Michele Bachmann: Crazy Eddie in a skirt?

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by Paul Mulshine

We already had Sarah Palin. Did we need Michele Bachmann?

I realize these two are so popular in Republican circles that both are being talked up as potential 2012 presidential contenders. But if this is the new prototype for female leaders, I’ll stick with the old.

That would be Phyllis Schlafly, the Eagle Forum leader who single-handedly sank the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. I once watched her disassemble a top Republican leader in a debate over immigration amnesty. By the end, the guy looked like he was ready to cross the border going the other way.

Palin, by comparison, supported John McCain’s Spanish-language pro-amnesty pitch when she was on the 2008 GOP ticket. That was among the reasons I was the first conservative newspaper "pundint" — as Palin pronounces it — to denounce her as a fraud.

But it was far from the only reason. Even more irritating to me was that Valley Girl accent of hers. How Bachmann ended up with the same sing-songy accent is a mystery I will leave to the linguists. I did my best to tune her out until after the recent State of the Union speech, when Bachmann gave what was billed as the tea party response.

From the first sentence, she connected with my inner curmudgeon.

"My name is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann," she began.

No, it’s not, I found myself thinking. Your name is Michele Bachmann. "Congresswoman" is your job title, not part of your name.

It didn’t get any better. After dispensing with domestic policy by promising high-paying jobs and low-priced gasoline, Bachmann moved on to foreign policy. To that end she tried to invoke "American exceptionalism," but instead endorsed "exceptionalism in America," which would not be a foreign policy position at all if there were such a thing.

Undeterred, she moved on to military matters, specifically the Battle of Iwo Jima. Pointing at that famed flag-raising photo, she chirped, "This picture immortalizes the victory of young GIs over the incursion against the Japanese."

If my St. Benedict’s-educated, World War II Marine dad were alive to watch this, he’d have fallen out of his easy chair in shock, both at the insult to the Corps and the insult to the English language. It was the Marines who invaded Iwo Jima, not the Army. And if those Marines had had a victory over the incursion against the Japanese, that would mean they were fighting themselves.

The whole speech was like that. Through it all, Bachmann grinned and pumped her fists in front of her chest like "Crazy Eddie" Antar in those memorable TV ads featuring a lunatic pitchman for an electronics chain.

That actor was faking it. Bachmann’s serious — and she’s taken seriously as a contender for the 2012 presidential nomination.

How did the GOP fall so far? I found some key information on the site of the Weekly Standard, where Bill Kristol was touting her as a fellow "neo" conservative, i.e. a youthful liberal who had a conversion to conservatism.

He posted a video of Bachmann telling an audience in Michigan of how she worked on the 1976 presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter while in college. She even attended Carter’s inaugural ball, she said.

Soon afterward, however, she read "Burr," a novel by Gore Vidal. Anyone who was paying attention to politics at the time knew that Bill Buckley’s old debating partner was openly gay and openly left-wing. Not Bachmann. She was shocked to find that, in the book, Vidal characterized some of the Founding Fathers as something less than plaster saints. So she joined the GOP.

A lot of people like her did, and that’s how we ended up with George W. Bush as president. Many of his policies were essentially liberal, such as his push for open immigration and his expressed desire to end all tyranny on Earth. But he gave the GOP that veneer of traditionalism the Democrats sent back to the farm with ol’ Jimmy.

It is the fervent hope of the neocon crowd that they can pull that trick once again. Hence Kristol’s crush on Bachmann. He also claims the credit for having introduced Palin to the McCain people in 2008. Palin promptly became a ventriloquist’s dummy for the neocons. Bachmann shows the same tendencies.

All I can say is, it’s too bad conservatives failed to attain a victory over the incursion against the Democrats. Or something like that.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2011/02/post_67.html

Edited February 7, 2011 by \

[one...two...tree 2,762]

That was a good read. I always got the impression that William Crystal had a self-inflated ego. He really does seem to think he is one of the primary engineers behind the GOP machine.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Bachmann is far from being a serious contender in 2012. She is the voice of the ignorant, the uneducated, you know the type, they refer to Obama as "Obamer" or "the socialist" or "the commie". They cannot intelligently articulate their objections to his policies or beliefs, so they usually just ramble off something like "He's trying to destroy this nation" or "He's trying to take away our liberty".

[mawilson 2,133]

That was a good read. I always got the impression that William Crystal had a self-inflated ego. He really does seem to think he is one of the primary engineers behind the GOP machine.

Who's William Crystal?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Who's William Crystal?

Oops....there's Billy Crystal, the movie actor and Bill (William) Krystal, the self-inflated egoist, political pundit.

[mawilson 2,133]

Oops....there's Billy Crystal, the movie actor and Bill (William) Krystal, the self-inflated egoist, political pundit.

Try again.

[james&olya 1,121]

Try again.

You really win this argument!! Yep, you actually got him on a mis-spelling not just once, but twice! We are all REALLY impressed. Such incredible wit and wisdom! I am in awe!!!

[mawilson 2,133]

You really win this argument!! Yep, you actually got him on a mis-spelling not just once, but twice! We are all REALLY impressed. Such incredible wit and wisdom! I am in awe!!!

You should be. I am an excellent speller.

[james&olya 1,121]

You should be. I am an excellent speller.

[The_Dude 1,142]

You should be. I am an excellent speller.

And a curmudgeon.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

You should be. I am an excellent speller.

I'm sure you are, Rainman.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I'm sure you are, Rainman.

That's not nice!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Agreed - that's not nice. Please remember that name-calling and insults are violations of TOS and not acceptable on Visa Journey.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Agreed - that's not nice. Please remember that name-calling and insults are violations of TOS and not acceptable on Visa Journey.

That's why it's not fun here anymore, no name calling or personal attacks.

[mawilson 2,133]

That's not nice!

Really? I thought it was a compliment.