Congresswoman Michele Bachmann explains the reasons for the collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to her colleagues on the House Finance Committee:
"Banks were given strict new numerical quotas and measures for the level of diversity in loan portfolios. Getting a good (Community Reinvestment Act) rating was key for a bank that wanted to expand or merge with another, so loans started being made on the basis of race and often on little else."—Representative Michele Bachmann, House Financial Services Committee
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/...
Bachmann's race-based explanation of the collapse of the home mortgage sector generated an outraged response from her congressional colleague Keith Ellison and the Congressional Black Caucus. She left out the fact that her almost entirely white congressional district has the highest home foreclosure rate in Minnesota. (continued)
So that's the racist thing. Not gonna hurt her: her district's "talk radio conservative" and as white as they come. That explanation of the mortgage crisis was designed to appeal to her base.
The money situation, according to the Hill:
Conservatives fuel Bachmann’s campaign
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 10/31/08 07:25 PM [ET]
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has raised $850,000 in the past 11 days through aggressive appeals to conservatives that she has been targeted for her beliefs, a top campaign consultant said.
The campaign started a campaign Oct. 20 to reach out to conservative talk radio, blogs and other outlets, shortly after controversial remarks that ignited the underfinanced campaign of her Democratic challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg.
"We’ve been telling people that her opponents were attacking her and trying to remove a real conservative," said Ed Brookover with Bachmann’s media firm, Greener and Hook.
The resulting ad buy was aggressive enough, Brookover said, that "We bumped the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)]."
Here's the ad that Michele has been running against Dem opponent Tinklenberg:
Minnesota Public Radio and other sources have noted that the ads are lies:
One of the latest twists in the too-close-to-call 6th District Congressional contest is Rep. Michele Bachmann's accusations that El Tinklenberg broke the law when he was state transportation commissioner. Bachmann uses a TV commercial and a new web site to repeat the allegations. But there's no indication Tinklenberg broke any laws.
Tinklenberg ads continue to run, thanks to grassroots donations from around the country. This one's about the fact that Bachmann's done nothing for the district in her two years in office, and hasn't held a single public meeting:
Here's a DCCC ad against her:
The local papers:
A Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist finally writes about her "investigate Congress for anti-Americans" remark. BUT: it's not a condemnation of the comments. Columnist doesn't want to go "out on limb" here and say McCarthyism is wrong; all he'll say is that "that may have cost her, what she said there."
Better storyfrom the weekly St. Croix Valley Press, which is given away FREE here in eastern Minnesota. Round up on how the Hardball comments were the game changer in this district.
At ten pm tonight before I posted, the Minneapolis Star Tribune contributed this "local color" articlethat notes that some conservatives won't be voting for her this time around--even though they did last time. Why? It's that darned old economy:
The business leaders gathered at a golf club in Ham Lake seemed a perfect audience for a conservative Republican seeking reelection and respite from two weeks of turmoil.
Then came the stories. A sod farmer, a caterer, an electrical contractor and others told Rep. Michele Bachmann that business was down.
"I'm a frustrated Republican," said Bill Nelson, 72, who works in real estate. "My own kids won't vote Republican this year. We're not seeing the leadership in Washington." The scene played out as Bachmann and Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg hustled for votes late this week in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, a once reliably Republican area shaken up by economic woes and controversial remarks by the incumbent.
...In a series of stops, Bachmann moved to shift the conversation away from her televised comment that Barack Obama may have anti-American views and onto safer topics such as her call for cutting taxes. She found some support.
...But Tinklenberg did his best in a debate and campaign stops to keep the controversy alive. He didn't have to try hard.
"El, Michele Bachmann is making your life easy for you," Barbara Schweiger, 61, told him as he stopped at her table in a bar in Anoka...
In swings through Andover and Anoka, Tinklenberg reached out to voters upset with the economy and Bachmann.
At a coffee shop in Andover, Luke McLain, 33, told Tinklenberg he'd vote for him. McLain called himself "conservative overall, but not extreme." He said he had voted for Bachmann in 2006 but he was bothered by her remark that Obama "may have anti-American views" and her stance on social issues...
...At Serum's bar in Anoka, Barabara Schweiger said Bachmann "should keep her mouth shut." But she also voiced more substantive reasons for why she plans to vote for Tinklenberg. She and her husband, Richard, worry about the drop in their 401(k) balance, blame Republicans for the economic downturn and have lost interest in privatizing a small portion of Social Security, a move advanced by the GOP. "I did vote for Pawlenty and Norm Coleman ... but I'm really tired of the Republicans."
TV:
At local Fox news station outside our district, newscasternotes that the "anti-American" stuff is still a biggie. Bachmann disagrees:
Bachmann and democratic challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg sparred over the comment in their final debate last night.Bachmann claims voters aren't talking about her remarks.
Ooookayy...
Web:
Who or what is responsible for falling gas prices? According to Michele Bachmann, it's Michele Bachmann.
POLLS: Latest Pollster polls for the district here. Latest poll I have is from the 24th of October, conducted by Minnesota Public Radio: Tinklenberg 45, Bachmann 43 (but that was before the new Bachmann attack ads came out.)
People keep asking me how it is possible for a bigot and liar like her to have gotten into Congress in the first place:
- Her district, the 6th congressional district, is a very red, Republican district. Any conservative Republican can win it, given this demographic. The reasons that Tinklenberg can run so close this year are: Bachmann's disastrous Hardball interview, your contributions in the wake of that, and the fact that her neglect has turned the Sixth into a home foreclosure disaster area.
- Not only is Bachmann a conservative running in a normally conservative district: she has the backing of the national evangelical political machine and evangelical media. (That's why Bachmann got the nomination, as opposed to some other Republican conservative.)
- She also has rock solid support from the "Rush Limbaugh" style of conservative talk radio in this district--all the local Limbaugh knock-offs puff her to their "secular" conservative audiences.
- The local traditional media--newspapers and broadcasters--have never covered her most extreme statements or most transparent lies. Not even the political columnists, not even the liberal ones in this state.
Action link: Tinklenberg for Congress.