On the Trail with Michele Bachmann
In the span of a few weeks, Michele Bachmann has gone from fringe candidate to serious contender in the 2012 race. While her frontrunner status is hardly a surprise to loyal Tea Party followers, the emergence of Bachmann as a player on the national scene has caught the attention of many early state voters and (for better or worse) those in the national press corps.
Bachmann’s road to the White House started on Monday in Iowa, where she officially announced her candidacy before embarking on campaign stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Covering over 2,600 miles within a 72-hour period, the congresswoman laid out her platform before voters in key early states and aggressively attacked President Barack Obama for his failed economic policies.
“We can’t afford four more years of Barack Obama,” Bachmann exclaimed in her announcement speech in her native Waterloo, Iowa, on Monday. “This election is about big issues, not petty ones. When all is said and done, we cannot be about big government as usual.”
Her message is one that many conservatives have been hungry for in a current field of candidates being described as “unimpressive.”
“She’s one of us. She’s lived the same lives many of us have lived,” said David Alderman of Waterloo. “I think she has that ‘it’ factor. I like what she stands for and I think I can easily get behind her.”
Bachmann’s “it factor” and her ability to connect with her audience and speak to salient issues — whether it be her roots in Iowa, the economy in New Hampshire, or family values in South Carolina — make her a formidable opponent. While she is able to portray what she calls a “compassionate” side with tales of motherhood and her love for her husband Marcus, to whom she has been married for 33 years, Bachmann is no shrinking violet when it comes to attacking her foes. She scolded the media at a stop in Charleston for wanting to see a “mud wrestling fight” between her and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and she never missed an opportunity to get her jabs in at President Obama (at all of her stops, she joked of retiring the teleprompter upon her arrival to the White House).
For many voters, this was the first time they got to see the Minnesota congresswoman in person — meaning this was also the first time they got to see her without the caricatures and extremist portrayals put forward by the national, partisan press. Many in her audiences seemed to be pleasantly surprised by Bachmann’s performance. The lawmaker’s common sense message of limited government and a return to constitutional principles was well received at every stop.
Paula Tarta of Rye, New Hampshire, was one of those in the crowd who walked away with a favorable impression of the congresswoman. “I thought she was super energized. I do think she has the titanium backbone that it’s going to take to go up against this ol’ boy network. I’m excited for her and excited to be supporting her.”
In one of the more genuine moments of her tour, Bachmann confided to voters at a town hall gathering in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Wednesday night that she had suffered a miscarriage after the birth of her second child. It was a poignant answer in describing her pro-life roots and inspiration to become a foster parent — one that most of her campaign staff were completely unaware of.
As Bachmann rolled into her stops along the tour, she was greeted by enthusiastic crowds whose size exceeded the expectations of her staff. They had anticipated about 50 to 100 people at each stop; instead they got crowds ranging from 300 to more than a thousand.
The crowds comprised Tea Party faithful and those that were curious to get a glimpse of the GOP’s latest addition to the field. The congresswoman showed she had the star power to pull in big numbers. In South Carolina, many onlookers had waited over two hours in blistering heat just to see her speak. At a town hall forum at Winthrop University, there were more than 500 people packed in an overflow area who could not get a seat inside the auditorium.
Grrl power.
Wouldn’t it be better to have qualified candidates ..?
American infatuation with appearance only adds to its woes….good looking popular people in the USA get away with Murder ( literally ), sex with interns, invading foreign nations, destroying the American Economy the last 40 years….but heaven forbid someone with leadership qualities does not have fashionable looks.
You are right and it is a sad commentary on the American voter. I could care less what the candidate looks like. Still, I would like to believe there are those rare occasions when you can have both, nice appearance and a qualified candidate.
I want a conservative ideologue. Capitalism, self reliance and the American way.
alex do you mean someone with obamas vast experience?
It all started coming unglued in 1960, with the advent of the TV campaign. Not coincidentally, Eisenhower was the last bald man elected president (Ford wasn’t elected). If you demand a pretty boy, you get what you asked for.
Bachmann of course is a very attractive woman, but there are different rules for women. Attractiveness works against them.
Obama attractive? The black “Howdy Doodie”? With those ears and mole on his face? No not attractive. Articulate…only if he is on a teleprompter…smart 57 out of 58 states, Navy Corpsman pronounced with an s when they are in fact Hospital Corpsman (I know I was in the U.S. Navy)!
