Michele Bachmann and the GOP embarrasses themselves by hosting ugly teabagger DC protest
By John Amato Friday Nov 06, 2009 7:00am
The GOP has embarrassed itself once more. How can they actively promote an event like their tea party/anti health care protest in DC and watch silently as disgusting signs and insane wackos fill their ranks? Well, it's easy to do when you have Rep. Michele Bachmann telling the teabaggers to "scare" her colleagues into voting against health care reform during this "Super Bowl of Freedom." I mean, come on. First of all she should be arrested for actively promoting this type of hatred form a current member of Congress and can she at least come up with a name that's not as ridiculous as she is?
OK, that's asking too much.
In a conference call Wednesday night with bloggers and activists for the advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) called on protesters to “scare” members of Congress into killing the proposed health care reform bill.
If the protesters succeed in scaring lawmakers, Bachmann said that it could cripple efforts to restructure health care for a decade.
“Nothing scares members of Congress more than freedom-loving Americans,” Bachmann said.
She said that members were frightened by the August town hall meetings, but “then they came back to Washington, and they got back in the bubble and Speaker Pelosi put the hammer down on the Democrats.”
Rep. Todd Akin is also one of those special kinds of idiots that occupy the rank and file tea party and he led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance because the word "God," just drives us all crazy. I guess he doesn't understand history very well because the original "Pledge of Allegiance" never had the word "God" in it at all, but nothing is allowed to interfere with their conservative/religious talking points.
At the Capitol Hill Tea Party just now, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) stepped up to lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance -- which he said drives the liberals crazy.
"And so as we now renew our commitment to the Red, White and Blue, let us with boldness proclaim the fact that we are one nation under God," said Akin. "It is altogether fitting that we should do this -- and it drives the liberals crazy."
The crowd laughed, and joined Akin in the Pledge, with a genuine shout given to the key words, "...one nation, UNDER GOD, with liberty..."
And no matter what Eric Cantor says, signs that use images of Holocaust victims are just sick and were not planted by anyone but his own. Has he not seen even one teabagger protest? My God, (I used the bad word) that's the norm at these astroturfed gatherings.
And our pal Dana Milbank fills us in even more.
Many of the demonstrators chanted "Weasel Queen," their pet name for the speaker of the House. Others wore masks of Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); they were covered in fake blood and carrying dolls representing aborted fetuses, as the Grim Reaper led them in chains to hell.
In the front of the protest, a sign showed President Obama in white coat, his face painted to look like the Joker. The sign, visible to the lawmakers as they looked into the cameras, carried a plea to "Stop Obamunism." A few steps farther was the guy holding a sign announcing "Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds" [sic], accusing Obama of being part of a Jewish plot to introduce the antichrist.
But the best of Bachmann's recruits were a few rows into the crowd, holding aloft a pair of 5-by-8-foot banners proclaiming "National Socialist Healthcare, Dachau, Germany, 1945." Both banners showed close-up photographs of Holocaust victims, many of them children.
Immediately in front of this colorful scenery, various House Republicans signed autographs and shook hands with the demonstrators. Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), who recently said the health-care bill is more dangerous than terrorists, gave out stickers saying "Govt Run Healthcare Makes Me Sick!"
"Who knew a casual comment on TV could generate this?" Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.) exulted as he stood in front of the Dachau banner.
Now, objecting to the health-care bill is one thing. But doesn't it send the wrong message for House Republicans to hold an event on the Capitol grounds full of hateful and gruesome words and images?
"I'm not worried about the message of freedom," Hensarling replied, before joining his colleagues on the podium to the beat of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."
Technically, Thursday's GOP-sponsored rally at the Capitol was a "press conference" (a Capitol Police spokeswoman explained that the lawmakers didn't have a permit for a demonstration). The speakers took no questions at this news conference, instead calling, at least a dozen times, for the Pelosi bill's death.
"Remember some of the other battles: Lexington and Concord, Hamburger Hill, Pork Chop Hill?" said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). "We're not going to leave this hill until we kill this bill!"
