The final debate between Bachmann and her Dem opponent Jim Graves was broadcast yesterday, Sunday November 4th on local television. Reporter Tom Hauser moderated.
Hauser quoted a Bachmann letter claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood has made a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government." He observed that Bachmann "even raised questions about one of the close aides to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton." Hauser noted that Senator John McCain characterized Bachmann's accusations as having "no basis, no logic, and no merit."
Hauser: Do you stand by those accusations, and did you see proof that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the highest levels of our government?
Bachmann: These are five letters we sent to the inspectors general, myself and five other colleagues . I certainly do stand by those letters.
Bachmann said she serves on the House Intelligence Committee. Hauser interrupted: "And you've seen evidence that--" Bachmann interrupted: "and we deal with classified secrets."
Bachmann continued to defend herself:
Bachmann: Thank God we have members of Congress that are asking questions--that's all we did.
Hauser: But you went beyond raising questions, you made an accusation about the Muslim Brotherhood--
Bachmann: No, we did not make an accusation. We asked questions, we asked the inspectors general to take a look…(Violent organizations) want the destruction of Israel, and they want the destruction of the United States. When madmen speak, listen and pay attention.
That was my favorite line from the debate. Michele Bachmann, telling us:
When madmen speak, listen and pay attention--Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, November 4, 2012.
Couldn't agree more. I've been telling people essentially the same thing since I published my first piece on Michele Bachmann back in 2003.
But she got off a lot of other doozies, too. Here's the report on the debate, presented in chronological order.
(CONTINUED)
How to create jobs during a recession:
Bachmann's first big lie was that the Obama stimulus "failed to create jobs." She castigated Graves for supporting it (even though Graves was not in Congress at the time.) Bachmann knows that the stimulus create jobs. Bachmann herself wrote and signed many requests for stimulus money, arguing at the time it would "create thousands of jobs" in her districts.)
Nonetheless, she claims that she's the fiscal conservative and Graves is not (even though she sought the deficit spending and he didn't.) Bachmann identified a string of other Graves positions that suggest he backs liberal policies--the auto bailout that saved all those jobs, Obamacare, etc.
Hauser asked Bachmann about her claim that she does "not make political speeches," noting that this claim brought "gasps" from a live audience. (He meant "laughs." That's what actually happened, Hauser heard it on the recording, but he didn't want to embarrass Bachmann on TV by reporting that her constituents had laughed at one of her transparent lies.)
Hauser noted that lately Bachmann's been arguing that "she's an independent voice" and "bi-partisan"--but when you look at her record of voting in Congress, you see that she is in fact one of the most partisan members. Bachmann answered that she got a local bridge bill through Congress, that is was very rough to do so, she had to go up against more than 430 members of Congress and bring Vikings and Packers fans together to get it done.
(Total BS. Bachmann is one of the most partisan members of Congress, that's why Republican conservatives in the Sixth support her. Bachmann devoted more time to her failed presidential bid than getting the bridge bill through. The Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that the heavy lifting on the bridge bill was actually done by other Minnesota legislators. And getting that bill through was not hard, it was a piece of cake because Dem Senators Klobuchar and Franken supported it. Even if Michele Bachmann had been 'raptured' back in 2006, that bridge bill would have sailed through Congress and signed by President Obama.)
Graves observed that Bachmann is one of the most polarizing figures in Congress, and that's just a fact. He said the bridge was Senator Klobuchar's bill and that he would have voted against it: it was too "pork level," too expensive. "We could have got that bridge done for $400 million, we didn't need to spend $700 million plus."
Bachmann responded: the bridge price was high because "radical environmentalists" delayed its construction for years. (I think she means the Sierra Club.) No rebuttal to the Graves charge that it could have been built for $300 million less in taxpayer dollars.
Hauser asked about infrastructure spending and federal stimulus money: what would you do to create jobs in the Sixth District? (Interesting: contrary to Bachmann's ideology and regular assertions, Hauser's premise was that federal stimulus money can and does create jobs.)
Graves said he would have voted against the federal stimulus bill "as it was," because it got to be "very politicized" and lost focus on "long term capital improvements and infrastructure." Bachmann said she voted against it, claiming the "only thing that got stimulated were more government jobs. This didn't add jobs in the private sector."
