Cannot repeat those words enough that Bachmann is going to be gone from the House as they bring a smile to my face. She may be one of the most obnoxious Representatives who helped found the Tea Party Caucus to give the hard right a voice which is now destroying the Republican Party. Her numbers were in the tank for 2014, there is a looming investigation that now has the FBI involved, and her opponent in Minnesota, Jim Graves, almost beat her last time as a first time candidate.
From Huffington Post:
All the haters who say that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has a "thin legislative resume" are totally forgetting that time she sponsored H.R. 923 (110th), which congratulated "the State of Minnesota on its 150th anniversary and the contributions it continues to make to America's economy and heritage." How else would you have known that Minnesota was 150 years old?
See, Michele Bachmann raised awareness
Other than that, sure, Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan are essentially correct when they say that Bachmann "has never had a bill or resolution she’s sponsored signed into law" and "never wielded a committee gavel, either at the full or subcommittee level" and that her "amendments and bills have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control."
But, you know, details. There's still a chance between now and the time she leaves office on Jan. 3, 2015, Bachmann might sponsor something that becomes law. Isn't there? You never know what could happen! Minnesota is 155 years old now, for instance.
Michele Bachmann's Complete Legislative History (source: www.govtrack.us)
| THINGS ATTEMPTED BY MICHELE BACHMANN | THINGS ACCOMPLISHED BY MICHELE BACHMANN |
|---|---|
| Bills Sponsored | 58 |
| Referred to Committee (aka: went nowhere) | 53 |
| Reported by Committee (Got out of committee) | 1 H.R. 850 (112th): To facilitate a proposed project in the Lower St. Croix Wild and Scenic River, and for other purposes. |
| Agreed To (Simple Resolution) | 3 H.Res. 373 (111th): Expressing support for designation of the month of September as “National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month" H.Res. 923 (110th): Recognizing the State of Minnesota’s 150th anniversary. H.Res. 789 (110th): Honoring public child welfare agencies, nonprofit organizations and private entities providing services for foster children. |
| Passed House | 1 H.R. 45: To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 |
| Signed Into Law | 0 |
John Avalon of The Daily Beast may have the one article that made me burst out laughing at what he had to say about she was not forced out of the race due to FEC/FBI on-going investigation where former aides are testying -- it is classic which I have highlighted below:
She wants the world to know that “this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign.”
In a word: bullshit. The Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into her presidential campaign that was first disclosed by The Daily Beast is due to release its initial report soon. If it looked like Bachmann would be vindicated, she would have persisted in running for a congressional seat that had been gerrymandered to increase of her chances of representing a state that looks primed to easily reelect Al Franken to the Senate. This decision smacks of lawyer’s counsel—get out now before the boom comes down, and perhaps people will listen to your final signoff.
There is, inevitably, a rambling quality to an eight-and-a-half-minute monologue. This is Bachmann's hostage video to reality. The staff decision to back her vocal track with faint Springsteenesque music was a tell—the video would have seemed ever odder without it. Bachmann was at turns defensive and defiant and bucket-list ticking, talking about her excitement at taking a plane to London to attend Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, her co-sponsorship of the 37th attempt to overturn Obamacare (“which passed in the House”), and her philosophically contradictory commitment to bring federal tax dollars to her district to build a regional airport and rebuild a bridge. Note to Bachmann: you didn’t build that.(See video at The Daily Beast of her most outrageous moments NOTE: Must have had a hard time putting together as she has so many outrageous moments)
Over her eight years in congress, Bachmann quickly achieved notoriety because of her cavalier disregard of facts (her staff told me she gets most of her information from WorldNetDaily) and her impulse to play mini-McCarthy (routinely accusing political opponents of being anti-American) and then turn around and play the victim card to raise millions of dollars online from a national conservative populist base that saw her as plan B to Sarah Palin.
There is an impulse at the end of things to search for a redeeming quality, a handshake even between opponents for past battles well fought—and no doubt by midday someone will be offering a Slate pitch to go alongside the glossy partisan media farewells. But without attempting to characterize her personal life, the way Bachmann chose to use her time at the podium of public service was a disgrace.
She degraded national debate, consistently chose fearmongering over facts, and exhibited every impulse of the demagogue and the ideologue. If she ever bothered to do her homework, she could have been dangerous. Instead Bachmann will stand as a sad cautionary tale, a curious footnote used to explain the reality-show auditions of the 2012 GOP presidential primaries, now all part of her reel tape as she attempts to get what she always really wanted: a Fox News contract.Her attacks for the Koch Brothers and Romney at the debates were disgusting because they had no basis in fact. When you use the hard right World News Daily as a source, your credibility is shot. Perfect person for Fox News since the credibility of Fox News is nil just like Bachmann's!
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