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You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / Quick On The Uptake

Quick On The Uptake

by John Cole|  November 5, 20107:28 pm| 33 Comments

This post is in: Free Markets Solve Everything, Glibertarianism, Clown Shoes

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I’m dying over here:

The New York Times reports that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a “Tea Party heroine,” plans to challenge Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) for the post of GOP conference chair, the fourth-highest House leadership position, in the new Congress. According to the Times, “her candidacy vividly illustrates the central tension facing [incoming House Speaker John] Boehner and his team: balancing the demands of new lawmakers, some of whom ran against the Republican establishment and advocate a no-compromise stance toward the Obama administration and Democratic policies, against the need to deliver some accomplishments at a time of economic distress.” Honestly, I’m not sure what that means, but the thrust of the story is that Bachmann represents bold newcomers supported by the Tea Party while Hensarling represents the wishy-washy old guard.

***

In short, with the notable exception of his Medicare vote (a flaw shared by almost all of the Republican leaders who now claim to be budget cutters), Hensarling seems to be just the sort of legislator fiscal conservatives should want to see in a position of power. Assuming that the Tea Partiers’ preference for Bachmann, who seems not terribly bright and longer on rhetoric than action, is not merely a figment of her imagination, what good are they?

It’s almost as if the tea party isn’t really a libertarian minded grass roots uprising calling for more personal freedom, fiscal conservatism, and limited government, but actually might just be a slick re-branding of the lunatic wing of the GOP by wealthy billionaire businessmen to be used to propel the GOP back into power.

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33Comments

  1. 1.

    General Stuck

    November 5, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    while Hensarling represents the wishy-washy old guard.

    Jeesh, this is scary. Hensarling is a gold plated motherfucking wingnut of the highest purity, or so I once thought.

    Peak Wingnut? shit, we ain’t even halfway up that hill.

  2. 2.

    BGinCHI

    November 5, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    I can’t stop thinking about Tea Party Heroin now.

    Ride the Bachmann tiger!

  3. 3.

    bleh

    November 5, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    I’m thinking your countertops need to be investigated by Citizen Journalists.

  4. 4.

    MikeBoyScout

    November 5, 2010 at 7:39 pm

    @2 BGinCHI:
    you beat me to it. :-D

  5. 5.

    Cat Lady

    November 5, 2010 at 7:40 pm

    I can’t stop thinking about Tea Party Heroin meth now.

    Fixed cuz just look at those crazy ass eyes.

  6. 6.

    Max Power

    November 5, 2010 at 7:41 pm

    @bleh:

    I’m thinking your countertops need to be investigated by Citizen Journalists.

    They’re too busy doing lines of coke, after having managed to get Olbermann canned, for any of that.

  7. 7.

    matoko_chan

    November 5, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    but this isnt the best part……now that Boner rode the Red Wave back to power, they HAVE to get rid of Palin.
    Tunku and Rove already ganked her last week, now Douthat (the Limits of Palinism) and Noonan(Palin is a Nincompoop).
    This is War.
    She cant win, she is mathematically unelectable, but im not sure they can throw her overboard.
    I think she is runnin’.
    what was that thing COD said?
    oh yeah….

    you arent the boss of me

    what can they offer Palin? VP wont work. she drags down the ticket.
    third party.
    :)

  8. 8.

    Southern Beale

    November 5, 2010 at 7:44 pm

    It’s almost as if the tea party isn’t really a libertarian minded grass roots uprising calling for more personal freedom, fiscal conservatism, and limited government, but actually might just be a slick re-branding of the lunatic wing of the GOP by wealthy billionaire businessmen to be used to propel the GOP back into power.

    CLASSIC!

  9. 9.

    jl

    November 5, 2010 at 7:44 pm

    What was Eisenhower’s opinion? I think something like, they are a few billionaires in Texas, and they are stupid.

    Eisenhower couldn’t see this far into the future, I guess.

  10. 10.

    MikeBoyScout

    November 5, 2010 at 7:45 pm

    Her candidacy for the leadership post vividly illustrates why Minority Leader Boehner was an idiot when he didn’t ostracize her after she made herself famous calling for an investigation of communists in congress 2 years ago.

  11. 11.

    matoko_chan

    November 5, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    check out Captain Stupids poll.

    Yes, the Tea Party deserves a seat at the table 33.69% (1,465 votes)

    go vote! lets get Bachman a seat at the table!

  12. 12.

    beltane

    November 5, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    You don’t say…Never would have guessed that one.

  13. 13.

    Benjamin Cisco (mobile)

    November 5, 2010 at 7:49 pm

    @Cat Lady: I for one welcome our new wild-eyed, toothless, bugfuck insane would-be overloads. They will eat each other alive.

  14. 14.

    Dennis SGMM

    November 5, 2010 at 7:55 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    I reflexively spanked the veins in my forearm.

  15. 15.

