Michele Bachmann Glittered at Right Online

I found the clip at Instapundit, " Failed glitter attack on Michele Bachmann."

But see also, Gay Patriot, "Throwing glitter rather than debating gay marriage":

Yeah, well, throwing stuff is a lot easier than acknowledging your adversary’s points and countering them with well-thought out arguments.

But check the whole thing. Lots more links.

But the thing I notice at the video, is how easily the protester is able to get to Michele Bachmann. When I first saw Bachmann speak at Knott's Berry Farm in January 2010, she had a staff aide or body guard keeping people away, and she left quickly after making her speech. At this year's Horowitz retreat, however, she was meeting and greeting all the guests and taking pictures, etc. I imagine the ambience was like that at Right Online, being around a bunch of fellow partisans, but there are no metal detectors at these big conferences, and it's scary to think what could very well happen unless she's better protected by security.

Michele Bachmann Quits Presidential Campaign

London's Daily Mail has a video, "Michele Bachmann quits White House race just six months in after disastrous Iowa result and warns U.S. is in 'serious trouble'."

And see ABC News, "Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race." (At Memeorandum.)

I'm not surprised at all, although Bachmann was my candidate. She was the clearest, most unambiguous candidate speaking out against the Obama-Dems' progressive socialism.

I'll have more on all of this throughout the day.

Added: Here's the announcement:

Obligatory Blog Post on Michele Bachmann's 8-Minutes-Plus Congressional Retirement Video

Look, I love Michele Bachmann. She was my candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012. But this retirement clip is a bit much. She could have had as much to say in a couple of minutes. And frankly, the long spin on her congressional accomplishments highlights something of the lack thereof. Her most important impact has been as a media star, and she might have done better in the primaries had she avoided her Human Papilloma Virus gaffe of September 2011. I will say though, I think she's wise not to leave public life altogether. She's a powerful voice of dissent and we need as many of those as we can get.

Ed Morrissey has more, "Video: Michele Bachmann retires."

BONUS: Get a kick out of WaPo's report, which is basically a DLTDHYOTWO screed against the Minnesota Republican, "Rep. Bachmann will not run for reelection in 2014."

Long Knives Out for Michele Bachmann?

Yep, according to Robert Stacy McCain, who's on the ground in Des Moines, "Long Knives in Iowa."

And check this Google link for the click through to Wall Street Journal, "Behind a GOP Contender's Iowa Surge."

MARION, Iowa—To understand why presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has surged in Iowa, watch when she is handed a baby. On a recent stop here, she took off her bracelet, dangled it before the infant and cradled himDuring another campaign appearance, Ms. Bachmann climbed down from the stage to take the hands of a woman who asked a question, holding them as she answered. Meeting a teenager with Down syndrome, the Minnesota congresswoman swept him up in a hug, then signed his T-shirt.

Ms. Bachmann has built a national reputation for hard-line conservative stances—most recently, she bucked her own Republican leaders to oppose the debt-ceiling compromise—and her repeated vow to retire President Barack Obama.

But here in Iowa, the tough rhetoric is sheathed in a soft presentation. Ms. Bachmann hugs, dances and offers girl talk on the campaign trail—"That's a rockin' shirt!"—as if baking her steely conservatism into a warm apple pie. while he teethed on the pearls.

It's true. She's the warmest in person!

Bachmann Scrutiny Rises With Poll Surge

You think?

For the last few days you'd have thought Michele Bachmann was the GOP frontrunner. And what's the big deal about headaches? Yeah, Congresswoman Bachmann's like the rest of us. She's sometimes out of it. Wow. You're disqualified!!

Anyway, that's Brian Ross with Bill O'Reilly. I saw him yucking it up on "The View" yesterday. All fun and games for the intrepid media hounds, I guess.

See Wall Street Journal:

NORWALK, Iowa—Michele Bachmann has captivated conservative activists here as she pushes to establish herself as a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

That fast start comes amid new scrutiny of her background and physical health as she seeks to translate grass-roots enthusiasm for her campaign into votes at a crucial straw poll next month in Ames.

he Minnesota congresswoman returned to Iowa early Wednesday morning as polls show her gaining ground nationally as a top alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the early front-runner for the GOP nomination. Since formally entering the race last month, she has eclipsed other Republicans in the field, including fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty, who has been actively campaigning all year.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll offered a statistical glimpse at their diverging fortunes. In the poll, 16% of the registered Republicans picked Ms. Bachmann as their top choice, putting her second behind Mr. Romney, who remains the first choice of 30% of the Republicans polled. In the same survey, 2% of registered Republicans chose the former Minnesota governor as their top pick, down from 6% in April.

