Michelle Bachmann to Retire

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Michelle Bachmann, the congressman who sat at the intersection of fiscal conservatism, homophobia and islamophobia and rode those constiuencies to a presidential bid, announced her retirement after her current term.

She said it was not:
- The ongoing investigation into the finances of her presidential bid
- The chance of losing the next election.

I don't believe that. I think she is pulling a Palin and quitting knowing it will take all the steam out of the investigation. She is in position to make serious money from the lecture circuit and she is looking at a state that just passed gay marriage and where she barely squeaked out a win despite having a monstrous cash advantage over her last opponent.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 17 • Views: 5,371 • Replies: 80

@engineer,

Did you expect her to admit that she wasn't running again because she didn't want to lose?

I'm sure Democrats are far more disappointed about her decision than Republicans.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Fair question. I don't know what I expected her to say. I guess what I really expected was for her to run again. After the 2012 election, she started doing all those things that threatened congressmen do: spending a lot more time in the district, town halls, spending to lay a groundwork for a better election in 2014. She has the largest war chest of any incumbant and the abiltiy to raise plenty more. As I said above, I think the investigation is starting to get close to home and she knows that if she doesn't run again, it runs out of steam.

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@engineer,

Whatever her reasons for not running, you can believe what she says they are or speculate. In terms of the latter it seems to me to simply be a chance for her detractors to get another shot in before she leaves the stage.

I won't miss her though.

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When someone like Palin or Bachman or Allan West leaves the public eye (or at least is seen less of - they're harder to shake than a Summer cold) I have a mixed reaction. Mostly I'm glad to see them go, but part of me misses the useful role they play in making visible the crazy rancid underside of the GOP.

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@snood,

I also wonder if she just got bored with the congressman thing. Here she is a national figure who can command front pages with her slightest utterance and she has to go back to her district and press flesh? She has to sit in Congress where she is a junior back bencher? Maybe she figured it was time to move on.

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@snood,

I'm trying to craft a polite sentence that accurately expresses my view of the representative and her dance partner Marcus. It's taking me longer than usual. I'll have to come back later.

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a lot of people are quitting politics...the most common reason given is that the system is broken so the service is a waste of life. you might like the replacement options even less.

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@hawkeye10,

True, but typically the people quitting are the responsible people who are willing to at least listen to an opposing position and understand the benefits of compromise. I've always seen Bachmann as the replacement option I don't like and she's been pretty effective at obstructing the process (while completely ineffective at actually getting any legislation passed.) It seems like she is leaving her natural home.

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@engineer,

I think this is as close to the mark as any other explanation. She can make more money and have far less responsibility being a un-elected "national figure." She's probably negotiating TV and book deals right now.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Well, there is surely something wrong with me, then. I have never, not even once, read any book written by a former politician.

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@roger,

I've read a few, but I won't be reading Bachmann's.

There's quite a few books that make the NYT Bestseller List that I have absolutely no desire to read

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Michell, We Love You
Paul

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I’ll miss her. She was great entertainment. Bat **** crazy Bachmann!

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

She can make more money and have far less responsibility being a un-elected "national figure."

It's difficult to believe Michelle Bachmann has the panache or the credence to attract those established organization who will pay handsomely like they do to a Hillary Clinton etc....she's much too toxic. She will continue to be a healthy crop of fodder for the late night talk show. Mainstream America ridicules Bachmann the way they do Sarah Palin. it's not likely the average American will pay big bucks to see either of them.

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@Moment-in-Time,

Five reasons Democrats will miss Michele Bachmann

Quote:

4) She'll likely end up on TV

Put "Tea Party politician leaving elected politics" through the Beltway-to-English translator and you get "new Fox News contributor", or, depending on the emphasis, "think tank president". Herman Cain, Jim DeMint, Allen West, Newt Gingrich – the list of her predecessors is a long one. Bachmann's camera-ready hair and makeup, combined with her facility with a soundbite, make the transition an obvious and natural one. She could arguably have more influence as a talking head than as a legislator, especially considering her rather lackluster attendance record as an actual congressperson. Gingrich, after all, even managed to come back to horserace politics with increased legitimacy after a tour as paid speaker and children's book author.