    Zifnab

    November 5, 2010 at 8:02 pm

    a “Tea Party heroine,”

    Tea Party Heroine is the first thing I think of when I see Micheal Bachmann, too. Bad for you, but you can’t quit.

  16. 16.

    HyperIon

    November 5, 2010 at 8:02 pm

    How about the comments at Reason. A spirited debate on the sexual attractiveness of Bachmann and various other political women.

  17. 17.

    matoko_chan

    November 5, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    @Zifnab: Tea Party Heroin, you mean.
    poor junkies.
    they have progressed from innocuous Sarah Palin skin-pops to chicking boo for breakfast with Backman and COD.
    dooooooooooooom

  18. 18.

    grumpy realist

    November 5, 2010 at 8:14 pm

    John, what’s even funnier is going over to Reason and getting slapped in the face with their “Freedom isn’t Free! Donate to Reason!” crap.

    Your libertarian magazine can’t sell enough subscriptions to support itself, so it has to beg for donations. What about Teh Free Market, hmm? Obviously there’s not enough interest/funds to keep your magazine going, so if you really believed in your supposed belief system, you’d accept the inevitable and Shut The Bloody Thing Down.

  19. 19.

    gbear

    November 5, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    All I can say is that many of us are fucking glad that she’s not in the MN legislature any more.

    She’s bad. She’s nationwide.

  20. 20.

    chopper

    November 5, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    could it be that peak wingnut is just a bit farther up ahead? what do you think, sisyphus?

  21. 21.

    Cat Lady

    November 5, 2010 at 8:37 pm

    @Benjamin Cisco (mobile):

    Bat Boy/Bachmann 2012.

  22. 22.

    Suffern ACE

    November 5, 2010 at 8:39 pm

    @General Stuck: Sheese that’s what I thought. Sometimes the moving to the right by the Dems to pick up moderate votes made sense to win elections…but he’s now too moderate? He’s about as left as Paul Ryan.

  23. 23.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    November 5, 2010 at 8:44 pm

    who seems not terribly bright and longer on rhetoric than action

    Possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said about Bachmann, including her parents.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 5, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    The fuh? “We know you are looking forward to Keith’s return, and so are we.”

    That’s IT?

  25. 25.

    debit

    November 5, 2010 at 9:03 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Who said that?

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 5, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    @debit: Whoever that was on MSNBC subbing on Countdown. Didn’t recognize him, didn’t catch his name. He was fluffing the Keith story earlier, but in the event it was about two sentences dropped quickly and embarrassedly in the middle of a couple of other stories.

    FWIW, Rachel also promises to have something to say . . . ah, and it’s coming up right after this commercial break.

  27. 27.

    debit

    November 5, 2010 at 9:34 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Ah, ok. I’m not watching in protest, but have a morbid curiosity about what’s being said by his peers.

  28. 28.

    Pongo

    November 5, 2010 at 9:39 pm

    @gbear: Amen. At least she’s too busy to spy on gay people in St. Paul now.

  29. 29.

    cleek

    November 5, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    @HyperIon:
    yeah, that’s what i was thinking.

  30. 30.

    Ecks

    November 5, 2010 at 10:07 pm

    what can they offer Palin?

    Money. Teevee face time. She’s not after power really. Not the kind where you have to make actual decisions and do work, she’s already proved that about as decisively as you could hope for.

    No, she lives for the buzz of a crowd. She feeds off their fear and hate. Anger is like sweet nectar to her. I hadn’t thought about it before, but she’s kind of a b-list sith.

  31. 31.

    RalfW

    November 5, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    I love it, I’m all for it, and I live right here in Minnesota (though thank begeebus not in the 6th).

    My limited impression is that Hensarling is teh stoopid, and a winger. But basically unknown, so he may get more benefit-of-the-doubt time with the public.

    Everyone’s mind is made up about la Bachmann. Teh stoopid is patently obvious. Whether that is OK, or even excellent, seems to be a function of partisanship.

    I say let ’em have her as #4. The two year circus may as well be circus maximus.

    Also, too, I can’t help but see an image in my minds eye of Major Kong riding the bomb.

  32. 32.

    matoko_chan

    November 6, 2010 at 12:31 am

    @Ecks: disagree.
    cuz ima grrl too and i can get inside her head….
    hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
    she is out to get Obama for ignoring her, and she is going show him.
    she is goin’ show Team McCain and Dr. K and Douthat and Rove and every one that is saying she cant make the cut.
    when McCain refused to let her make a concession speech, when O ignored her offer of ‘help’ at the governors convention, when she didnt get invited to the WH like everone else, she got mad.
    She offered to flat race O and got nuthin but crickets.
    THAT is what all her Obama hatred is about now.
    He dissed her.

    She doesnt want money or tv…she has that…..She wants respect…..and….she wants revenge. Just watch. she is running.

  33. 33.

    BGinCHI

    November 6, 2010 at 12:59 am

    @grumpy realist:

    Altruism for Reason does not help others: therefore it’s ok to give.

    –Ayn Rand

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