We have a Marxist goon in the white house and he is spending our wa into bankruptcy. I truly believe he will lose a debate with even the dimmest of all Republican candidates, and will also lose in a landside, even with massive voter fraud!
andddddd …. you don’t think she’s qualified – or is the fact that she’s attractive shrouding her skill set for you?
Here’s a thought; I’m thinking maybe she’s BOTH, and maybe if this country can get its’ collective head out of its’ …, we can all see that and either elect her, or someone like her, in 2012.
God knows the straw man in there now is by far the least qualified of ANY candidate.
My barber could do a better job than he can.
Michele Bachmann proves that you can take the battle to the President and come out on top. All you need to do is keep throwing Obama’s record in his face and people will see what an empty suit he really is. And if she’s really smart, she won’t hesitate talking about Bill Ayers and “Reverand” Wright if the Democrats try to “Palinize” her. The stakes are way too high in this election to think about playing nice with that fraud in the White House. It will also show how tough she really is. And I think people are starting to move towards her because, unlike Romney, people really think Bachmann means what she says. She’s been pretty consistent with her views for years now and people like that. I think the vast majority of conservatives just don’t trust Romney and see him as just another RINO who wants their vote. Believe it or not, Bachmann could actually win this thing, and win it big if she sticks to her conservative principles.
you are so right Libertyship46.but remember. you will allways have someone who will try to destroy Michelle as they did Sarah Palin/ I will be frank with you. I would dearly love to see a Pali Bachman or vice versa ticket. wouldn’t that fog a bunch of windsheilds? eight years of Bachkman Palin then eight years Palin Bachkman, GO SARAH GO MICHELLE,
I don’t recall that Sarah Palin was ‘destroyed’ by the MSM or anyone else. She has managed quite well to stand up to the barrage of criticism that from the idiots on the left. I do recall her self-inflicted wounds – her resigning as Gov was very disappointing to me – that hole in her foot was from her own gun. Seems like her star has gone dark of it’s own accord.
Have you ever held a job that was impossible to do because of forces outside of your control? Ever had people around you in the workplace, all with their knives out for one reason or another? Did you say to yourself, “wow, it’s difficult here, and I can’t get any work done – but because of what others may think, well gee … I’ve gotta stick with it and put up with all this crap!”
Somehow, I don’t think so.
Here we have a woman who had dozens of frivolous lawsuits filed against her and her administration, in order to do nothing but harass and negate her ability to carry out her duties. All of them – ALL of them – were frivolous; but, in this country, the defendant doesn’t get to decide whether lawsuits against them are frivolous or not; the courts do.
And here’s another thing about her situation to keep in mind – the state of Alaska does NOT handle the costs of defense in cases files against its’ representatives and governors – THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE for their own court costs. So, you have a person, pursued by frivolous suits strategically filed against her in order to harass her, with a large family to feed, and no real source of funds to pay for all of the court costs, having to make a decision. Well, she decided to resign. Now, there may be people who think that was cowardly; I don’t. I think it was pragmatic and gutsy. You don’t think she KNEW how some people would view her decision? She did what she thought was the best thing to do. Again – she COULDN’T FUNCTION AS GOVERNOR any more, because of all of the attacks and strategic – NOT substantiated – lawsuits against her. So, why stay in a job you know you aren’t able to give any attention to any more? The idiotic thing would have been to STAY there, and continue to take the harassment without any means to properly defend yourself and protect your family. I don’t understand why people can’t see that. Given the circumstances, would YOU put up with that? Not me – I’d have done the exact same thing she did.
She left, not because she didn’t want to do the job, but because she was BEING PREVENTED FROM DOING IT.
Her decision was best for her, best for her family, and best for Alaska. If you haven’t been paying attention, her Lt. Governor and the guy who replaced her, is doing a fantastic job for the state! So, she left no one in the lurch. Nobody got hurt (except the people filing frivolous suits left and right), and she went on to write bestselling books, create a TV career for herself (which also helped her daughter, too) and oh, by the way … make enough money to help her family AND defend herself in court when necessary.
Oh – and she has also become one of the most viewed and followed political commentators in DECADES – ALL without holding any office, or running in any election!
How many people can pull that off?
Do you understand, now, the real story behind her leaving the governorship? or are you and others going to continue to swallow the mainstream media-filtered version of it?
