From Minnesota Public Radio's Polinaut blog:
(HEADLINE)That didn't take long...
Posted at 12:41 PM on March 22, 2010 by Tom Scheck (6 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, U.S. House
GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced legislation today to repeal the health care overhaul bill that passed last night. President Obama hasn't even signed the bill into law yet...
(CONTINUED)
Next:
Under normal news conditions, last week's lies are yesterday's news. But the politician I cover is not normal. Here's the Minneapolis City Pages account of her last ditch effort to spread just one more delusion prior to passage:
Michele Bachmann admits Slaughter solution talk was all wrong
By Hart Van Denburg
It's unconstitutional. It's fit for a Third World government. The press committed treason for not reporting on it -- to her satisfaction, anyway. That's what Rep. Michele Bachmann was telling any interviewer who would listen about a legislative rule called deem and pass -- dubbed by Republicans as the Slaughter Solution -- that House Democrats considered using at one point to pass health care reform.
We wondered about all that on Friday, and and took at look at it's history: deem and pass has been on the books since the 1930s and used extensively by both parties ever since.
It looked like Bachmann was wrong. And over the weekend, she admitted as much.
Yes, it was wrong. Like most of what she says, it was BS. But something unusual happened this time. The biggest and most important daily newspaper in Minnesota called her up and asked her why she was spouting BS. This is a big change from the usual Minneapolis Star Tribune policy. (They usually let her run on with the lies and nonsense, so their readers are none the wiser.)
And the Strib went even further. They seem to have asked her "where did you get this BS you were trying to feed the American public?" And here is the account:
(The news story reports that Bachmann went on television to call Congress' deem and pass procedure unprecedented, claiming that the procedure has never been used before. This is strange, because if you acknowledge that it's a procedure you're acknowledging that it has been used before:)
When the host noted that Democrats say Republicans used this in the past, Bachmann replied confidently, "They’ve used reconciliation, which is in the Senate. They have never used the Slaughter – the House rule that’s here in the House. This is a first time."
And on ABC News’ "Top Line" webcast Tuesday, Bachmann left them equally confused.
"This has never been used before. There isn’t one instance in the history of Congress where the Slaughter – the House rule has been used," Bachmann said. The host responded that he was under the impression "deeming" had been used on another bill, but Bachmann didn’t waver.
"No, no, the deeming rule hasn’t been used before."
In an unusual reverse-course for Bachmann, she acknowledged in an interview Friday that she was wrong.
"The information I got initially was bad. Or, I should say, not accurate," Bachmann said.
(I don't know what kind of distinction she's trying to draw there. "Bad," "not accurate,"--I don't know why she'd want to substitute the word "inaccurate" for "bad," it pretty much means the same thing in this context. She have might have just as well have said "sucked," we would have all gotten the idea. Anyway: who is the guy giving her this "information that sucks" about how the Constitution and Congress operate?)
Bachmann said (her sucky information) originated from a "constitutional law guy that I know who also does research" and had searched congressional records for references to the tactic.
So...it was "a constitutional law guy" who gave her this worthless information which she confidently spouted as American law and precedent on national television. There's a lesson for us all there: if someone tries to tell you how our constitution works and all it says on his business card is his name and "constitutional law guy"--get a second opinion, pronto.
Congratulations to the Strib for asking, but this is also the moment when they blew it. If you're a reporter or editor and a congressional representative uses the phrase "some constitutional law guy" when they answer your question about what authority is being relied on: you ask the next question! You ask for the name of that constitutional law guy! When a congressman with a reputation for sanity like Bachmann's--with a reputation for telling people to avoid obeying the law if they don't like the law--tells you that she is relying on "some constitutional law guy" for her understanding of constitution: you get that name! You ask her, right there and then, so you can talk to that "scholar." And you print that name, so that voters can see what it is she's relying on for her info about reality!
It's just like that time when she announced that non-existent deal to divide Iraq with Iran to form a new terrorist state. That's great, that the press caught that and printed it--but we all know that someone told her that crazy, nonsensical BS story and put it into her little brain--and the opportunity was lost; the opportunity to find out what this nut (representing 630,000 Minnesotans in Congress) is depending on for information. What crackpot told her that "deem and pass" had never been used before? What crackpot told her that there was deal to divide Iraq with Iran and create a new terrorist state?
She spouts the loony stuff--but the voters need to know: who puts the loony stuff into her head? When she enters "the marketplace of ideas," she spends a lot of time "shopping at the 'nuts' counter." Who's behind that counter, selling her the paranoid nut butter she greases her brain with? That's key to understanding this nut's real agenda; they should report it because even her fans deserve to know that.
Next: Bachmann around the globe!
From Poland!:
Republikański senator Jim DeMint i kongresmenka Michele Bachman z tej samej partii zapowiedzieli wniesienie projektów ustaw odwołujących reformę...
From Germany!:
"Wir werden es nicht zulassen, dass so etwas Bestand hat", erklärte die Kongressabgeordnete Michele Bachmann, eine prominente Vertreterin der Parteirechten..."
Ich couldn'thaff zed it bedder, meinzelf! Who vas der tei-partie tag in Vashingtonk, D.Z gemachen, "Todt al zu Healthkarebill" geshouten, choost before das bill vas gepassend by der US Kongress? It vas Bachmann und aboud zwei-dousand eine kleine dumfoks, nicht zo? Und der Michael Shteele zinging "I am der kow on der rrrrail-road tracks und vill das Healthkarereform geshtoppen!" Ja, but der Demokraten-majoritie choo-choo runz dem down mit not zo much as ein "how-du-du-du?" und now ze kow is grrrrround up to sausiches! Vell, dot's demokratzie fer du. Gott Amerika geblessen!
Link to Polinaut story:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/...
Link to City Pages fact check:
http://blogs.citypages.com/...
Link to Strib story:
http://www.startribune.com/...