Monday, March 14, 2011

Am I Wrong For Calling Michele Bachmann An Idiot?

This may have already been a forgone conclusion, but Michelle Bachmann is obviously going for the idiot vote.
“I’ll tell you one thing, if I was ever to run for president of the United States, I think the first thing I would do in the first debate is offer my birth certificate, so we can get that off the table,” Bachmann told conservative radio host Jeff Katz last week. She was responding to Katz’s contention that when he signs his sons up for sports, he has to “provide more documentation for them to go and play T-ball in Little League than the president ever had to provide.”
No, Mchelle Bachmann is not saying directly that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States. But she isn't saying that he was either. Why? Because she is seeking the idiot vote. She doesn't want to offend some of the stupid people that follow her. 

I want to be clear here. I just administered an ad hominem attack against Michelle Bachmann and her fringe followers. Yet, the ad hominem attack was completely truthful. Birthers are idiots. They are stupid and oftentimes racist people. Let's not mince words about them.

Furthermore, Bachmann has a history of not knowing basic facts. We could start with her recent comments in Concord, NH, where she mixed up her 6th grade history about the locations of Lexington and Concord. Then there was this sweet mother of a bonehead comment when speaking to an anti-tax group in Iowa. She said, “The very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States." Oh my! Slavery did not end until after the Civil War. Again, that 6th grade history might come in handy. A week ago she said that President Obama needs to listen to General Petraeus on what to do in Libya. Except that General Petraeus is the commander of Afghanistan and has nothing to do with Libya. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, she must have been asleep for the last six months.

Maybe I shouldn't call Bachmann an idiot. But what do you call a person who doesn't know basic facts about history and current events? What do you call a person who deliberately panders to a group of people who thinks that Obama wasn't born in the United States?

If it quacks like a duck, then it must be a...

18 comments:

Jonathan said...

Pablo:

What does it say that Bachmann has been called "Palin only smarter"?

This is on top of her geographic mistep of not knowing that the Battle of Concord took place in Massachusetts instead of New Hampshire.

Jonathan said...

Sorry, I didn't see that you mentioned her geographic stumble but the points still stands. Bachmann doesn't have a clue about what is going on. She's also questioned the constitutionality of the census.

Pablo said...

Jonathan:

It is quite scary.

And Bachmann's comments took place in Concord, New Hampshire. So I guess she thought that it was the same Concord where the Revolutionary War began. My favorite comment from a blogger was -- "Is she going to Lexington, New Hampshire next?"

Pablo said...

Jonathan,

We cannot allow the conservative movement to be highjacked by the anti-intellectual populists. Where are the William Buckleys?

Jonathan said...

Pablo:

There is a backlash occurring (about damn time) amongst the intellectual wing of the conservative movement against the Bachmann/Palin type of "anti" populism. Politico had an article about it today:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51218.html

Hopefully, the GOP primary electorate will be smart enough to reject this type of politics.

Closer To Home said...

There was a great article in Politico today about the new campaign realities posed by youtube and other social media. The hypothetical question is which of the current prospective candidates is prepared for gotcha blogger journalism?

Clearly, and this is the point of the article, Huckabee, Palin, Barbour, Gingrich, and Bachman are not there yet. They haven't put the staff in place yet to properly vet their remarks. But more importantly, their style is to speak off the cuff with a kind of "stream of consciousness." That kind of spontaneous communication will fuel negative responses for days. Not only is it prone to unforced errors, but it also is nearly impossible for the campaign to prepare "canned" defenses for. Witness how long it took for Newt to correct his mistakes, or how long Huck continued to defend his detailed 5 minute misspeak.

People may criticize Romney for sticking to his scripted remarks, but the point in 2012, especially early, will be to not offer up any ammunition to the opposition or the MSM that lets them destroy momentum and message.

Tracey said...

I think it is silly that she is attempting to run for President at this time. I don't think she has much of a resume. Maybe 8 years from now. The support from the tea party has gone to her head.

I am going to check out the article

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51218.html

I hope we can select a person that is highly prepared to be POTUS.

OhioJOE said...

"No, Mchelle Bachmann is not saying directly that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States. But she isn't saying that he was either" To be blunt it is rather rich of you to call, Mrs. Bachman an idiot when you are trying to put words in her mouth which she did not say. This is niether honest nor a display of leadership.

Anonymous said...

I don't think she's an idiot. She knows exactly what she is saying, and the audience to whom she is saying it too. She does not represent me, so I don't have a horse to reign in. Her presidential aspirations will go no where, but it does play well in the Tea Party.

Pablo said...

OJ,

I am not putting words in her mouth. She is playing footsy with the birthers. This is quite obvious. Instead of just saying the truth -- that Obama was born in the United States -- she plays around the issue so as not to offend some of her stupid fans.

Anonymous said...

Quack quack waddle waddle.

OhioJOE said...

"She is playing footsy with the birthers. This is quite obvious. Instead of just saying the truth" Hello, I do not care if she is playing footsy or not. The bottom line is that she is not an Birther and if you are truly a non-extremists, you should be satisfied with it. It is Mr. Obama's responsibility to put this issue to rest. BTW, where were YOU, when the Democrats played footsy with the 16 word of Mr. Bush' state of the Union Speech. The double standards by the anti-Birther extremists is distgusting. Frankly, your behavior is worse than Birtherism. You heard that right, WORSE, I tell you!!!!

Matt Y. said...

Birthers are idiots. They are stupid and oftentimes racist people. Let's not mince words about them.

Do you want to reject half of the party?
Do you work with lower-to-middle class, blue-collar conservatives, or do you have extensive contact with them? Would you tell them, to their faces, that they are stupid and racist idiots? I work with some of them, because I am one of them (except for the Birther part). They're not idiots, unless you want to sit on your high horse and call anyone with less than a 125 IQ an idiot. (My IQ is about 135). One of the guys has a couple of adopted sisters who are black, and he can't stand racism. They're just misguided when it comes to birtherism.

Birtherism is seriously wrong, it hurts the GOP's image, and when you look at all of the facts, it's rather stupid; but smart or average people do believe and even defend some stupid things at times. If they didn't, that would mean that we aren't fallen and we could reason our way to all truth; but we ARE fallen, and even the smartest people can disagree with each other without being personally stupid or ignorant.

Anonymous said...

Because there are degrees of idiocy.
When discussing Bachmann and Palin, you need to be more specific

Revolution 2012 said...

If it came down to pulling the level for Palin or Bachmann vs ANY DEMOCRAT, I'd have no problem voting for either of these woman.

I'll take a diamond in the rough over a pot of fools gold any day of the week.

Anonymous said...

Right now, we call someone with that level of ignorance about our country "Mr. Vice President."

Leon Foonman said...

Well, why does it matter if she doesn't know history or "book smart" stuff like that?

What this country needs is someone who will get rid of these socialist programs like Medicare and Social Security! Why should taxpayers have to support people who no longer contribute to our great capitalist companies, the same ones that keep America Strong by supporting patriotic causes like The War on Terrorism and Islamo-ists.

Michelle is hot, too, which is a better quailification than that useless Harvard Law professor creep.

Stomp out Affirmative Action Figures like Obummer now by supporting Michelle!

Josh said...

Yeah, she's batshit insane. That anyone can not only take her seriously but genuinely respect her as a politician says two things to me.

1) America is imploding on itself.

2) Fuck this shit, I'm going somewhere else. I heard Sweden's nice... ooh, but Germany doesn't play Catch-Me-Fuck-Me with their economy...

I guess I'm going to Deutschland. Fuck you, America. You and your half-assed politicians and your shitty pop culture.