I got a link to the video of the debate below. But I will summarize it for you.
This is nut, bigot and liar Michele Bachmann debating Dem opponent Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. (Though Anderson speaks well, we can safely ignore everything that he says during the debate. He will not win. The Independence Party in the Sixth District is a collection of disgruntled libertarians and people who are disgusted with both of the major parties. They never even get to twenty per cent of the vote, so Anderson is only important as a potential splitter of the anti-Bachmann votes in the district.)
What do Clark and Bachmann have to say, though? The moderator, TV news personality Tom Hauser, kicks off by calling out Clark on one of her anti-Bachmann ads:
(CONTINUED)
A Clark TV ad is played, it accuses Bachmann of wanting to wean "everybody" off Social Security. Hauser asks Clark if she stands by that ad. Clark says she does.
Hauser has previously given this ad an "F" for accuracy. Hauser did that because of the specific Bachmann quote referenced in the Clark ad.
The quote was one in which Bachmann told an audience that she wanted Social Security to keep faith with the present generation of recipients, but that everyone else should be "weaned off" Social Security. Thus Hauser and Bachmann argued that the Clark ad was false, because unwary viewers won't know about Bachmann's qualification about maintaining SS for the present day generation of recipients.
Clark stands by the ad. She tells the moderator that previous Bachmann statements indicate that Bachmann is opposed to Social Security and would have privatized it years ago if she could have--turning the program over to Wall Street where it would have turned into a "2 trillion dollar loss" during the last meltdown.
Bachmann stands by her claim that the Clark ad is false. Bachmann claims that there isn't 2.5 trillion dollars for Social Security, she says that there's nothing in Social Security but i.o.u.s.
Clark and the moderator point out that Social Security is in fact solvent through 2037. Clark says that most important thing we can do to shore up Social Security past that is to get people back to work; Bachmann's voted multiple times to send jobs overseas.
The moderator then asks Bachmann if she favors "any form of privatization." Bachmann ducks that one. (In the past she's indicated that she would favor some form privatization.) But she would tell people 65 and older that "nothing would change" about the program. The moderator leaps on that one...
Moderator: What about people like Tarryl Clark was saying, maybe 49 or 50, who have been paying in for twenty years or more, what's going to happen to their money?
Bachmann won't say what's going to happen to those people, under her proposal. She says "This is money we have all paid in and Congress has basically stolen it," but she won't tell the audience that she supports Social Security for Americans who have been paying into the system for more than twenty years. (Actually, she's been quite clear about this--she really did say that she wants to wean all Americans off Social Security, except for those currently receiving bennies from Social Security.) She assure the audience and moderator that Social Security will be bankrupt, just as Medicare will be bankrupt, but offers no specifics proposals to address the apocalypse she predicts.
Moderator comments to Bachmann: I hear a lot of platitudes, but I don't hear any solutions.
Clark points out that what Bachmann is saying makes people afraid, when in fact Social Security is solvent through 2037. Bachmann and Clark squabble about what Bachmann "really means" when she talks about Social Security; each accuses the other of misrepresentation, Bachmann is allowed the last word.
Next: a Bachmann ad about Tarryl Clark on the issue of taxes is run. The ad accuses "taxin' Tarryl Clark" of loving taxes, says she would tax crayons the kids use in school, raise the taxes on the gas used to drive the kids to school, raise taxes on the backpack the kid wears to school. That's the ad.
Moderator points out that it was Minnesota voters (not Clark) who voted to raise the state sales tax on the crayons, backpack, etc. Bachmann replies that she wouldn't have let Minnesota voters vote to increase the taxes. She say that she would have voted to increase an existing tax when she was a state legislator, but this tax increase raised taxes. (Don't worry about understanding her here, it's double-talk and she's already been caught in a lie about tax increases she said she would support.)
Moderator asks Clark if she's ever had any misgivings about any of her votes for tax increases. Clark says that Bachmann's been lying about Clark's record. Clark points out that Bachmann lied about her support for a tax increase and that the lie was confirmed by a third party, Bachmann interrupts to accuse Clark of lying, moderator intervenes to allow Clark to finish her explanation--Bachmann assured a reporter that she was for the tax increase, though she now denies it.
Clark explains that her votes to increase taxes were to balance the state budget (Minnesota's nearly six billion dollars in the red, under Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty) and that the tax increases that Clark did support would only affect people making more than $250K. In fact, the tax increases that Bachmann criticizes wouldn't affect 97%--so Bachmann knows what she said is a lie.
Bush tax cuts: Bachmann would extend them all, all the Bush tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest Americans. Taxes on the "job creators" (the wealthy, the investors) are going to hurt everybody.
Clark says she would extend the Bush tax cuts only for the 97% of Americans that actually forms up the small businesses that create the jobs. Do tax incentives and tax cuts for businesses, and start paying down deficits with revenues.
Bachmann: Bachmann says she would like to be in the debate, too. If we don't extend the tax cuts, we're going to take 1.2 billion out of pockets of the Sixth District and send it to wasteful Washington bureaucrats.
Clark: The middle class is paying too much in taxes, and Bachmann has voted against every measure that would create jobs here in the district. (Bachmann interrupts to say that Clark is talking about the stimulus, which Bachmann voted against.) There's some other ones, too, says Clark.
