“I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views…
“The people that Barack Obama has been associating with are anti-American, by and large…”
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota.
Bachmann Doubles Down:
‘Barack Obama’s Views Are Against America’
By Matt Corley / October 22, 2008
On the defensive over her controversial Hardball appearance last Friday, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told the St. Cloud Times yesterday that she regretted suggesting that Barack Obama held “anti-American” views. But at the same time Bachmann was apologizing for her remarks to traditional media outlets, Bachmann continued to cast aspersions on Obama’s patriotism in a series of appearances on right-wing radio shows.
On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show yesterday, Bachmann declared that “Barack Obama’s views are against America”:
BACHMANN: All I did on Chris Matthews is I questioned Chris Matthews and said, “look, if John McCain had friends like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Father Pfleger, you’d be all over him Chris, but you’ve laid off of Barack Obama.” And so, he was using the word “Anti-American” and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama’s views. Because Barack Obama’s views are against America. They won’t be good for our country.
On Mike Gallagher’s radio show this morning, Bachmann attacked Obama’s policy proposals, asking rhetorically, “Are they for America or will they be against traditional American ideals and values?”:
BACHMANN: And they can’t take it because the point is what are Barack Obama’s policies? Are they for America or will they be against traditional American ideals and values? And I’ll tell you what. Punishing tax rates, redistribution of wealth, socialized medicine, inputing censorship in the form of the un-Fairness Doctrine and taking away the secret ballot from the worker has nothing to do with traditional American values. That’s why your listeners need to know. Otherwise the United States may be literally changed forever.
When Gallagher asked, “How is it not reasonable to wonder if that’s anti-American?,” Bachmann did not disagree with him. Instead, she simply replied, “what I did is touch a nerve, just like Joe the Plumber touched a nerve.”
During her appearance on Gallagher’s show, Bachmann claimed that media scrutiny of her “anti-American” comments was a coordinated effort “to get my scalp on a platter.”
Transcript:
HEWITT: Now Michele, you’ve got a great organization, you’ve got a great great reputation and so, I assume your guys are not folding under the pressure that they’re rallying. Is that true?
BACHMANN: Yes, I mean, we’re working hard, but we just don’t have the financial resources that they have. I did all the work that I needed to. Laid all the foundation, but this will be like nothing we’ve ever seen. Plus, it’s the in kind donation that all the local media, local TV stations, they’re all running statements saying that I’m Joe McCarthy and that I am saying that Barack Obama is anti-American.
All I did on Chris Matthews is I questioned Chris Matthews and said, “look, if John McCain had friends like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Father Pfleger, you’d be all over him Chris, but you’ve laid off of Barack Obama.” And so, he was using the word “Anti-American” and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama’s views. Because Barack Obama’s views are against America. They won’t be good for our country. And so, anyway, it went on from there. And if people want to read the transcript, you know, I encourage them to please read the transcript. But all of a sudden this is out of control and the Speaker of the House made a visit here to Minnesota to make sure that I’m taken out.
[…]
BACHMANN: I touched something that’s off limits. I called Chris Matthews on the carpet and I said, “Chris, look, if John McCain had named as two of his three life mentors, Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger.”
GALLAGHER: Right.
BACHMANN: “You would have been all over him. You have failed to do your due dilligence as the national media to check out Barack Obama.” And they can’t take it because the point is what are Barack Obama’s policies? Are they for America or will they be against traditional American ideals and values? And I’ll tell you what. Punishing tax rates, redistribution of wealth, socialized medicine, inputing censorship in the form of the un-Fairness Doctrine and taking away the secret ballot from the worker has nothing to do with traditional American values. That’s why your listeners need to know. Otherwise the United States may be literally changed forever. If Barack Obama becomes the next president, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, Harry “We lost the war” Reid, the head of the Senate. And then they have the power to appoint three more Ruth Bader Ginsburgs to the Supreme Court. What are we going to do then?