"Who will kill this bill?" asked Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.). "You will!"
"Let's kill this bill," proposed Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio).
"This bill will be killed," agreed Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).
More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician's office -- an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care -- rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.
This turned into an unwanted visual for the speakers, as a D.C. ambulance and firetruck, lights flashing, pulled in just behind the lawmakers. A path was made through the media section, and the patient, attended to by about 10 government medical personnel, was being wheeled away on a stretcher just as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped to the microphone. "Join us in defeating Pelosi care!" he exhorted. A few members stole a glance at the stretcher. Boehner may have been distracted as well. He told the crowd he would read from the Constitution, then read the "we hold these truths" bit from the Declaration of Independence.
As you'd expect at a political protest, the messages on signs and buttons were provocative: "Waterboard Congress," "A Commie Is in the House."
But this protest was unusual because it was an official House GOP event, and because some of the remarks on the stage were as outrageous as those in the crowd. The actor Jon Voight, standing with the lawmakers, said of Obama: "Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Reverend Wright to damn America?"
Even the Rev. Stephen Broden, at the microphone to deliver the closing prayer, fumed about "death panels inside this death care," adding: "It is tyranny! It is socialism!"
The lawmakers set the tone early, when Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) asked for the Pledge of Allegiance because "it drives the liberals crazy" to hear the "under God" part (his bravado was premature, for he left out the word "indivisible"). The tone continued to the end, when Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) beckoned to the House office buildings and shouted, "Go get 'em!" Some took him literally: Ten people were arrested at a sit-in at Pelosi's office in the Cannon Building, where they were crumpling up the health-care bill one page at a time.
By the time it was over, medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care. But Bachmann overlooked this irony as she said farewell to her recruits.
"You," she said, "are the most beautiful sight any of us freedom fighters have seen for a long time."
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What a bunch of inept, disrespectful, clueless morons.
What if they held a convention of village idiots and only Republicans showed up...wait, that is exactly what happened. I am so proud not to have seen one Democratic politician encouraging these raving teabaggers.
Isn't this a terrorist act , under the newly passed Patriot Act Bill..
This right the laws only pertains to democrats ,, and especially the ones which demonstrate against the illegal war, illegal spying and other corruption / Crimes our government is committing..
http://satiricalpolitical.com/2009/11/06/half...
that Rep. Alan Grayson was vilified all over the TV machine for even using the word, "Holocaust" let alone pictures?
Will the bobbleheads even mention the rank hypocrisy? Or will they allow Boehner & co. to deny that they even saw the signs?
Why are we trying to include them in this?
Reform it now. Do it right. Screw these destructive idiots - they have made it clear that they have no right to be part of this process.
Correct me if I'm mistook.
Grayson said that to point out the vile hyperbole being used so very frequently by those on the right...
It was misunderstood, and he retracted his comment I do believe.
and in the proprer context. The word "holocaust" means exactly what Grayson intended.
Tyler
I did not follow through on that story.
holocaust:
1. A burnt sacrifice; an offering, the whole of which was consumed by fire, among the Jews and some pagan nations.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Sacrifice or loss of many lives, as by the burning of a theater or a ship.
THE Holocauset:
3. Specifically: The mass killing of millions of Jews by the Nazis during the period from 1933 to 1945 in Germany and German-occupied lands; usually referred to as {The Holocaust}. In Hebrew, the same event is referred to by the word {Shoah}.
There is nothing wrong about referring to 'holocaust' as Rep Grayson did. He did not say 'THE Holocaust', in other words, he did not refer to the 'specific event' of the 1940's. What he said is 'that we haven't ended this holocaust in America.
If some group decides to appropriate a word and assign to it a specific meaning, does not mean the word cannot ever be used in it's original meaning.
Liberal - depending on context is either good or bad.
Gau - refers to either homosexual or happiness.
Funny typo...
Evidence that "under god" is (and has been) used as a political tool. Even religious people should be upset by this.
ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE!
..their hypocrisy.
for refusing to say the "under God" addition to the Pledge.