I understand very well how the MSM has treated her. I’m well aware of why she resigned. What I didn’t know is her having to pay out of her own pocket for the frivolous lawsuits. I had no idea about that. Too bad those who bring on these lawsuits can’t be counter-sued when the case is found to have no merit. Much needs to change in this country.
And don’t get me wrong – I’d love for Sarah to throw her hat into the ring. What worries me is that she and Michelle might end up taking each other out.
How about a Bachmann/Palin or Palin/Bachmann ticket? That’d shake up the commie left! I’d vote for either.
Your observations about sentence structure are right on, but there’s a content issue as well… Michele Bachmann is not a Tea Party leader except in her own mind. Her decision to push for a Tea Party caucus was self-promoting and irrelevant. I’m a Minnesota conservative Republican and as far as I’m concerned, she has used the Tea Party to position herself for the POTUS-run. She is not what she promotes herself to be where the Tea Party is concerned….
Not everybody is “moving toward Bachmann” as 4.Libertyship46 observes. Many conservatives are disgusted with her opportunistic and selective Tea Party loyalties.
What positions does she hold that disqualifies her as a tea party candidate? You gave us nothing except a link (“4.Libertyship46″) to no where, that does not work. At least it does not work for me. Is this about the USS Liberty and Bachmann’s support for Israel? What does Libertyship stand for?
Nowhere does the Tea Party list:
1. Stop all abortions
2. Stop embryo stem cell research
Michelle is an extremist on both issues. That’s fine for HER PERSONAL LIFE. But those religious personal beliefs do NOT represent the Tea Party.
I see. So does “the” Tea Party maintain an exhaustive list of policy positions, and if a person holds some additional views they are thus disqualified from any association with the Tea Party phenomenon?
And why do you conflate pro-life positions with religion? It’s impossible for a non-religious person to believe abortion is wrong?
The tea party movement is not so monolithic as you suggest. Not all tea party activists are libertarian-leaning or fiscal exclusivists as you appear to be. The conservative movement has a large social-conservative contingent as does the Republican party. Some would argue (what you call) “religious” conservatives are the political base of the Republican party. You call Bachmann extreme. You seem pretty extreme yourself.
You observe correctly.
The coming 2012 election should not be about social issues such as you’ve listed. It should be all about the socialist/marxist tendencies of the current POTUS.
If the Republican nominee makes it about gay rights – clean water and air – and things like that then we are doomed.
Leave the sidetracking of issues to the MSM – I’m sure they will. They’ve certainly had enough practice. It’ll be one dirty ass-kickin’ brawl that will test the fabric of our nation.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was a fiscal conservative!
If your top priority is sodomy and abortion then Bachmann is not your candidate.
And how do her personal positions on those peripheral issues cause her to be a problem for her positions regarding your fiscally conservative views? Pay attention to the big issues and then see if she is preferable to a committed Marxist, even with all that moralistic baggage you think she carries, eh?
“Libertyship” is the class of merchant vessels mass-produced for WWII. He is an old salt.
“Libertyship” is the class of merchant vessels mass-produced for WWII. He is an old salt.
(Accidentally posted as stand alone, below, instead of as a reply.)
Emma above wrote: “I’m a Minnesota conservative Republican and as far as I’m concerned, (Bachamann) has used the Tea Party to position herself for the POTUS-run. She is not what she promotes herself to be where the Tea Party is concerned…”
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I asked Emma earlier, “what positions does (Bachmann) hold [or espouse] that disqualifies her as a tea party candidate?” No answer. Can I not conclude Emma is an Obama-supporter, feigning to be conservative Republican?
Steve I think you’r 150% correct,just another PHONY,
You can conclude anything you like. Doesn’t make it so. I’ve been called some nasty things in my life, but never a supporter of obama.
I was living life in the intervening hours, and don’t have time to sit at the computer….my original comment was obviously not well thought out and I didn’t have time (and don’t have time now) to address all potential reactions to my statement. I was just expressing my own sense that there is an assumption that Ms. Bachmann is supported by all Tea Party folks. It’s just not so. Sorry. I’ll go back up on the porch now.
Just don’t you ever say again that I support obama. Good grief….that’s dirty. Talk about strawman argument: apparently if we don’t fall into line behind Ms. Bachmann, that makes us pro-obama?
You don’t know anything about me except that I apparently tossed a low-hanging slow ball into your field of vision and you took the opportunity to blast it out of some imaginary park. Happy 4th of July.
