The October 16th debate between Michele Bachmann and her democratic challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg has been covered in a previous diary by Demrock6. However, in light of her recent display of intolerance and hate-mongering on MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews, I thought it would be worth highlighting some elements the debate footage for the wider Kos community.
The debate took place in St. Cloud, MN and covered a variety of topics, but particularly revealing of the ignorance and hatefulness of Bachmann's character - as well as the depths to which she will stoop to score a politial point - is Bachmann's response to the question: "Where do you stand on the issue of immigration reform?"
Here is a portion of the debate footage with quotes and highlights to follow:
Tinklenberg is given the first opporunity to answer, during which he highlights his "non-partisan nature" - having received both the DFL (democratic-farmer-labor) and Independence Parties' endorsements this election. Tinklenberg states that in this case, he supports much of President Bush's immigration plan. (I have to admit, the words "support" and "President Bush" in the same sentence is somewhat like nails on a chalkboard to me, but I digress.) He goes on to outline his three key requirements for immigration reform:
- Securing our borders
- Broad reform which recognizes need for immigrant workers and importance of immigrant workers in this country.
- Provides for some mechanism by which illegal immigrants can earn right to apply for citizenship.
Moving ahead to 2:44 in the clip, you are treated to Tinklenberg's almost comical look of absolute disbelief when Michele counters his plan by demonstrating that she has not listened to a word he just said:
"This is a stark contrast between my opponent and myself because he said that he opposes sealing America’s borders. We have to seal America’s borders from having immigrants coming into our country...."
(Her clear obliviousness garners a chuckle later in the clip, when Tinklenberg restates his position, quipping "maybe I wasn't clear enough.")
But moving on from the comically stupid to the truly depraved...
In order to understand the true depths of hatefulness and poor taste Bachmann displays with the remainder of her response, I need to give you some quick background to a recent tragedy earlier this year that got a huge amount of press throughout Minnesota.
In February, a small town community in southern Minnesota was devasted by a tragic accident in which a car plowed into a school bus, killing four children and injuring many more. The tragedy took on larger political overtones, as the driver was a 24 year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala, Olga Franco. Franco was using a stolen identity and driving without a license. To add another twist, Franco, despite her conviction, has continued to deny responsibility for the crash, blaming her also-illegal Mexican boyfriend, who fled the scene. You can imagine the level of outrage, controversy, and anger this awful story engendered. Saner heads, including many of the members of the affected community, point out that the accident and the illegal status of the driver are two separate issues. However, the sentencing occurred just two weeks ago, and the wounds are still raw. Only a depraved individual would exploit this horrific situation for political gain, but Michele is not one to disappoint on that score.
During the debate, Bachmann elaborates on her support of "securing the border" by forging on into the territory of hate-mongering and bigotry:
"....Without having some sort of a barrier at the border, we're going to continue to have the kind of problems that we've had with Olga Franco that we saw most recently in the tragic death of four children in the accident....These are preventable and we need to do that with sealing America's borders."
Tinklenberg calls her on her slimy tactics:
"I think it's just a little untoward to exploit a tragic situation to advance a narrow ideological agenda in regard to immigration. Going after Olga Franco and every other immigrant because of that accident just doesn't seem right to me."
But Bachmann has the typical repub "defense as victim" ploy down cold and counters that Tinklenberg's criticism is
"highly offensive, especially for the families who are victims, not only just here in Minnesota but all across America"
She then alludes to many "tragic stories" from her congressional colleagues resulting from illegal immigrants actions in our country and closes by stating:
We simply cannot afford to allow people to come into this nation unchecked, bringing in diseases, bringing in drugs, bringing in violence ....
Fortunately, though, Bachmann concedes immigrants aren't all evil, disease- and drug-ridden scourges. They do have their uses. In fact, they are an important commodity - if only they could be exploited to their full potential. But Michele laments:
Unfortunately, it was Democrats that stopped the importation of legal immigrants to work on our farms and to work on our businesses where they are needed.
The debate did not get much mainstream press coverage. The Minneapolis StarTribune covered this exchange as well as some more entertaining portions of the debate when the candidates attempted to give each other "Bush Cooties"
"Representative Bachmann continues to embrace this president and his policies and the failed strategies of the past," Tinklenberg said.
"He is more in line with President Bush's policies than I am," said Bachmann, a Republican, who cited immigration as an example.
Nice try, but a picture is worth a thousand words.
The web publisher MinnPost did have a more detailed reportwith some interesting quotes:
"The income transfer has come out of the pockets of the middle class,'' (Tinklenberg) said, his voice rising. "Class warfare. That's talked about only when it goes one way. We've got to change it.''
And now for the shameless plug:
My husband are recent recent transplants into this district. I know you can imagine how horrified I am to be represented by Michele Bachman, the scariest wingnut in congress. It is quite a relief to see Tinklenberg finally getting some support and the glimmer of hope that we may be able to finally rid ourselves of Ms. Bachmann. Please join me in donating to Tinklenberg on ActBlue or his campaign website.
(please forgive any mistakes in my first-time diary, thanks).