I have never pledged allegiance to any flag and never will. We don't do that in Canada. It's pure brainwashing.
In my day, in school, we had to sing "God Save the Queen" and "O Canada" and say the Lord's prayer. Even at age 8, I thought that was fascist brainwashing (even though I didn't know what fascists were then, I felt it was all WRONG!) I abstained and just stood quietly.
I dropped out of boy scouts after 6 weeks for the same reason.
or Armey's Army of Astroturfers
Conservatives Create Confusion
Under God was added to the pledge in the early 50's.
The pledge was written by a Socialist.
In God We Trust had been stamped on coins off-an-on since America first startied minting coins, but in the 50's some Congressional Act required it.
Funny thing that is after years on the radio, the line from Superman was even changed for the early fifties TV show from, "...And who disguised as Clark Kent fights a never ending battle for Truth and Justice!"
The radio line was also used in the Fleischer Brother's Superman cartoons of the '40's.
It was 1954 when "under God" was added to the pledge. I remember using the old version in the 4th grade but after summer vacation when I started 5th grade the "under God" phrase was added.
..to salute the flag as well. Changed after the nazis adopted it.
How do you embarrass an imbecile who has a low I.Q. and no self awareness or shame?
Low IQ, no self-awareness, no shame????
Sounds like the average Republican voter to me.
Remember remember the fifth of November.
Only people that name themselves after a sex act woild a rally on the steps of the Capitol building shouting "Kill the bill" on GUY FAWKES DAY.
Teabaggers and Chickenhawks should come up with a new name for themselves, my choice would be Ignoranus: stupid assholes.
Colbert said they are Guy Fawkers and what they are doing is Guy Fawkeing. He said he might like to be Guy fawked.
The second line of that ditty is:
"Gunpowder treason and plot"
But I think irony is beyond Bachman's mental powers.
The words criminally insane seem to apply. Do all these republicans believe what they are saying or are they just acting to please their insane base?
Both.
Everyone knows Rep. Michele Bachmann is your typical Republican/Conservative Terrorist because she promotes lies, hate, fear, and violence, and should be locked up in an insane asylum for trying to destroy the rights of good moral Americans. But this obsession for Teabagging stems from a long history of wacko erotic behavior, starting with her tea bagging the freshman football team way back when. Is this a healthy obsession? We think not...
..if a radical Muslim were spouting the same words as bachmann, what would the tea-baggers do then? bachmann is a terrorist and should be treated as one as should anyone who preaches violence against this nation or its citizens.
"Rep. Todd Akin is also one of those special kinds of idiots that occupy the rank and file tea party "
Molly Ivins: "If you took all the fools out of the legislature, it wouldn't be a representative body any more."
I was actually sitting in the waiting area of my Republican congressman Tim Murphy's office in DC waiting to meet with him on HC reform after this was over. I thought, "Holy crap! He's gonna be fired up and come back here and pick a fight with me."
I was so pleasantly surprised. He didn't even mention it. We had a very good discussion on HC reform and he was very knowledgable and in sync with my goals as a progressive physician to improve health care and expand coverage. He had ideological antipathy to the public option, I surmised, and so said he couldn't vote for the house bill.
BUT, I think there is really room for persuasion for moderates like him and the Blue Dogs. I think the most important thing to do is emphasize the moral case: If we don't do something, another 45K will die next year and the year after that. This is bigger than an ideologic distaste for part of a bill that the large majority of Americans want.
While i was in the office, calls were coming in on HC reform. If you have given up on your Republican or Blue Dog Congress person, DON"T.
Make the call!
Cheers,
approach. I don't think I could have restrained myself... I am starting to get pretty tired of having to request in a 'pretty please' fashion to have these self-proclaimed defenders of all that is moral and good, to actually do the moral and good thing for a change.
you know how when you think you're going to be in a fight and your mouth gets dry and your heart pounds?
I was there, and ready, but fortunately we didn't go further.
