Michele Bachmann is not just a dizzy lunatic. She's smart in the same way that W is smart. And it's going to be really tough to get someone else elected here in this district.
People here don't see her as 'extreme'. They see themselves as centrist, but they support GWB 100%, and see Bachmann as a 'babe' and a mom who wants to bring 'our values' to Washington. By 'our values' that means that incandescent light bulbs are certainly being picked on, that global warming is a hoax, and that the 'demoncrats' want to take away your right to hunt and to own a SUV (and to submit to the UN's World Government). It might even mean that gays want to inflict their lifestyle by force on your children, and that needs to be stopped. But that's all centrist thinking.
The sixth is nearly all exurban, and people drive between 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours to commute to the cities. They own boats, hunt, fish, take their kids to sporting events, and generally have large families.
They see environmentalists as extremists, some see PETA as a terrorist group and they think Barack Obama is a socialist. Or a secret muslim.
I was sitting at a neighborhood campfire the other night and a young (30 year old) father told everyone that Obama wanted to spend $1 trillion dollars on UN World Government poverty programs, all in the middle of this financial crisis! How can we afford that, he asks.
To which I asked, "Where did you hear that?" - CNN, he says. He got out his Blackberry and started searching for it, and found the article, on Fox News.
When I said, "Fox News is not a legitimate source for facts", the host shut down all political discussion.
Of course, when I got home, I looked up the article,and immediately noticed two things. One, it was written by Bill Sammon (GWB calls him Super Stretch), of the Moonie Times. Two, it stated that Obama promised $50 billion, not a trillion, in a bill last December, before the crisis, for the UN poverty program, over the $25 billion we're spending now.
Sammon interjected that since Obama hadn't authored anything that has become law, the dems would punch it through in the next three weeks to show that he has done at least something.
Now where did the one trillion come from that my college educated neighbor mentioned? Well, Sammon explained that the total program could cost $1 trillion, but he got this information, it appears, from the JBS website (I won't link to it, but google OBAMA U.N. JBS if you want).
My neighbors get most or all of their information from the radio on their long commutes, which feature either right wing talk radio, or the overtly racist local 'morning zoo' FM channel, which calls Michele Bachmann a 'babe' and has her on the radio regularly to flirt with her. This same host reads the morning news straight from Drudge (at least he's honest, unlike other talk shows). Then when they get home, they want all of their information to match up, so they turn on Fox.
End of story, for them. It's all wrapped up with a neat little bow, and they go on thinking that their views are normal and 'centrist'. Even though they've been spoon fed propaganda 24/7 for years. I don't think these people even know it. Otherwise, I swear, they're normal in every way!
That's what El Tinklenberg is up against. Anything other than a dirty, mud slinging campaign that calls her out on her outrageous and extremist policy positions will not work, because we don't hear about those positions around here in the media. El doesn't have it in him, folks.
All is not lost here, though. Redistricting will take place soon, and that will not bode will for Bachmann. Regardless of that fact, she's an incumbent, and she'll fight hard in the next race, as she did in the last two. And she'll fight dirty, she's hand picked by Cheney.
People in Minnesota, even in this district, all say they loved Paul Wellstone. I've never met a Republican who doesn't offer this when they find out I'm not one of them.
Why? My neighbors say they admired him because he believes what he says. They admire Bachmann for the same reason.
Do we get this yet, as a community? Republican Lite in red districts just gets us quieter losses. An actual progressive willing to stand up to the right, and tell it like it is, could win, even in this reddest of red districts.
P.S., my yard sign isn't ready yet, but I have picked a slogan from my first diary. I'll let you know when it comes.
Update: My neighbor embellished the $1 trillion, up from the quote that Sammon provided (Sammon said, "critics say it could be as high as $847 billion"). When I did a google search to find out what critic was stating that amount, I got exactly one hit and it was at JBS.
Update II: edited for grammar and structure, sorry for the early release.