Keep reading.

The Daily Caller gets a mention.

Bachmann Crashes in Iowa

I'm going to check for a full clip of her Iowa speech.

Bachmann seemed pretty upbeat to me. But see Weasel Zippers, "Bachmann’s Campaign Manager Says She May Drop Out After Last Place Finish In Iowa…" (Via Memeorandum.)

More at Los Angeles Times, "Michele Bachmann: Iowa caucus system 'worked'," and London's Daily Mail, "Is this the end of Michele Bachmann? 'Queen of Rage' dealt massive a campaign blow after abysmal turnout in Iowa caucus."

Today's Michele Bachmann Feeding Frenzy

The secular collectivists are piling on Representative Michelle Bachmann once again. It turns out that Ms. Bachmann appeared on Minnesota's KTLK-AM radio over the weekend, and she went off on the Obama administration for a number of its extreme left wing policies.

The Minnesota Independent is hammering Ms. Bachmann's attack on the administration's AmeriCorps program in its essay, "Bachmann fears ‘politically correct re-education camps for young people’." Read the post for the context, but Ms. Bachmann's comments make perfect sense to me, considering the mindless left-wing indoctrination currently the rage in schools and colleges today. And for some reason, the "Dump Bachmann" blog thinks the following comments are controversial:

I feel like I have a front row seat on history right now. I cannot believe what I'm seeing. This is our country. We love our country and I'm watching our freedoms slip out the door every day. Just this week with the G-20 and what President Obama is wanting to do to cede American sovereignty to transnational global authorities makes your head spin and we as members of congress have to bind him down with that authority, we cannot agree to these things that he is wanting to do, because it will continue to take away freedom from individuals in the United States.

*****

It is a dream come true for people who want to transform our country from a free-market economy to a centralized government planned economy. It is completely different and antithetical to what our founders gave us and I think people should be shocked, they should be stunned with what is happening and the speed at which it's happening and in particular, what is happening with the G-20 and the transnational aspects of what our President is committing our nation to.

There's absolutely nothing in these comments out of the ordinary for conservative political discourse. Indeed, we need more folks like Michele Bachamann standing up for what's right, and telling it like it is for this president, who is now travelling the world over putting other nations' interests ahead of our own.

'She's Got Sex Appeal': Pawlenty Aide Apologizes for Calling Michele Bachmann Hot

I saw this at London's Daily Mail earlier, "Tim Pawlenty aide forced to apologise after making inappropriate remark about GOP rival Michele Bachmann."

And it's Vin Weber who made the faux pas, a former GOP House member himself. The original comments appeared in an interview at The Hill:

"It's going to be very hard to beat Michele in Iowa. Period," Weber said of both the Iowa caucuses and August's influential straw poll in Ames.

"She's got hometown appeal, she's got ideological appeal, and, I hate to say it, but she's got a little sex appeal too," he said in a phone interview.

Oops. Can't say that. The PC language cops will be all over you. Tim Pawlenty distanced himself from the comments immediately, and here's this at Fox News, "Pawlenty Aide Apologizes for Remark on Bachmann's 'Sex Appeal'."

And of course, Representive Bachmann handled it with class:

Scott Eric Kaufman: If You Smear My Grammar at Least Edit Your F**KED UP Prose and Use Spell Check

Apparently, Scott Eric Kaufman actually holds a Ph.D. in the "Philosophy of English." Don't know if he actually holds an academic position. He can't write for shit, so it'd be no surprise if he's unemployed.

I'm block-quoting his entire post at Lawyers, Guns and Money, just in case he decides to proofread later and make corrections in a belated attempt to appear less an asshole than he is. See, "Phony Political Scientist Sees Morons at Fake Indepedence Hall and is Impressed":

With all apologies to J.D. Salinger, I can't resist reading Donald Douglas's account of a Michele Bachmann event at Knott's Berry Farm in Holden Caulfield's terms. This is contemporary conservatism boiled to the bone: some morons convince of a phony of their patriotism by speaking before a replica of an actual American institution. Douglas's photo-essay captures what history signifies when you subscribe to Tea Party logic even more starkly than those fake patriots who demonstrate their solidarity with the Founding Fathers by showing up at rallies with tea-bags.

