By Gary P Jackson
I was amazed to see the number of people who came to Michele Bachmann's aid on Monday, after she booted where one of Iowa's most favorite son's, actor John Wayne, was born. [the John Wayne Waterloo, Iowa is known for is serial killer John Wayne Gacy] What was even more insane was Team Bachmann's response that Wayne's parents met and were married in Waterloo, so OF COURSE, John Wayne is from Waterloo. Never mind his parents left town soon after marrying, and John [real name Marion Morrison] was born in Winterset, Iowa. I don't care what sort of pretzel logic one uses, John Wayne, cinema hero was NOT born in Waterloo, Iowa, or anywhere near it.
The reason I was amazed at some of those who were so quick to jump to Bachmann's aid, are the same sort that pile on when other candidates are accused of misspeaking, even when the accusers are proven wrong, and the candidate right.
Now look, this one incident does not a gaffe machine make, but one must remember, Monday was the day Bachmann "officially" announced her presidential run. [after "officially" announcing on CNN] This is one of the most important day in any politician's career. You'd think they'd get little details, like where one of the most famous actors in history was born.
Not sure if Bachmann herself prepared her talking points or staff did it for her, but someone needs to sharpen up.Problem is, Bachmann is know for saying things that just aren't true.
One curious claim by Bachmann sounds more like something Code Pink, or the other anti-war loons would say. In May, on Fox News Sunday Bachmann told Chris Wallace NATO had killed as many 30,000 Libyans with their air strikes.
The Minnesota congresswoman told Fox News' Chris Wallace that NATO airstrikes had killed up to 30,000 civilians in the country.
"People should be outraged at the foolishness of the president's decision," she said. "He said he wanted to go in for humanitarian purposes and overnight we are hearing that potentially 10 to 30,000 people could have been killed in the strike. Those are some of the reports."
"The NATO strikes killed 10,000 to 30,000 people?" an incredulous Wallace asked.
"A report that came out last night from the Tripoli ambassador said that potentially there could be 10,000 to 30,000," Bachmann insisted.
"You mean the Libyans?" Wallace pressed.
"Yes," Bachmann replied.
Later on the show, Wallace said:
I just want to clear up, because we looked into what Michele Bachmann had been saying. She quoted the U.S. ambassador to Libya saying 30,000 people had been killed in the NATO strike so far. In fact, what Ambassador Gene Cretz said is that he estimated that 30,000 people had been killed by all sides in the entire conflict. That includes the rebels and the Gaddafi forces. So big difference.
This is a big deal. The sort of thing a potential president must be able to get right.
Now no one is perfect, and absolutely everyone who spends any time talking will misspeak from time to time. Everyone. Thing is, Bachmann seems to make it a habit of getting facts wrong. She seems to have a real problem with historical facts.
A few months back Bachmann was in New Hampshire trying to drum up support for a presidential run and let this fly:
Clutching a tea bag in her hand, she told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, New Hampshire: ‘You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.’
Never mind this pivotal even in history happened in Concord, MASSACHUSETTS.
Michele has taken to claiming she's the "leader" of the Tea Party movement, and since the original Boston Tea Party started the whole revolution thing, you'd think she's know at least a slight bit of it's history. Especially the big stuff.
Again, this is a small gaffe, in the grand scheme of things, but we've been looking and there is definitely a pattern of Michele Bachmann opening her mouth and random nuttiness coming out of it.
In fact, we found one that is Joe Biden level dumb. To refresh your memory, Remember when Joe Biden was being interviewed by Katy Couric and claimed that FDR went on television and calmed the nation after the stock market crashed in 1929? Never mind Herbert Hoover was President, FDR was Governor of New York [and 3 years away from taking the Office as President] or the fact the first commercial TV license wasn't granted until 1941.
Well, it seems Bachmann doesn't know her early 20th century history either. Back in April of 2009 Bachmann was talking about free markets vs raising taxes. She correctly credit's Calvin Coolidge for overcoming what history now shows us was a worse depression than FDR inherited. History also shows FDR policies made it much worse, kind of like what Obama is doing now.
Problem is, she started railing on "Hoot-Smalley" as bad legislation, and laying it on FDR's doorstep. Now look, I'll give Bachmann a pass on "Hoot-Smalley" because again, if one says enough stuff, at some point they'll say something wrong. But that's not the problem.
Smoot-Hawley better known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was horrible legislation that did nothing but isolate America at a time free trade was needed. It was designed to protect the price of American products, especially produce, but ended up starting a trade war that saw foreign countries enact tariffs of their own, that punished America. These tariffs helped turn another bad recession into what we now call The Great Depression.
The legislation was a complete disaster and was soon overridden by even more legislation to counter-act.
Now I know this seems like such stupid legislation it MUST have been created by a democrat, but it wasn't. It's actually more in line with the sort of nonsense people like Ron Paul and Donald Trump have been advocating lately. Two cats who claim to be Republicans.
In fact, the the 1930 tariff act was co-authored by Republicans Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon, and signed into law by Republican President Herbert Hoover, in 1930. FDR took Office as president in March of 1933.
I know some will be jumping on me for daring to bring this up, but it's important people know exactly who Michele Bachmann is now, before we start picking a nominee. Anyone who is paying attention knows that all of a sudden Bachmann has become a darling for some on the left, and even the most far left "journalists" are writing glowing stories on how Bachmann may be "the one." That's because they have hundreds of these sort of real gaffes ready to trot out if she's our nominee.
They also have a whole lot of serious issues that all Americans will be concerned with. Things we'll be touching on ourselves as time goes by.
Again, everyone misspeaks from time to time, but Bachmann has a habit of not even getting the basic facts right, and it's not a new phenomenon. Bachmann also brags about being a lawyer. A tax attorney, in fact. She likes to let people know she's "smart." I don't expect my President to be perfect, or a genius, but I do expect them to rise above the level of Joe Biden!
If Bachmann can't be bothered to the facts right when giving speeches and interviews, how can she be trusted with the keys to the Oval Office? It's becoming quite obvious that neither Bachmann, nor her staff are ready for prime time.
This is why we generally choose Governors to become Presidents. It pays to have actual experience before taking on the most important political job in the world. Some basic knowledge of important history, as well as current facts, isn't too much to ask for either.
America deserves better than Bachmann.
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