Next: the health care issue and Obamacare.
Bachmann: I would vote to repeal Obamacare, and this is borne out with the public. It's dramatically increasing the cost of health care. We bought a very expensive bureaucracy, not health care.
Clark: That's not true. I would have been fighting against the mandates, but I would work to reform it and do cost containment. (Would she have voted for it?) Yes, she would have.
Next:
Do you favor the federal stimulus package and do you that it did help keep the country going from a recession to a depression, as the Obama admin claims?
Clark: That's what most economists on both sides of the aisle are saying. If Clark had been there, she says she would have voted for more money come back for transportation and infrastructure. The stimulus The Sixth District alone got 9500 jobs out of it. Michele sent six letters for stimulus money claiming it would create thousands of jobs (true) but Michele voted against the stimulus (true, she actually excoriates the stimulus.)
Bachmann: I voted against the stimulus because we borrowed money from China and we were promised that unemployment wouldn't go over 8.5 per cent. It's now at ten per cent.
Moderator: You've been an outspoken critic of the stimulus. But on seven occasions (not six) you asked for money from it. (This is true. This year Bachmann has regularly told conservative audiences that the stimulus money doesn't create jobs, the private sector creates jobs. But the many letters that Bachmann wrote requesting stimulus money and acknowledging that the stimulus money creates jobs were revealed a few weeks ago.) Is that hypocritical? Is it hypocritical to criticize on the one hand and take the money on the other?
Bachmann: No, not at all. I fought against the stimulus, but once it went through it's my duty to get some of that money for the district. I have to see that the money goes to worthwhile projects, in Los Angeles they got 110 million and they only created 55 jobs with that.
Moderator: The TARP program and the bank and auto bailout. Was that worthwhile? You look at the foreclosures now and it doesn't seem that the banks are bending over backwards to help.
Clark: I would have voted against it. I didn't think there was any accountability in it, Wall Street got bailed out and Main Street didn't. The big banks haven't gone back to lending. Congress passed a measure to help community banks to loan to small businesses, something Michele again voted against--
Bachmann: You know, this has happened throughout the debate, where she's making false statements about what I've done and how I've voted, and she's getting away with it and it's simply not true. I am a small business creator, I've created fifty jobs in this state. My votes have been pro-business.
Moderator: Card Check legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act. It would allow unions to organize without using a secret ballot. How would you vote?
Clark: I don't think the present legislation is the version that's going . I do believe that if a majority of employees want to form a union, they should be allowed to do so. (Tries to change subject to outsourcing of jobs.)
Bachmann: I voted no, and would vote no again. This is the seventh time Clark has refused to answer this question. She's supported by big labor and we all know that she's going to vote to pass Card Check because she's supported resolutions.
Moderator: Would you seek further legislation for further restrictions on abortions?
Clark: As a former counselor to pregnant teens and parenting teens--my focus is to prevent teen pregnancies. I fought to help families get more affordable health care and child care. I believe we can reduce abortions by doing the things we know really do work. I'm committed to actually push for those changes to see the rates of pregnancy go down.
Bachmann: You just heard another politician answer out of Clark. She's supported She is pro-abortion and supports partial birth abortion.
Clark: No I don't.
Bachmann: I am pro-life. I stand for life from conception until natural death.
Clark: If a woman's life is in danger, she should be figuring that out between her and her doctor. I'm the only candidate that's done something to bring down the abortion rate.
Bachmann: That is not true. My husband and I have taken 23 foster children into our home.
Moderator: Michele Bachmann, the St. Cloud Times (the biggest paper in Bachmann's district) said that your service to constituents is your last priority. They say your rash, ridiculous fear-mongering statements about national issues are why they endorsed Clark. How do you respond to that.
Bachmann: "Well, that is a typical liberal editorial board, and that's typically where they are coming from." People from all across the Sixth District tell her that they're extremely grateful that she didn't go to Washington to go along and get along. Claims to be a vocal advocate for what they believe. I grew up here, etc. Fights the Obama agenda.
Moderator: You said that you have voted to hold down taxes for 95% of Minnesotans and for spending cuts. But you did vote for the transportation bill, which raised billions in taxes. Did you vote for spending cuts because tax hikes wouldn't go through?
Clark: No, as you well know, it was a budget-balancing bill.
Moderator: Were spending cuts your first choice rather than tax cuts?
Clark: Yes, they were my first choice. We worked in state government to bring down spending, making hard decisions. There's more waste in Washington and I have to tell you that Michele's taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from these big special interests--
Bachmann: Here we go again, not wanting to answer the question and bashing. It won't create one job, that bashing. I'm a very solution, practical person and I focus on job creation.
Why should people vote for you?
Clark: Washington still isn't working for us, our Congresswoman isn't. It's time to have someone who will stand up for families, kids and veterans.
Bachmann: I'm a private sector person. I want to create jobs and bring them back here to Minnesota.
ACTION LINK: How'd you like that one question about Bachmann being a divisive nut (from the St. Cloud Times?) If you liked it, help Tarryl Clark beat her:
http://tarrylclark.com
LINK to the video of the debate:
http://kstp.com/...