Did I say rallies? I meant "sparsely-attended speeches by purported conservative celebrities in the most conservative county in the country," because as Douglas's own photos attest, David Horowitz and Michele Bachmann have little drawing power within spitting distance of the birth place of Richard Nixon. Not that Douglas would care, mind you, because he can't tear his authentic eyes away from all the ersatz history. Even his grammar becomes ambiguous in the presence of all this fakery:

As you can see, the park's Independence Hall is an exact replica of the original historic landmark in Philadelphia, PA. Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed there.

The Decleration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed in Knott's Berry Farm's Independence Hall? According to Knott's Berry Farm, they most certainly were:

Douglas then produces:

[a] shot of the [Knott's Berry Farm's replica of the] bell's famous crack.

The faked crack on the fake Liberty Bell is famous? All morons hate it when their grammar reveals that they're morons.

Not that it's just the grammar, as his caption to this picture demonstrates: "[t]he sweeties at the gift counter, in 18th century dress." If you press your ear against the monitor, you can almost hear him declaiming: "That is too an authentic 18th century windbreaker!" But perhaps the best part of Douglas's account is the definitive evidence that Tea Party patriots don't know from English. He notes that Michele Bachmann

came to California straight from Washington and the last night's SOTU. She reminded the crowd that this time last year the big talk was Joe Wilson's "you lie," while this week it's Samuel Alito's "not true," and she turned that into a little chant to fire up the patriots in attendence.

If that chant sounds like Douglas suggests it does—"You lie! Not true! You lie! Not true!"—then those patriots sure told Joe Wilson a thing or two.

I guess quite a few folks have a problem with historical replicas, but you might notice that when SEK quotes and ridicules he omits the hyperlinks. For example, with reference to Philadelphia's Independence Hall, the link (and thus context) is at my original passage: "Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed there." That's "signed there," as in Pennsylvania, yo!

Besides that, how's this for a piece of F**KED UP writing? "This is contemporary conservatism boiled to the bone: some morons convince of a phony of their patriotism by speaking before a replica of an actual American institution."

If "convince" is being used as a verb, it needs to precede an object. For example, "This is contemporary conservatism boiled to the bone: some morons convince OTHERS of a phony ... patriotism by speaking before a replica of an actual American institution."

(And from Aaron Baker's comment at the post, "Could you please unjumble 'some morons convince of a phony of their patriotism' for us?")

And while I don't normally stress typos and misspelled words, if someone's going to smear me with dishonest distortions of my grammar, they might as well at least use a spell-checker: "The Decleration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed in Knott's Berry Farm's Independence Hall?"

Never said that, Scott. But your "Decleration of Independence" is priceless.

You're in good company, in any case. See "The Moral Abomination of Robert Farley."

P.S. I personally think Charli Carpenter has demeaned herself by joining LGM as a co-blogger.

Michele Bachmann at O.C. Independence Hall Rally!

I was in 5th grade the last time I visited the Knott's Berry Farm's replica Independence Hall (exact replica, by the way, down to the 2,075-pound Liberty Bell). But if my schedule works out tomorrow I'll be heading over there to meet Michele Bachmann, who is speaking at a local GOP rally, "Michele Bachmann in Southern California Jan 28th":

A fundraiser's scheduled for early evening at the Lincoln Club, the bastion of big-business conservatism in the O.C.:

Michele Bachmann's First Ad Buy Iowa: 'Waterloo'

Jonathan Tobin provides the background, at Commentary, "Purity Makes Good Politics":

The political value of Bachmann’s purity shouldn’t be underestimated. As Chris Cillizza wrote in today’s Washington Post, unlike most members of Congress, Bachmann’s legislative record is no burden to her candidacy. During her five years in Congress, Bachmann has not devoted any effort to “going along to get along” as most members must do in order to pass legislation. She has not brought home any “bacon” to her district because she viewed her purpose very differently than her colleagues. Instead of log rolling with other members to gain passage of pet legislation, she has spent all of her time “tilting at windmills” and generally running afoul of her party’s leadership.

Many members of the GOP establishment, including fellow members of the Republican congressional caucus, probably rolled their eyes when they saw her Iowa ad. But those who view her record on the Hill as one of failure which ought to render her candidacy quixotic, don’t get it. Her purity may make her irrelevant in Washington, but it is exactly the ticket for pleasing movement conservatives who are disgusted with the pragmatic measures getting things done requires. Far from hurting Bachmann’s chances, this attitude helps her immeasurably.