(Lie, and Bachmann knows it's a lie. As noted above, she regularly asked the feds for stimulus money, noting in the requests that stimulus money does create private sector jobs. This tea party hero's biggest secret is her devotion to liberal Keynesian economics when it serves her personal political interests. Her actions indicate that she knows that federal deficit spending to create jobs works, and that she knows that during a Republican-generated recession--the local private sector and "free market" aren't enough. But she continues to lie about this, regularly, to her millions of fans.)
Taxes and the Budget:
Hauser asked: "What would you do specifically to try to balance the budget?" He then asked Bachmann if--at any point--she'd entertain the idea of more taxes to balance the budget.
Bachmann answered that she doesn't support more taxes. She said the problem is not that tax revenue is not high enough: the problem is the out of control spending. She blames Barack Obama's spending--particularly Obamacare, the bailouts, and the stimulus.
Graves said we have to move "along the lines of the Simpson Bowles plan." He added that we can raise revenue by getting rid of existing loopholes and tax "expenditures" (including tax breaks to hedge funds, royalties for coal companies, breaks for big oil, etc.)
Medicare
Hauser asked Bachmann if she supported Paul Ryan's plan, which would essentially change Medicare for people who are under the age of fifty-five--"some people have called it a voucher system."
Asked directly if she supported the Ryan plan, Bachmann evaded. She said that she supported "saving Medicare." She said that the Ryan plan wasn't actual legislation. (Reality: she voted for it anyway, and it would turn Medicare into a voucher system instead of an uncompromised guarantee of health care for American seniors.) Bachmann said that President Obama "has no plan to save Medicare" and that Obamacare will mean "denial of care for seniors." (BS.)
Graves: "Michele Bachmann wants to eliminate both Medicare and Social Security."
Bachmann: "That's wrong. He just made a false statement. That is not true."
Graves said we have to eliminate "that cap" on Social Security to save it. On Medicare, we have to address the costs side. We have to be willing to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies on pricing for drugs: "Michele Bachmann isn't willing to do that."
Bachmann said Graves was making false assertions and that she had been working "in a bi-partisan way" to save Medicare and Social Security.
Then the station broke for commercial and ran a bunch of Bachmann campaign ads. (She's got money to burn on stuff like that, but she's still begging donations from national supporter. She sent one out this very day.)
Hauser to Graves: Bachmann says you favor all aspects of Obamacare and would like to keep it intact. Is that true?
Graves: "No." He thinks there are some good things in the act: (letting kids stay insured into their twenties, the guarantee of insurance coverage for pre-existing condition, the exchanges that will open up to let small businesses and individuals buy health insurance.) But Obamacare "isn't a destination, it's a process," and it's by no means done.
Hauser asked Bachmann: Obamacare's guarantee of coverage for family dependents is fairly popular, so is Obamacare's guarantee of coverage for pre-existing conditions. Rep. Bachmann, do you want to scrap all of that?
Bachmann: "Well, what I want to do is bring down the cost of health care." (Reality: yes, she wants to scrap all of that, including the Obamacare guarantees of coverage for family dependents and pre-existing conditions. She was calling for repeal of Obamacare in its entirety before it was even enacted, and she's called for complete repeal ever since.) She said Obamacare sucks as a solution (not her exact words,) and we should kick back the five billion a year it would cost to the states. She repeated the lie that Obamacare represents a federal government takeover of one sixth of the economy.
Abortion:
Hauser noted that some Republican candidates this year have spurred controversy by stating that they would not allow abortion in cases of rape. He asked Bachmann: "Under what situations would you find abortion to be allowable?"
Bachmann began to talk about "being one hundred per cent pro-life" and went into her endorsements from pro-life groups, but Hauser stopped her and repeated the question: under what circumstances would you permit abortion?
Bachmann: "My position is the same as the Catholic Church, I've held this position for forty years."
(Lie. Bachmann is recorded speaking to voters in Boutwell's Landing during one of her previous campaigns, indicating that she would permit exceptions for cases of rape and incest if all other abortions were prohibited.) Currently, the only exception Bachmann would allow is to permit abortion to protect "the life of the mother."
Hauser: So if someone is a victim of rape, abortion should not be allowed?
Bachmann: I stand for the protection and the sanctity of human life from conception til natural death.
Graves said abortion is a terrible tragedy and that he would do everything he could in Congress to help women avoid that terrible choice. A really meaningful maternity leave, equal pay for equal work--these would help women avoid abortions. This a woman's issue, between herself and her God.