5) She's probably not done stirring up a far-right frenzy

If Bachmann gets traction as a pundit, her popularity among sympathetic, far-right groups can be leveraged more effectively. She could focus her crazy and be a fundraising powerhouse for issue-oriented crowds and hyper-local politicians.

Rick Santorum has been scary good at this; even after bowing out of the presidential race, he uses his earnest fearmongering to gin up excitement at venues such as the National Rifle Association convention and, more significantly, Republican gatherings at the county level, where his support can help the creeping far-right agenda that continues to eat away at civil rights in state legislatures. (The most alarming attempts to chisel away at reproductive rights are largely taking place in statehouses.) Bachmann is probably an even more effective messenger than Santorum for these audiences, and she'd be doing it off the radar of many critics – fueling right-wing flames one town at a time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/29/michele-bachmann-congress-democrats
your analysis might contain some flaws.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

She can make more money and have far less responsibility being a un-elected "national figure."

and I bet she has concluded more impact. more and more people are deciding that serving in Washington is not a worthy use of their time, that they can make a difference better outside of elective office.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

Five reasons Democrats will miss Michele Bachmann....
your analysis might contain some flaws.

Happy Saturday morning, Hawkeye. You might be right and one should never underestimate what the Tea Party supporters of Sarah Palin will do or those just wishing to stir up trouble.

Quote:

hawkeye10 cited:
"Put "Tea Party politician leaving elected politics" through the Beltway-to-English translator and you get "new Fox News contributor", or, depending on the emphasis, "think tank president". Herman Cain, Jim DeMint, Allen West, Newt Gingrich – the list of her predecessors is a long one...."

But these Tea Party party names you've mentioned have no national credibility and most have been a laughing stock. Allen West, what can one say except I'll bet his mother disowned him!

It was simultaneously laughable and pitiable to observe Newt Gingrich's running for president in 2012! Newt would not be elected dog catcher in Georgia or wherever he's currently residing...he has such baggage. Herman Cain was a "miserable failure", and would "bed" a male dog if it had a skirt on and knew ABSOLUTELYnothing of foreign affairs. Jim DeMint tarnished his own persona with blatant partisan outbursts against President Obama.

Sarah Palin is who she is and certainly wasn't ready for the national stage when she was chosen to be McCain's running mate; hence, I don't blame her as much as I do the managers of the McCain campaign.

Sarah Palin is the nation’s consummate narcissist-patriot and my bias against the Alaskan is strong; that is, simply because she's so intolerant of others and minorities in particular. Her distortion of political reality leaves one shaking one's head.

Look, Hawk, I can very well see stations needing a *political distraction* inviting Palin to appear on their show.....but that's all it would be....Even FAUX News refused to extend Palin's contract, sending the message there's nothing there of value....had they thought so, the power hungry empire builder, Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX NEWS, would not have gotten rid of her.

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@Moment-in-Time,

I keep hearing in the press that the GOP is all washed up, but then I notice that the American "trust in government" numbers are bad and getting worse fast.......and I wonder. the Dem's message "let the government solve all your problems (as we remove your freedoms in exchange)" seems none too solid either.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

I keep hearing in the press that the GOP is all washed up, but then I notice that the American "trust in government" numbers are bad and getting worse fast.......and I wonder. the Dem's message "let the government solve all your problems (as we remove your freedoms in exchange)" seems none too solid either.

Unless the Republican alter its racist policies towards minorities, they are definitely "washed up.' The demographic trend is toward Latinos which is the fastest growing minority in America....the demographic face of the voting American is changing. The Republicans lost the African American group a long time ago but the GOP is more worried about the Latino vote which placed Obama in the White House this second time around.

The multi-racial Democrats are more concerned with people and social affairs whereas in my humble opinion, the Gop would throw its mother under the bus for power and whoever pays the highest amount of cash. If Romney had gotten the presidency, there would be more and more people out of work as opposed to the slow but steady improvement in the economy we see under Obama.

That the people want the government to "solve" everything is merely Republican propaganda....a common rhetorical device. People are not lazy and or stupid, they merely want a safety net. If a person is too much in debt to buy health insurance and he gets ill, surely the government should help. We certainly do pay enough taxes. The American congress, partially paralyzed by the Tea Party, is becoming more and more dysfunctional.....they have in President obama, a fine leader, and all the congress does is obstruct.

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Michelle Bachmann to Retire

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