I'd add that I'm very impressed by how well Bachmann's rolling out her campaign. It's very professional, and she's turning on the heat. Bachmann's not far behind Mitt Romney at RCP's polling averages for Iowa, and Romney's already announced he's skipping the Ames Straw Poll. where a victory for Bachmann could delivery tremendous momentum for the GOP presidential caucuses in January December.

RELATED: At Des Moines Register, "Bachmann is first to sign Family Leader’s pro-marriage pledge" (via Memeorandum).

Michele Bachmann: 'Ready For Prime Time'

An excellent essay at Althouse, comparing Michele Bachmann to Sarah Palin, "A Palin-Bachmann feud?":

By the way, Bachmann was great on "Meet the Press" today. She is excellent at not letting the interviewer control her. She interrupts appropriately and stands her ground. She has planned, neat responses to the stuff that they will use to try to mess her up — like her statements about gay people — and she resists pressure to restate or elaborate those responses. She is ready for prime time.

Bachmann Derangement

As noted a couple of times already, progressives can't help themselves in making sick and misogynistic attacks on Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

London's Daily Mail has a write up, "Michele Bachmann as you've never seen her before... Online pranksters make a mockery of the Tea Party darling."

Click through for the pics. I'm not posting any here.

See also Legal Insurrection, "Politico’s Thinly Thought Out Hit Piece On Bachmann."

RELATED FLASHBACK: At Michelle Malkin's, "The Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse."

Bachmann Decries 'Bailout Socialism'

At Los Angeles Times, "Michele Bachmann says Bush, GOP embraced 'bailout socialism'."

Reporting from Urbandale, Iowa— Michele Bachmann goes after not only Democrats but also fellow Republicans in her new book, accusing former President George W. Bush and her GOP colleagues in Congress of failing to stay true to conservative, free-market principles when they supported the $700-billion Wall Street bailout.

"The Bush administration … was embracing a kind of 'bailout socialism,' " wrote the Minnesota congresswoman, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination. "It was painful to find out John McCain too favored the TARP bailout. … Here was no ‘maverick’ moment. The same disappointing stance was taken by the Republican leadership in the House."

"I knew there was no way I could vote for it, because I couldn’t find authority for it in the Constitution,” Bachmann continued. “As a constitutional conservative, I put principle over party."

Conservative Blogs and Electoral Politics

Last week I asked readers to join me in contributing to Michele Bachmann's reelection campaign.

That's a first for this blog, but Michele Bachmann's the first congressional candidate to whom I've contributed. Bachmann represents my ideals and values, and I'll be proud to have helped her across the finish line on election day.

I'm reminded of Bachmann's challenge in reading the Next Right's new post, "What It Will Take to Build a Rightroots Movement."

Can the conservative blogosphere adopt the left's model of Internet political activism? Are conservative bloggers comfortable in making cold calls for cash on the front page of their websites?

A lot of folks won't be interested in that kind of outreach, but it's going to have to happen if the right hopes to really mobilize the grassroots in support of their candidates and causes. Here's a key passage:

If you're a conservative blogger, the question you need to ask yourself is this. Is the main purpose of your blog to express your personal opinion? Or is its primary purpose to build political power for a cause? If you cannot answer yes to the latter, you're probably not going to be comfortable with making the changes necessary to make online conservatism a political force to be reckoned with.

This is not a criticism, but an observation. Most conservative blogs are still stuck in 2003 -- both in terms of the overwhelming focus on media criticism and punditry, and the tendency to outsource electoral politics to the Republican Party. This was in some ways legitimate response to what was happening in 2003-4, when media surrender-monkeys were undermining the War on Terror, Republicans had a kick-butt political operation, and Kos was going 0 for 16.

I don't fault bloggers for holding on to this point of view in 2003 and 2004. What is unfortunate is that they clinged to it in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 and failed to pivot to the new reality, leaving the Republican Party without a powerful enough force to rein in the self-destructive tendencies of its elite.

Sadly, it's human nature to cling to the frame in which you came up - traditional media people will never fully reconcile themselves to the blogosphere, talk radio people will always tend to view it as the center of the universe, and even denizens of the "new media" can become easily set in their ways. This is not unlike people who got rich on the housing bubble thinking it could never end. When things first start going wrong, it's always just a momentary blip, not a sign of an impending crash. Only a catastrophic collapse is usually enough to make people rethink matters.

