Tag: Michelle Bachmann

Here comes the shutdown. How did John Boehner get himself (and us) into this mess?

At the RightOnline Conference last month in Minneapolis, Rep. Michele Bachmann became the third Republican presidential candidate to get glitter thrown on her by the “glitterati.” The reason? Her longtime relationship with Bradlee Dean, head of the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministries. Dean’s invective towards Muslims, Democrats and especially the LGBT community has earned him notoriety in Minnesota politics, yet candidate Bachmann has yet to weigh in on her relationship with Dean. As Bachmann’s star rises in the GOP presidential field, the controversial pastor is likely to become a campaign issue in the months ahead, much the way President Barack Obama’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright was seized upon by conservative activists in 2008.

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association told listeners of his radio show on Thursday that the Nazi Party in Germany was formed in a Munich gay bar by “homosexual thugs.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty are among a long list of presidential hopefuls attending the Faith & Freedom Conference and Strategy Briefing this weekend in Washington, D.C. The conference is organized by Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition and controversial religious right leader. In addition to Reed, Bachmann and Pawlenty will be sharing the stage with a number of controversial figures from the anti-abortion rights and anti-gay rights movements.

A SurveyUSA/KSTP poll released on Thursday shows that only 27 percent of Minnesotans feel that Rep. Michele Bachmann is qualified to be president. Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty fared better among Minnesotans, with 55 percent seeing him as presidential material. Both Bachmann and Pawlenty lost in a matchup against President Obama here, however, an indication that if the election were held today, and either were the GOP’s nominee, neither would capture their home state.

Mixing classic rightwing economics and Christianist populism, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told a rapt crowd in a Minneapolis hotel Tuesday night that “government is taking from the overly happy and redistributing to the insufficiently happy.”Gingrich was addressing the Minnesota Family Council’s Annual Dinner at the downtown Minneapolis Hilton Hotel, where he shared top billing with a prerecorded speech by Rep. Michelle Bachmann. At a book signing at the same hotel earlier that evening, Gingrich was “glittered” by pro-gay prankster Nick Espinosa.

A high school sophomore from New Jersey is challenging Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on civics and the U.S. Constitution. In an open letter to to Bachmann, Amy Myers of Cherry Hill, N.J., said, “I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted.”

Minnesota’s potential presidential candidates are giving Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert plenty of material these days, from Tim Pawlenty letting news of his candidacy slip on CNN (before backpedaling on the topic) to Michele Bachmann telling Iowa conservatives that the earth is 5,000 years old.

Once you get on a Colbert roll, it's hard to get off, so here we go again: Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert singled out conservative organization The Family Leader and its president, Bob Vander Plaats, for their renewed interest in comparing the public health risks of homosexuality to second-hand smoke.

Stuck in Washington, D.C., on Friday night as lawmakers pounded out a tentative budget deal and averted a federal government shutdown, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) had to cancel her appearance at this weekend’s conservative Christian political convention the Awakening. Instead, Bachmann made a video addressing attendants of the conference held at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.