# Bachmann announces she's running **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382 "2011-06-14T01:22:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/81 "2011-06-28T18:18:46Z")
Tom Petty sends cease-and-desist letter to Bachmann campaign: [http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2011/06/tom\_petty\_up\_in.php](http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2011/06/tom_petty_up_in.php) > [@](#): > > Tom Petty is reportedly upset following yesterday’s presidential candidacy announcement by Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who closed out her nationally televised speech by playing Petty’s “American Girl.” > > The initial report came from NBC’s Matt Ortega via Twitter: “@TomPetty unhappy with Michele Bachmann’s use of ‘American Girl’ and in process of issuing [a cease and desist] letter.” Ortega’s NBC colleague Kelly O’Donnell confirmed that the rock star’s management will be requesting that Bachmann back away from the Petty at future events. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/82 "2011-06-28T19:34:18Z")
Can’t she just pay a royalty and play it anyway? > [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Wow, guy, statements like that just kind of show you to be an out of touch elitist. > > Hey, we got your enlightened, smart people in now. > > 9% unemployment. > > 1.4 Deficits. > > We are in a “Great Disaster” now. Bush deserves some of the blame, to be sure, but so does Obama. > > Bachmann is more like middle america than you want to admit. > > Frankly, four years ago, I could have voted for her and not blinked twice. > > Today, not so much, but another two years of this messed up Obama economy, and maybe I’ll revisit the issue. **I was being a dick and I apologize.** You’re new, so your reaction is understandable. I am really cynical about democracy, and made a thread a while back arguing that democracy generally degenerates into bad budgeting and red ink. Also, I make obscure references. When I said, “Great Disaster,” I meant to invoke dystopian sci-fi. Such as, [“a time a century hence when humankind is nearly left extinct and mutated intelligent animals fight each other for domination of the ruined planet.”](http://adventure247.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-disaster.html) > [@foolsguinea](#): > > Is it too much to hope that a Bachmann election and the subsequent Great Disaster would finally discredit the idea that pig-ignorant commoners can serve as an electorate? > > I suppose other systems are as likely (if not more) to put raving paranoids in power, come to think of it. > > Here’s hoping that more visibility makes her raving paranoia clear enough at the best time–whatever that ends up meaning. As you see, I did back off from my first sentence. The fact is, most systems of electing governments, left to themselves, stink. They can stink due to reckless patrimony, elitist self-assurance, or populist cocksureness. The real trick is to educate the electorate, which [del]probably only works in certain monarchies[/del]–there I go again–requires some serious work & a constant struggle against those who seek deliberately to miseducate the electorate. In any case, “my” people aren’t in power, I’m more a Krugmanite, & the current economic team are Clinton moderates or something. ---
**Author:** ![Profound\_Gibberish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Profound\_Gibberish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profound_Gibberish)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/83 "2011-06-28T20:58:20Z")
OK, back to Bachman. How is a former IRS official and a person with years of state and national government experience a “reformer?” I believe that she truly believes her line of minimal government gibberish, but she does not live it and has certainly benefited personally and professionally from the very programs she now decries. This will all come out over time as she is more closely vetted. She has an actual voting record which should reveal a lot of contradictions. Watching her explain her voting record on a podium in a real debate should be entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/84 "2011-06-28T23:45:25Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Independents whose heads aren’t firmly up their asses will realize that Obama tried to address the largest contributor to the deficit, the Bush tax cuts, but the Republicans stonewalled. They will also realize that Obama didn’t introduce the Medicare prescription benefit, refuse to pay for it, and refuse to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. They will also realize that Bush started two wars but refused to pay for them. They will vote Republican if they believe that, against all evidence, cutting taxes for the rich will magically create jobs now even though they haven’t for the past decade. They will vote Republican if they will never become elderly and require Medicare in their declining years. They will vote Republican if they cling to silly topics like Obama’s 57 state gaffe, which has been [explained](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/57states.asp)in sufficient detail to penetrate all but the densest of skulls. > > I give Bachmann a pass on the John Wayne crap. She is a bit like the Duke, who was himself a bigoted piece of shit. "Tried"doesn’t cut it with most people… Look, frankly, I agree, bush deserves the blame for every point you make. Too bad Obama won’t be running against Bush, isn’t it? At the end of the day, if you have 9.1% unemployment in 2012, Obama isn’t going to need a campaign manager, he’s going to need a priest. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/85 "2011-06-29T00:01:14Z")
Maybe I’m naive, but I think everybody who doesn’t watch Fox News regularly will recognize that Obama is doing everything he can to fix the economy. If I were really optimistic I would hope that voters will recognize that Republicans are the ones who supported Bush when he was wrecking the economy – what do _those_ guys know about the economy that Obama doesn’t? And if Romney is so great, how come he fizzled early last time? If Republican voters didn’t want him last time, why would they go for him next year? ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/86 "2011-06-29T00:06:25Z")