Building critical mass behind an independent online movement on the right will probably require new people. The old blogs that have been with us since 2003 will not go away. But they'll need to be joined by people who care more about Indiana's 8th district than Islamofascism, and MN-SEN more than the MSM.

There's more at the link.

I started blogging, back in early-2006, as a writing outlet and a hobby. This year, however, blogging's become a second job as I've thrown my heart into supporting John McCain with my political commentary and activism.

I'm a changed man, or, more particularly, I'll be a changed man upon the election of Barack Obama and a Democratic congressional majority next Tuesday.

I plan to be more politically active. To the extent that family and job commitments permit, I hope to get out more, becoming involved on campaigns and issues. I'll be blogging, as always, but my goal will be to contribute even more to the conservative right, in both ideas and action.

I urge readers to send me an e-mail indicating what action they have done to support local candidates for office, or other activities, like contributing financially to political campaigns. I'll be blogging more about things like this as we move forward, and I'll share stories and help people network.

Looking ahead, I'm convinced that the Democratic Party will overreach, and that a Barack Obama administration will be repudiated at the polls in 2012. But for that to happen, the conservative base must get active, doing more than writing one more blog post at Memeorandum.

Michele Bachmann: 'I Was the Perfect Candidate'

Well, she wasn't quite perfect, but far superior to anyone else in my opinion.

See The Hill, "Rep. Michele Bachmann thinks that America missed its opportunity with 'the perfect candidate'," and CNN, "TRENDING: Bachmann says she was the ‘perfect candidate’." (Via Memeorandum.)

I'm pictured with Congresswoman Bachmann last April at David Horowitz's West Coast Retreat in Palos Verdes. She hadn't announced her candidacy yet, but I was certain she'd be candidate and I backed her from the start. No, she wasn't perfect. But I thought she best represented my interests in the race, and I do agree with her contention that no other candidate was as consistently opposed to President Obama and the ObamaCare debacle as she was.

Census Worker Was Naked, Bound: Leftists Blame Bachmann, Beck, Limbaugh, Malkin, and Palin

At the New York Times, "Witness Says Census Worker Was Naked, Bound" (via Memeorandum). Of course, that's confirmation that Bill Sparkman's death couldn't have been suicide. You know, the right-wingers killed him. From airhead Larisa Alexandrovna:

I ... think it is absolutely fair to ask why someone would target a census worker (and sadly, a single father of two)? I have never heard of a Census worker being murdered before. I am sure it happens and has probably happened even in recent times, but I simply have never read or heard another instance of such a crime. So at the very least we can say it is a rare crime.

And I think that it is also fair to question the role Rep. Michelle Bachmann [sic] (the psychotic, drooling, knuckle-dragger, ill-informed conspiracy theorist, birther and hater masquerading as a member of Congress) jihad against the Census Bureau had something to do with it.

Okay. Right.

And since Charles Johnson's also advocating this meme, it's no doubt ironclad! (Memeorandum link only - trying to observe the LGF embargo.)

How about at Democratic Underground, "Handy Guide to how Republicans and Fox News are Responsible For Census Worker Being Hanged":

We need to absolutely expose Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, CNN's Lou Dobbs, Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh and the legion of others parroting right-wing lies for trumping up this nonsense and getting people to now commit murder in a hideous fashion.

Conservatives getting people to commit murder?

Okay. That's a really credible hypothesis coming from folks who post with murderous Che Guevara avatars. It's kinda like, you know, communists don't have to "get" anyone to murder people - they just go out and cut down their opponents without provocation.

And how about that "Fed" graphic above? Oh, that's from The Brad Blog, "Was the 9/12 Murder Related to Inflammatory Rhetoric of Beck, Bachman, and Fox 'News'? Or to Recent Local Events That Have Rocked the Rural, Poor, Republican County? Or All of the Above?" Geez, all that, and the Photoshop's already enough for an indictment!

But wait! Maybe it wasn't the right wing after all. Even the nihilist Firedoglake is skeptical:

Before we assume that this apparent homicide was a response solely to the attacks Michele Bachmann and others have made on the census, it's worth recalling how Clay County made news earlier this year, when a bunch of local officials were indicted for vote fraud.

Whew! I feel better already. All that Fox viewing is turning me into a murderer!