You would be correct in that assumption! She is not truly a conservative and at best a RINO or communist like Obama!
Re Steve DeMarcus: Again, “characterization” without reference to facts. You must be petrified with fear! How about a discussion about what makes her a RINO or a Communist.
No one could mistake you for an intellectually cogent writer. It is the end of the age of “emotion.” Get with it! Try to appeal to policy, facts, and goals. Otherwise, just get out of the way of free discussion.
She’s either a political operative/plant on the site, or she’s someone who just doesn’t pay attention.
We live in historic times; the electoral landscape, and the issues facing this country are astounding. Everyone should pay attention, think, and act. Years from now, they will be talking in schools about this period in history; the election of the first African-American President who is quickly turning out to be a true Marxist-Statist, the arrival of SEVERAL qualified female candidates for the highest office in the land, the economy, the recent wars, and America’s standing in the world.
if you’re not paying attention to all of this, and staying out of the fight, then maybe this isn’t the country for you.
So, another Republican woman with a hate-on for female Republican candidates? Yeah, let’s be catty about the Palins and Bachmanns of the world so we can nominate another RINO like Mitt Romney. After all, he has such nice hair. Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Linda McMahon, Sharron Angle — despite whatever individual flaws they might have had, they can all thank to no small extent the shunning by Republican women voters for their losses. I guess I should not be surprised that the claws are out for Michele Bachmann.
How exactly is she “using” the Tea Party? Do her values coincide with the Tea Party’s message of limited, constitutional government? Check. Is she helping spread that philosophy by bringing it to the fore in the proceedings of the House? Check. Did she help likeminded candidates across the country in the 2010 midterms? Check. Here I was, thinking the whole purpose of the Tea Party phenomenon was to put more Michele Bachmanns into office, not jealously guard their imaginary intellectual property.
Frankly I don’t care if she’s being self-promotional or not. I want a full-throated advocacy of limited, constitutional government by someone who is prepared to stop treating the governance of this country as some gentleman’s parlor game, and if Michele Bachmann can be that person then so be it.
This.
Anyone who stands up to take the lead can also be mischaracterized as being opportunistic, because folks do not know what the word opportunistic means. Normally, it is a positive trait, being someone who is alert enough to see opportunity and is entrepreneurial enough to take advantage. In politics, however, it has a negative connotation. It is someone who crassly changes his position to take advantage. McCain and Romney are good examples of this.
There is an opportunist (good), and there is a crass opportunist (bad). Unfortunately, folks leave out the word crass, merely implying it, and thus, over time, blur the meaning of the word. If folks understood this distinction, there would be less sour-grapes reactions offered, less character slurs.
I’ve not seen Bachmann changing her stances on anything. She actually pre-dated the Tea Party. In 2006, a year with a Democratic tide, she first won office in a Blue State. She campaigned then on the same things as today.
She is a natural fit for the Tea Party, and has worked hard to advocate for them. There is a lack of leaders in the Tea Party, especially among elected officials. They need more people like Bachmann. They should not be resenting someone like her who is willing to step forward and lead.
This was a response to #9 Miss Anthropy.
Think about it, though. She hasn’t done anything amiss in what you are saying. It is better, in fact, if she is not beholden to any particular group, including the Tea Party. You choose a leader based on vision and heart, and if she were dutifully following every Tea Party principle you couldn’t necessarily call her a leader. Calling her an opportunist is mean-spirited. She identifies with whom she identifies. Leave it at that.
Emma, you are so clearly a Leftist – and not a conservative – that you cannot hide it in your approach. You talk about “positioning” and “disgusted opportunist.” Those are so clearly ‘process’ and not ‘content’ comments. As all Leftists, you have avoided policy and substituted characterization. If you were a right-wing person, you would have mentions programs, principles, and goals with which you agree and disagree.
I could care less whether she tries to insert herself into the Tea Party movement for her own gain. If she wants to kick that communist pussy Obama’s ass, I don’t care if she proclaims that she is the worlds leading expert on AGW or if she says she won three purple hearts in Vietnam, I will still be ther to vote for her. Only a greedy collectivist could do otherwise. If Michelle has the kahunas, Michelle gets my vote. I
thank you so much for the educational knote Francis. go MICHELLE,
It’s very interesting the way that Bachmann has called down the wrath of the MSM by making her announcement. Suddenly Romney, Pawlenty, Gingrich et al don’t exist anymore. Everything is about Michelle as the media prepares to dredge up every potentially damaging thing that she may have done since nursery school. This may be because, at this point, she is the most genuine “conservative” in the race and a pretty tough customer. After watching Sarah Palin get hammered for the last three years Ms. Bachmann knows what to expect and, hopefully, “forewarned is forearmed.” One good rule of thumb – Whatever the Old Media tells you about any Republican in this race is probably wrong.