Bachmann emphasized that she does not support taxpayer funding for abortion. She also claimed that Obamacare includes taxpayer funding of abortion. (Lie.)
Foreign Policy and "the Muslim Brotherhood agents inside the State Department"
(Here it is again. But read the whole thing, you'll find her saying more crazy stuff as she goes into detail.)
Hauser quoted a Bachmann letter claiming that the Muslim Brother has made a "deep penetration in the hall of our United States government," and "even raised questions about one of the close aides to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton." Hauser noted that Senator John McCain characterized Bachmann's accusations as having "no basis, no logic, and no merit."
Hauser: Do you stand by those accusations, and did you see proof that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the highest levels of our government?
Bachmann: These are five letters we sent to the inspectors general, myself and five other colleagues . I certainly do stand by those letters.
Bachmann said she serves on the House Intelligence Committee. Hauser interrupted: "And you've seen evidence that--" Bachmann interrupted: "and we deal with classified secrets." She said the events in Benghazi prove that the United States remains under attack both in the Middle East and here in the United States.
Hauser: But there's been no proof the Muslim Brotherhood was involved in Benghazi. Has there?
Bachmann: We are only beginning--Ansar al-Sharia has claimed responsibility for Benghazi. But the Muslim Brotherhood is a violent organization and there's a "spillover effect between these various violent militia groups." (Reality: Bachmann has no evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood was involved in the Benghazi attack. And she knows that Ansar al-Sharia is not the Muslim Brotherhood. The Ansar al-Sharia group that admits to participating in the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi--was formed in Libya, when Obama was taking out Muammar Gaddafi. Bachmann opposed Obama's successful attempt to remove Gaddifi.)
Hauser reminded Graves that he called Bachmann's accusations about Muslim Brotherhood penetration of the US government "ridiculous and outrageous." Graves said that "they are, and they're inflammatory." He said that he stands with Senator McCain and House Speaker John Boehner and Lindsey Graham in regarding Bachmann's accusations as ridiculous and outrageous.
Graves: We don't need to polarize, we don't need to antagonize, we don't need to be throwing mud--especially when it's not even called for. We need to come together at these times.
Bachmann agreed with Graves about the need to protect America's ambassadors and said: "Thank God we have members of Congress that are asking questions--that's all we did."
Hauser: But you went beyond raising questions, you made an accusation about the Muslim Brotherhood--
Bachmann: No, we did not make an accusation. We asked questions, we asked the inspectors general to take a look…(Violent organizations) want the destruction of Israel, and they want the destruction of the United States. When madmen speak, listen and pay attention. (!!!) That was the problem with the Obama administration.
Closing statements:
Graves said that our country is on a course to a fiscal train wreck. Bachmann's been in Congress for six years and she hasn't been able to curb the cost curve, she hasn't been able to stop the spiraling of the debt. I'm a business person who's going to come to Congress and make things happen, bring people together. I'm a fiscal conservative. We're not going to raise taxes on the middle class, never on the middle class.
Bachmann: My focus has been, first and last, on job creation and creating millions of high paying jobs here in the United States and turning our economy around--
That is utter BS. She hasn't done any of that, and never focused on any of that--especially in her own district. (Ever since she came into Congress, her district has been notorious for having the highest home foreclosure rate in the state.) The three public works projects she brags about bringing home? They're only possible because 1) she agreed to raising taxpayer debt and deficit spending 2) because of the Obama stimulus spending that she tried to stop, and 3) because of the work of Democrats in the Senate.
In reality Bachmann's "focus" throughout her career in government has been on demonizing fellow Americans who disagree with her, promoting the national political agenda of the evangelical right, and spreading lies and crazy conspiracy theories. Another Bachmann "focus": radicalizing the national Republican Party via the Tea Party and Christian Right--thus promoting more right wing extremists into public office at federal, state and local levels.
These represent her "focus," along with her narcissistic focus on obtaining national fame and power for herself. And if she's returned to Congress this year she'll get the power: real influence on the national agenda via a seat on a truly powerful congressional committee, one that determines the limits of national policy.
You'll be sorry if that happens.
Good luck with the GOTV, and good luck to America on Tuesday.
ACTION LINK: You don't have to be from the district to phone bank for Bachmann's opponent, Jim Graves. You don't even have to be from Minnesota. Call this telephone number for more information: 320-252-4446
LINK: C-SPAN has link.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/...