The end of Michelle Bachmann's Tea Party State of the Union response speech made my skin crawl. I'm fine if she wants to rail against big government. I expect it from her. But during the State of the Union, I'd also expect her to have the respect for this great nation to avoid juxtaposing our president's "big government programs" with Japanese WW2 totalitarianism. In her "message of unity", Bachmann danced dangerously close to casting Democrats as the enemy, even if she didn't say it outright:
"The perilous battle that was fought during World War II in the Pacific at Iwo Jima was a battle against all odds, and yet this picture immortalizes the victory of young GIs over the incursion against the Japanese. These six young men raising the flag came to symbolize all of America coming together to beat back a totalitarian aggressor. Our current debt crisis we face today is different, but we still need all of us to pull together. But we can do this. That's our hope. We will push forward. We will proclaim liberty throughout the land. And we will do so because we, the people, will never give up on this great nation" -Bachmann
(Note: please read the body before you vote)
I'm glad she is at least willing to recognize that our debt crisis is, on some level, "different". But after spending most of her speech railing against big government, to then compare big government and its debt to a totalitarian Nazi ally, and state "we will proclaim liberty throughout the land", suggests a vague intent to overthrow a tyrannical government.
Maybe we should expect this considering Sharron Angle's call for using "second amendment remedies" to "take out Harry Reid" , or the constant allusions they make on a daily basis to Nazism and Stalinism. But part of the responsibility of making a State of the Union address is to respect the dignity of this honor, and to unite the country. With this speech, the Tea Party has shown itself to be not yet worthy of that dignity.