And there is no point in getting angry with him. I'm trying to change his mind and appeal to the better angels of his nature, not aggravate him. I don't expect his vote, really, but if he wants physician opinion as cover to change his vote, I've offered it to him.
"Immediately in front of this colorful scenery, various House Republicans signed autographs and shook hands with the demonstrators. Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), who recently said the health-care bill is more dangerous than terrorists, gave out stickers saying "Govt Run Healthcare Makes Me Sick!"
You know what scares me??
The simpletons in this crowd don't realize that Ms. Foxx IS ON MEDICARE....A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.
MORE FREE ADVERTISING FOR EVERY ELECTION TO COME.
ann colter, michelle malkin and michelle bachman?
http://intensities.files.wordpress.com/2009/0...
that the same state that elected Al Franken could have elected this mouth-frothing bitch Bachman. How does that happen?
The people of the 6th congressional district elected her not the entire state population. It is a district made up of two main groups:
1) rural Scandinavian Lutherans who subscribe to a system of beliefs that doesn't care so much what anyone does, so long as it doesn't bother them. "Get off my lawn" mentality.
2) trust fund babies
MN-6.
My neck of the woods (St. Cloud area) is predominantly Catholic.
Also, please remember that Ms. Bachmann was elected by a plurality last time - more people voted for someone else. (All the more reason for run-off elections - instant or otherwise!)
The teabagger, birther, wing-nuts are truely from the uneducated, racist and ignorant bottom of the barrel of society.
locked in its prisons.
as "super bowl of freedom" is the "Americans for Prosperity" who's agenda would do anything but make Americans prosperous.
Well if they called there group 4 Prosperous Americans they wouldn't get as many teabaggers sending them checks would they? :)
Good Point!! Thanks for the chuckle! 4 Prosperous Americans would be accurate though!
http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2009/01/artic...
Spelinz not this groops strong suite...
These folks aren't good patriotic Americans standing up for freedom. These people are INSANE. Anyone who so passionately argues against their own, their neighbors', and their country's best interest is clearly not a rational person.
And don't they have jobs?
they are all retirees on Medicare or you know relying on that monthly social security or disability check. but they have the need to stop this comu-socialist gov't from helping people cause some of them may look different from them.
Being a member of the tribe myself, I am not offering this to be an anti-semite. I am merely pointing out what to me is an obvious question.
What would the vast majority of the teabaggers think (sorry, forgot that they only do what they are told, there is no independent critical thinking allowed nor wanted) if they found out that the house republicans have chosen to be led by a team whose number 2 (or is he 3) leader, Eric Cantor, is himself jewish?
Man, I would pay to see their heads explode!!!!
haha thanks for the new oxymoron! Teabaggers think!
A lot of self hate groups in that party. The anti gay marriage "Log cabin" republicans. The anti-civil rights Black republicans. The anti-feminist female republicans.
Ann Coulter, the "woman shouldn't work" author/stand up comic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w36iYgU2zus
I didn't recognize him in whiteface.
No. He was the one beating Bachmann's bottom with a hickory switch.
Boehner wears the blackface.
I picture Bachmann beating Cantor with a cat-o-nine-tails...
Another typical day at RNC headquarters.
strikes me as the kind that enjoys getting tied up and whipped as well.
I think I just grossed myself out, by being almost turned on by that...
.
Jolson did Mammy.
Eddie Cantor was FUNNY!
I sit corrected
who wants to place a bet that the Who will come out within 24 hours asking those idiots to never use their music again. i would be horrified if i were them. they soon will have to resort to pat boone songs at every event. dickweeds
that Mr. Dick in a box stole from the dark people.
I think they should use Dr Hook instead, it fits them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy7zX2SMPz4
Revolting display by an group of elected officials.
The Dachau pictures was especially disgusting....