GALLAGHER: Well, that’s precisely whats at play here. I mean, you know, I was watching CNN, Willie Brown from San Francisco talk about all, the agenda of pushing forth gay marriage, and you know, under a liberal Democrat president and Democrats in the Congress, I mean, as San Francisco goes, let’s face it, so goes the rest of the country. I mean we’ll see a different country than the one we recognize. And yet your comments were so mainstream. I mean, and that’s what’s fascinating. There’s nothing you said, even on the show, and I know that you’ve been now, people tried to corner you about your comments on the show. You didn’t say anything that isn’t what ordinary Americans are wondering about a presidential candidate who talks about spreading around the wealth and cavorting with a guy like Bill Ayers and a woman like Bernadine Dohrn who wants to overthrow capitalism. How is it not reasonable to wonder if that’s anti-American?
BACHMANN: And what I did is touch a nerve, just like Joe the Plumber touched a nerve by questioning Barack Obama’s punishing high tax rates.
GALLAGHER: Right.
BACHMANN: And then Barack Obama saying that he wants to spread the wealth around. That’s exactly what happened to me on Chris Matthews. I touched a nerve, which shows how ultra hyper-sensitive leftists are right now in this country. They know we’re a center-right country and they know Americans would shrink back if they truly come to understand how Obama will radically change this country. I mean they’re so afraid, Nancy Pelosi came here to Minnesota. She went in front of the media and she said to the Minnesota media that me, Michele Bachmann, has dishonored the position that I hold in Congress and that my statements discredit me as a person.
GALLAGHER: Wow.
BACHMANN: And then she got on her plane and left. I’ll tell you, right now…
GALLAGHER: She’s got a bigger plane, by the way, she didn’t like the plane she had originally. She demanded a bigger plane so she could fly around the country and discredit people like Michele Bachmann.
BACHMANN: And that’s why shows like the Today Show are banding together with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews to get my scalp on a platter. Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews alone have raised $1 million for my opponent just since last Friday.
GALLAGHER: You’re kidding me.
BACHMANN: No no, over a million dollars in online contributions.
GALLAGHER: Wow.
BACHMANN: In that amount of time to take out my scalp. They’re serious about it. Because they can’t stand that I’m fighting them. And Nancy Pelosi also pledged to donate $1 million toward my opponent. So, $2 million have come in since Friday to make sure that I lose this election. That’s why I need. I’m desperate for help right now or else I lose.
Source / ThinkProgress
Bachmann Calls For McCarthyite Investigation Into Anti-American Activities Of Liberals
Appearing on MSNBC’s Hardball today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) attacked the patriotism of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), based on his alleged relationship to former Weather Underground member William Ayers and the values of Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views,” said Bachmann. “That’s what the American people are concerned about.”
She then went further, suggesting that all liberal views — held by people such as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, professors, and all Americans who identify themselves as “liberals” — are “anti-American.” When host Chris Matthews, stunned by her remarks, asked Bachmann how many people in Congress hold anti-American views, she responded, “You’ll have to ask them.”
Bachmann called on the media to conduct investigations into the anti-American activities of members of Congress, similar to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s discredited House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in the 1950s. “I think people would love to see an exposé like that,” she claimed. Watch it:
Source / ThinkProgress / Oct. 17, 2008
Also see GOP, eyeing House losses, pulls out of key races / AP / Oct. 22, 2008
And Suddenly, Bachmann race looks different by Pat Doyle / Star-Tribune / Oct. 21, 2008
And Oops! Bachmann regrets anti-Obama statement by Jimmy Orr / Christian Science Monitor / Oct. 22, 2008
The Republican wingnuts at this point are so desperate that “anti-America” is all they can think of to say! What else is there? “Barack Obama is against continuing a failed war?” “against continuing failed economic policies?” “against continuing to act stupidly and insultingly on the world stage?” Hmmmm. None of those accusations resonate much with voters. But “against America”??? Why, paint my brain with red, white, and blue paint and watch it suffocate; this is their only hope, Obiwan Kenobi!