She and Sarah Palin are being made examples of. Here’s the liberal mindset in this country:
* We know more than anyone else.
* We alone should lead, because we’re the most qualified to lead – and we deserve it.
* Principles are just hindrances to getting and growing power in politics; that’s why they mean little to us.
* And that’s OK, because smart people like us know there’s no God, the Constitution was written by old white guys who really hated everyone, and people who disagree with that should shut up and just do what they’re told.
* We, along with our friends the mainstream media and the labor movement in this country, share power in running things. You don’t like that? – nothing you can do about it, so don’t even try. If you do, we’ll destroy you. We’ll turn over every rock to crush you, and we’ll punch you in the mouth so many times you won’t try it again.
That’s why they hate Republicans, the Tea Party, and people like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Herman Cain. People who don’t go along to get along, who don’t shut up, and who don’t do what they’re told by people who “know better.”
They tried taking Palin out; they couldn’t. They tried taking Christie out; they couldn’t. They tried taking the Tea Party out by branding them racists and thugs; they couldn’t do that, either. They belittle and mock Herman Cain because he’s not a Barack Obama-type black man; not working. They’re going to go all-out to take Michele Bachmann out, too. But, she’s seen all of their tactics and strategies. She’s seen what’s happened to her friend Sarah Palin. She knows how they view and treat people like those in the Tea Party, and people like Chris Christie.
But she signed up for the fight, anyway.
Knowing the odds, knowing the rules of the yard, knowing her enemies, she still jumped in.
Sounds like a real American to me.
@ EMMA – You state a position without any evidence and then spend the time to reply that you are too busy to state the evidence. You are a poser. You have the time to reply – state the facts, not that you are too busy to state the facts.
@ CHAMBERS – I live in Bachmann’s district. She was the Number 1 target for Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats in 2010. She has received the full democrat/MSM/local hack journalist inspection that can be called down. Every possible rumor was explored and exploited by her challenger. Bachmann not only survived, she prospered. So much so that her Democrat challenger from 2010 moved to another district where she hopes to have a better chance at election in 2012. Bachmann is not only forearmed and forewarned, she apparently doen’t have any exploitable problems in her past. All they could come up with is she’s a flake or she’s crazy and the same kind of unsupported drivil that hacks like EMMA spout.
Agree that Bachmann is the real deal.
Voters should just “flake off’ the mud being thrown at her by slanted media & Obama’s supporters and reveal the “real gold”. Mud won’t stick.
How do we know a person is for what is RIGHT and GOOD. Just check their living.
“Those who are faithful in little are faithful in much”
I am quite pleased that Bachmann is in the race. Michele has a law degree and a husband (Marcus)who started two successful Christian counceling clinics. The
Bachmann’s also opened their home to 23 foster kids, in addition to raising five of their own. Also, she has never lost a race! I’m off the “who ever can beat Obama” track and on the Bachmann track. Michele has made a gaff or two but so have Obama and Biden. My favorite quotes from Bachmann regarding Obama are: “And everything he’s done has turned to dust. He has the opposite of a Midas Touch. GO MICHELE
Seems we have a lot of progressives flooding with posts today trying to knock Bachmann.
How about trying to defend your tin god instead? He’s a commie/marxist SOB!
Period.
I resent his idea of hope and change – and I bet even the most ardent of you didn’t expect such a feckless man as he’s turned out to be. Hope and change that’s turned out to be we hope we have change left when he leaves office.
Prove me wrong!
Much as I like Michele, she is NOT fit for office, or candidacy for office as president. As with the rest of our CongressCritters, they have violated their Oath Of Office.
Unless Obama is immediately impeached and pending charges of TREASON, Congress has NOT lived up to the Oath’s Constitutional requirements.
Where I live “Bachmann” is not a flake. Rather a tasty Pretzel to munch on with beer.My biggest problem with Michelle is lack of executive experience. If she gets through the primaries, I will of course be looking for that Pink Elephant Button proclaiming “It’s a Girl.”
Dr. Shalit