I think **Recovering Republican** is right about how unemployment will affect Obama’s chances. To your average Joe the Plumber, no facts about how the economic crisis occurred, and no rational explanations showing it is not Obama’s fault that things aren’t better, are going to matter. I wish I could be as optimistic as **BobLibDem** and **a35362** about the voting public, especially concerning “swing voters.” I can’t be. I am however somewhat optimistic that unemployment will be somewhat lower come Nov. 2012 despite the tactics of obstruction from the GOP, in which case Obama’s chances could be quite good. Back to Bachmann, if she’s handled well by rational people (among those left in the GOP), she actually could be very dangerous to Obama’s chances. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/87 "2011-06-29T00:21:10Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Maybe I’m naive, but I think everybody who doesn’t watch Fox News regularly will recognize that Obama is doing everything he can to fix the economy. Oh, “everything he can?” Really? Hey, how’s this for starters. When you have 20 million Americans out of work, how about you stop signing 1 million work visas for foreign nationals every year. How about actually ENFORCING the immigration laws we do have. I mean, send enough of them back, those employers are going to have to hire Americans, right? How about reviewing these idiotic trade treaties and tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas? How about fast-tracking all those projects being held up for snail darters and spotted owls by the EPA? Lifting drilling restrictions on ANWAR and the Gulf? > [@](#): > > If I were really optimistic I would hope that voters will recognize that Republicans are the ones who supported Bush when he was wrecking the economy – what do _those_ guys know about the economy that Obama doesn’t? Well, a few of them have actually run a business or a state, for starters. Look, the “Bush did it” dog doesn’t hunt anymore. Five of Bush’s 8 years had actual pretty good economic conditions. It’s been Obama’s economy for three years now. Obama’s best year hasn’t been as good as Bush’s worst. You try blaming a problem on your job on the guy who did it three years ago… see how far that gets you with your boss. > [@](#): > > And if Romney is so great, how come he fizzled early last time? If Republican voters didn’t want him last time, why would they go for him next year? Well, like I said, I think they are going to go for someone like Bachmann or Rick Perry. But actually, if I didn’t despise the man down to his magic underpants, I could make a good argument for Romney this time out. He’s run a state successfully- and in a bi-partisan manner. He’s run some successful businesses. He’s turned companies around, he can turn the economy around. Frankly, I don’t relish the thought of the Latter Day Saints Cult running the country. But Obama isn’t helping his own case at all here. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/88 "2011-06-29T01:29:17Z")
You sure you’re recovering? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/89 "2011-06-29T01:43:42Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > You sure you’re recovering? I think he means “recovering” in the same way they meant “compassionate”; i.e. not at all. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/90 "2011-06-29T02:16:22Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Can’t she just pay a royalty and play it anyway? I suppose she could, but then they’d have to put up with the artist continuing to badmouth her and possibly playing the song live at Democratic events just to fuck with her. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/91 "2011-06-29T02:17:00Z")
[Bachmann's Waterloo - FactCheck.org](http://factcheck.org/2011/06/bachmanns-waterloo/) Fact Check on Bachmann. She runs through distortions ,mistakes, and lies. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/92 "2011-06-29T03:47:35Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > He’s turned companies around, he can turn the economy around. I don’t see how one follows from the other. One of the main ways he turned companies around was to lay off workers, or slash their pay and benefits. That’s not at all what the US needs to boost the economy. Sadly, the GOP’s cut-and-grow plan seems somewhat popular. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/93 "2011-06-29T04:23:33Z")
It’s amusing for me, as someone who has had to watch Bachmann for years, to see her on the national stage now. Think she looks crazy? She’s just warming up, folks. In fact. she has been unusually disciplined in the race so far. This is the woman who was photographed watching a gay pride march while hiding in the bushes. This is the woman who called for an investigation of the “anti-America” members of congress. She thinks homosexuals are the biggest problem facing America. She wants the idea of nuclear war with Iran to be “on the table.” She wants the EPA shut down. She thinks evolution is a hoax. And so on. And wait until conservatives get a load of her husband! Can she keep him off camera for the next two years? It’s going be hard being vehemently anti-gay when your husband acts as straight as Liberace. Watching her downfall will be highly entertaining. The thought that she is being taken seriously for the Republican nomination should cause every Republican to take a moment and contemplate the far-right nightmare their party has become. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/94 "2011-06-29T06:30:48Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Bachmann’s probably a bigger threat than you all realize. > > Here’s the thing. No one is REALLY enthusiastic about Romney. No one. > > **SNIP** > > There is a path for her to get the nomination. She wins Iowa, she does well in New Hampshire, she wins South Carolina. > > For the General Election- well, if unemployment stays where it is at now or we have a double dip recession, Obama is toast, regardless of who the GOP runs. Most of what you said in this post I would agree with. In particular I think Bachman is a bigger threat (to Romney) than most people realize. I assume that’s what you meant. You also have this right - \*\*virtually no one outside Utah is actually enthusiastic about Romney. \*\* Furthermore, he is so establishment most of the Tea Party folks seem to actively HATE him. I would even agree about Bachman’s path to the nom. I think it more than likely she will win Iowa and I would rank her chances in NH as even. But I _ **don’t** _ see how she wins against Obama unless there is a total economic meltdown. I think Obama can survive high unemployment against a totally batshit crazy Republican nominee. > [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](#): > > This is the woman who was photographed watching a gay pride march while hiding in the bushes. Oh I wanna know more about this. > [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](#): > > And wait until conservatives get a load of her husband! Can she keep him off camera for the next two years? It’s going be hard being vehemently anti-gay when your husband acts as straight as Liberace. I wanna see this too! > [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](#): > > Watching her downfall will be highly entertaining. I certainly hope so. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/95 "2011-06-29T08:34:53Z")