Related: "Sparkman: Casualty of Methland, USA? Or Victim of Anti-Government Bile?" (via Memorandum). Plus Lindsay "Don't Spell My Name Wrong You Nazi Stormtrooper" Beyerstein's on the case, "Meth and Anti-Government Extremism Not Mutually Exclusive."

Yuanization of the American Economy?

There's a big outcry on the left in response to Representative Michele Bachmann's congressional resolution that would prohibit the replacement of the dollar by a foreign currency as the unit of exchange in the United States. Greg Sargent and Matthew Yglesias, respectively, have riduculed Ms. Bachmann as a "colorful" personality and have attacked her resolution as more "madness." The Hotsheet has jumped on the bandwagon, indicating that Ms. Bachmann's demand for the truth from the Obama administration reflects confusion "about calls by China for a so-called 'international reserve currency'." In other words, leftists are attacking Representative Bachmann's alleged policy buffoonery.

I tried unsuccessfully to contact Ms. Bachmann's Washington office, although I did reach a staff member from the Minnesota district offices. I was told my inquiries would be forwarded to the national office. However, Greg Sargent spoke with Debbee Keller, Bachmann's spokesperson, and she said that the resolution only applied to the introduction of a foreign currency unit inside the United States. The proposal has no implications for limiting the introduction of a new international reserve currency to replace the dollar as the premiere unit of global finance.

There's something of a rush to judgment on the left, however. It's well-established in developmental economics for "full dollarization" to be established in domestic economies suffering from economic crises and the lack of international confidence in local currencies. With dollarization, the dollar replaces local currencies as both the unit of tender in routine exchange transactions, as well as the official currency in world balance of payments accounting. So when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suggested that he'd be "quite open" to abandoning the U.S. dollar as the international system's reserve currency, the logical implication is that another national currency would take its place, with all the attendant privileges. Although the American economy remains the world's largest, the crises of the U.S. financial system have placed tremendous pressure on the confidence of the dollar in global trade and finance. Some are predicting that it's only a matter of time before China's economy replaces the U.S. as the world's leading market, and thus, "It’s clear to see that the Chinese yuan will be the world’s reserve currency in the future."

Considering the great uncertainties facing the U.S. economy, as well as the propensity for Secretary Geithner to create economic controversy with his economic free-thinking, there is nothing inherently unreasonable for Representative Bachmann to demand direct answers from the Obama administration; that is, it is entirely appropriate to demand that top U.S. officials clarify the appropriate legal foundations for the transition away from the dominance of the dollar in both domestic and world financial transactions.

It is not unusual for advanced industrial economies to replace their domestic currencies. France and Germany, long thought as classic examples on nations jealously protective of state sovereignty, are now the leading cases of world-class economies that have abandoned their national currencies (wth the Euro). More recently, Canada has been open to the dollarization of its economy. Should the Chinese economy come to dominate international trade and finance in the decades ahead - as so many now predict - there is nothing inherently illogical about considering, and protecting against, the possible "yuanization" of the American domestic market.

Perhaps Matthew Yglesias and some of his allies on the left might have reasoned through the full implications of this before dismissing Representative Bachmann's proposal as a "dog whistle to the “end times” folks."

Bachmann Hammers Heckler at Raucous Anti-ObamaCare Town Hall (VIDEO)

Via PoliJam Times, "Bachmann Wins Over Raucous Town Hall Crowd With Snappy Comeback at Heckler":

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MINN.): “I would far prefer to have American health care than I would health care in the UK any day of the week.”

BACHMANN: “These are just some headlines from the UK – the United Kingdom. Headlines about the disaster that is the government takeover of health care in the UK. You probably heard about this story the day before yesterday. It says, ‘Babies are being born in hospitals corridors, there’s a bed shortage thats forced 4,000 mothers in the UK to give birth in hallways, offices,’ – but not here.”

AUDIENCE MEMBER: “That happens here.”

BACHMANN: “I’ve given birth here probably more times than you, sir.”

See Ed Morrissey for more, "Bachmann Zaps Heckler Over Maternity Care." Also Snooper Report, "The Ways and Means of the MSM."

Related: Roll Call, "Bachmann Faces Raucous Crowd in Minnesota" (via Memeorandum).

Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

Straw polls are like beauty contests --- they're a chance for everyone to get a good look at you. But in this year's Ames straw poll, I'm betting Michele Bachmann gets a nice boost from her victory.

At Chicago Tribune, "Bachmann: Win a 'down payment on taking the country back'":

Lots more news at Memeorandum.