie and Ratface Pawlenty, Amy K. looks awfully good to me.
@gbear: A fair amount, let me tell you.
@And Another Thing…: It is cognitive dissonance, though. And, I don’t see why we can’t say both. They are fucking hypocrites who suffer from cognitive dissonance.
asiangrrlMN
@Chuck Butcher: He’s talking about Amy K., I think. I still don’t agree.
Comrade Dread
You know, I’ve heard that Republican leaders no longer come within 100 feet of Teddy Roosevelt’s grave after he reached up from the ground and punched the last Republican visitor in the balls.
Dave Fud
Please add “Bring on the Brawndo!” to the Lexicon. I am mystified, and would like to educate myself.
Morbo
@Socialist Health Care: That nurse is clearly a KGB agent giving him the activation nanomachines. Now the Manchurian candidate predictions will come true and the Soviet Union will be born anew here in the US. You watch next time Putin’s in town.
Annie
@Mike G:
Exactly!!! Now, let us pray….
Chuck Butcher
@asiangrrlMN:
Amy? Well, she doesn’t make me want to run while clutching the goodies, but I’m … well, I don’t know, the whole idea seems to focus on something … oh hell.
SiubhanDuinne
@Malron:
Okay, I’m a
bitlot anal about stuff like this (direct from that link to GB’s website):Also, there should be a comma where the dash is and a dash or colon where the comma is.
The $ and the word “dollar” together = redundant. Same with “per each.”
Glenn Beck is a moran. Oh wait, that’s redundant too . . . .
Ripley
She grifts for all of us.
Annie
@SiubhanDuinne:
If you each send me $5 dollars, can I get my boat? Only $5 dollars per BJ household. Also, since I grow peppers on my patio, do I qualify for a farm subsidy? I will happily accept government funds to not grow them (no redundancy implied…)
D-Chance.
I see Jane Hamster is on her blog explaining why she went on Fox and Friends.
We know why, Janie… you’re a fucking publicity whore. And you’re still mad at Obama and his Washington Democrat(ic) buds because they refused to fund your little blog despite your never ending whine-a-thon.
AkaDad
Since Bachmann is a government official, does this mean she’s sucking on her own teet?
gex
@AkaDad: Thanks. Eye bleach, please? Or mind’s eye bleach?
Zifnab
@AkaDad: Post of the day.
handy
@AkaDad:
She’s quite flexible.
slag
@AkaDad: Foul! Unnecessary roughness.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@AkaDad:
Because she can.
maya
I though Michelle’s farm grew bat guano.
Jim Once
@Eric: Me too, Eric. From New Hartford, Iowa, actually, which is Grassley’s home town. I remember the first time he ran for office – nobody could believe such a dumbass would do that – and then win! And you are so right about those Iowa farmers.
Nethead Jay
@Comrade Dread: Bwahahahaha, thanks for the laugh. What a wonderful mental image.
Paul L.
So which Democrats support getting rid of Farm subsides?
Remember when progressives were outrage by “guilt by association”.
PartyLikeIts1990
Please add “Bring on the Brawndo!” to the Lexicon. I am mystified, and would like to educate myself.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=brawndo
parksideq
What do you mean, “you commenters”?
But yeah, I’d actually be surprised if Bachmann wasn’t suckling on the government teat (beyond the usual congressional perks like top-shelf health insurance). Isn’t it a trademark of federal Republicans to be both hypocritical and woefully self-unaware?
Little Macayla's Friend
I’m sure many others have already heard this in person, but neither Bachmann nor her supporters will ever see it as hypocrisy because they are just getting back what the government stole from them in taxes, regulations, etc., in the first place.
And they would never agree as to what are the costs and what are the benefits in a cost/benefit analysis.
I will admit that in the farm family I moved away from 30 years ago these kinds of people never revealed they were getting direct cash from the government – I only found out about it in a gov.t database.
Steeplejack
@Paul L.:
Weak sauce today, son. Just a few lines further down in the article:
That’s “she” personally. No “guilt by association” necessary.
Northern Observer
The modern Republican party has the KKK as a father and the John Birch society as a mother, so it is more than a little messed up. However one thing they could damn well agree on is that government spending that benefits the coloreds must be stopped but government spending that is good for patriotic American families (wink wink) is A-Ok.
This hard political fact is not discussed in the Village, it is considered bad manners. But I like to take it up a notch and if you really step back and look at what the GOP has accomplished in the last 50 years, they have taken their crusade against “negro benefits” and applied it to all Americans. So, for the sake of stopping the colored man from geting one red cent from the federal government they have negrofied the entire American population that isn’t born with a silver spoon in its mouth. White Niggers of America ideed.
But again these sorts of things are impolite.
andy
For what it’s worth, as was pointed out to me by a friend who saw this link, Bachmann voted against the farm subsidies both before and after the Bush veto. This was not mentioned in the article, and seems a rather glaring omission.
I shall return to bashing Bachmann for being a creationist McCarthy in a dress instead.