> [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](#): > > It’s amusing for me, as someone who has had to watch Bachmann for years, to see her on the national stage now. Think she looks crazy? She’s just warming up, folks. In fact. she has been unusually disciplined in the race so far. I agree. She is truly batshit crazy, and her handlers so far have been able to get her to sit down and shut up and hide the batshit. That won’t last long - her kind of crazy isn’t going to stay quiet forever. Plus, there’s clips of the older, more pure batshit crazy that you KNOW Obama’s re-election team is going to mine for footage. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/96 "2011-06-29T10:32:45Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I think he means “recovering” in the same way they meant “compassionate”; i.e. not at all. No, it just means that I’m not swallowing the Obama Koolaid. Can you honestly get up there and tell me he’s really done a good job? Frankly, you guys would have been better off if you nominated Hillary. She’d have still won, and she’d actually know how to run the country. But you guys voted for Obama because he promised to end the wars and she wouldn’t. Well, wars are still going on and he’s managed to find an extra one to get us into. Hence, my quandry. I’m actually rather horrified by the fact the GOP has been overrun by corporate toadies and religious fanatics. People who would probably have horrified Republicans of a generation ago. But Obama has really managed to muck up everything he’s gotten his hands on. Seriously, we are talking about the United States defaulting on its debt, which is now greater than it’s GDP. Is this Obama’s fault. Not entirely. Has he done much to improve the situation? Nope. Frankly, I agree with some of his ideas. I think health care really did need reform. Anyone whose been put through the meat grinder of our health system (as I was in 2007 and 2008, where I eventually got downsized for running up too many medical bills) would be. The way he went about it, though… ugh. If your premise is that private insurance is profiteering off the system, helping them make more profit with money the government doesn’t have doesn’t seem like much of an answer. So yeah, Bo when you are grinding your teeth watching Michelle Bachmann being sworn in as the 45th President, just remember, it was your own mistakes that put her there. What I found amusing is that people on your side have told us for years that we should vote for a moderate Republican like McCain, and then when we put one up, you guys don’t vote for him, anyway. (McCain got 4 million less votes than Bush got in 2004). ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/97 "2011-06-29T10:38:53Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > I agree. She is truly batshit crazy, and her handlers so far have been able to get her to sit down and shut up and hide the batshit. That won’t last long - her kind of crazy isn’t going to stay quiet forever. Plus, there’s clips of the older, more pure batshit crazy that you KNOW Obama’s re-election team is going to mine for footage. 9.1% unemployment. They could find a tape of her claiming to be the re-incarnation of Joan of Arc, and people won’t care. Underestimate her at your own peril. What you call “batshit crazy”, others might call expressing the popular rage. Let’s not forget, Ross Perot was batshit crazy, didn’t have the backing of a major party. Got out of the race and then back in, made wild claims about Bush sending a hit team to ruin his daughter’s wedding or some such, and he STILL got 17% of the vote. And unemployment was only about 8% back then. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/98 "2011-06-29T10:46:28Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > I don’t see how one follows from the other. One of the main ways he turned companies around was to lay off workers, or slash their pay and benefits. That’s not at all what the US needs to boost the economy. Sadly, the GOP’s cut-and-grow plan seems somewhat popular. Probably because most people don’t like paying taxes, don’t like how complicated taxes are to file, don’t like seeing people living off their hard work, either in a cushy government job or on the dole. You see, one of the ironies I’ve come to appreciate is that while the private sector got rid of unions pretty effectively, they’ve grown in the public sector. So some guy making $35,000 busting his butt at a real job where he has a busted 401K and has to worry they might move his job to China next year looks at some teacher who is making $55,000 and can retire at 55 with a full pension, and his kid comes home and can’t read, he wants to take it out of someone’s hide. Why do you think Christy the Hutt and Walker are so popular right now? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/99 "2011-06-29T11:29:00Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > So some guy making $35,000 busting his butt at a real job where he has a busted 401K and has to worry they might move his job to China next year looks at some teacher who is making $55,000 and can retire at 55 with a full pension, and his kid comes home and can’t read, he wants to take it out of someone’s hide. You heard it here first: Teaching, not a real job. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382/100 "2011-06-29T11:45:31Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > What I found amusing is that people on your side have told us for years that we should vote for a moderate Republican like McCain, and then when we put one up, you guys don’t vote for him, anyway. (McCain got 4 million less votes than Bush got in 2004). So let me get this straight: you voted for McCain over Obama, you think the problem with Dems is that they DIDN’T see McCain (with Palin on his ticket!) as the better candidate, and you think that McCain would have been a better President. Have I got that right, **Recovering Republican**? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bachmann-announces-shes-running/585382.md?page=6)