What a constant ugly display of stupidity and hate. They bungled everything they tried to do. Government healthcare being dispensed to idiots protesting just that, but they had no problem accepting it. Improper flag etiquette, can you just imagine the whining and knashing of teeth if a liberal group had done that. Bungling of the Pledge written by a socialist, Boner bungling the Constitution and oh the irony of his words even if he had the wrong document. His copy of it was brand new and you could tell never been opened. And was that several boos I heard when he held it up? They didn't even have a proper permit. When are the Dems going to start coming down on this bullshit????? Where are the condemnations of this??? You can't continue to ignore this willful hate and inciting of violence, you just can't. Are you listening Democratic leadership??? Sure this whole display is funny in a way, but it is very dangerous and must be called out.
Teh stupid is off da hook.....
because two yahoos won the governor's mansions in Virginia and New Jersey as a result of piss poor campaigning by Deeds and Corzine.
If someone "Lou Dobbs" Michelle Bachmann at her office, what excuse will she give?
what kind of creepy violence provoking freak is this woman?
look into the "whites of their eyes" n/t
of the Grand Old Party eating their own.
What pisses me off is that the Democrats won't take advantage of it.
with that 110%. They are just totally ignoring a permanent majority landing in their laps. It's really more heidious than this display of hate and ignorance. The Dems are going to lose their majority to idiots. Sad. And it will be the end of our country. It's really beginning to piss me off big time.
and their constant and blatant use and emphasizing of the word KILL.
To me they look pink.
Teabaggers are wallowing in them. They appear to enjoy their demented extremes. And yet, no lynched effigy of Obama? Why not, too extreme?
from a tree.
Wow. I remember when you couldn't even say we were losing the Iraq War without being called a traitor but Bachmann is calling for revolution and she thinks that makes her a patriot.
Ever since they stopped wearing their white sheets and pointy hoods.
I hope Pete Townsend sues them. Although, Who songs are used to sell just about anything, so I guess Republican lies isn't too big a stretch.
..one of their albums was the WHO SELL OUT.
I Can See for Miles was on that album. They had commercials for Heinz Baked Beans.
I remember my John Bircher father absolutely disdain the Soviet Union (this was in 1963) because they made their people take "loyalty oaths". I (a smart arse 8th grader) laughed and reminded him that we take a "Pledge of Allegiance" everyday in school. What is that but a loyalty oath?
.
He basically did a mental ear plugging and went La la la la la. Many years later, we were discussing apartheid in South Africa and at one point he lost it and began yelling that there was no such thing as the color gray (you see, everything is black and white). Being the smart arse that I am, I mentioned Ansel Adams, the great photographer, who shot his photographs using the "gray scale". In other words an infinite palette of gray.
... you are either for it or you are against it'
said the 'intellectual' Orally at Foxnoise.
Must have been culled from the same stock
Wouldn't it be funny if DEMOCRATS used ALL THIS STUFF ON FILM AND TAPE IN ALL OF THEIR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS EVERYWHERE IN THIS NATION????
Of course, there's always going to be a certain amount of simpletons out there who are going to keep drinking the kool-aid no matter what.
But I'm a dreamer.
all i could think during the rally was, what if those poor dumb bastards don't make it home in time for Bingo tonight.
In addition to reading the DOI as the Constitution and incorrectly reciting the Pledge, it seems to me there is another error in the detestable speeches - using Hamburger Hill and Pork Chop Hill as examples of victory. From what I recall, these two battles were more examples of futility than great victories. At significant loss, Hamburger Hill was taken and then regained by the North Vietnamese two weeks later. When this story was reported, it caused significant public uproar and forced Nixon to change his Vietnam policy to one of withdrawal. Pork Chop Hill was two battles that also caused a large number of casualties, ended in the North Koreans retaking the hill which many felt had no strategic value, and caused questioning of such tactics, especially in light of the fact that an armistice, which continues to this day, was declared less than three weeks later, and which both sides knew was being negotiated.
So, once again, I think the GOP shows its ignorance of the history of the country it purports to love so dearly.
but i think they know their audience has no clue. It seemed like dick armey pulled those buses up to retirment homes and promised everyone the bus was going to take them out for ice cream. When they got to the capital he gave them signs and told them the scarey socialist in the white house cancelled the ice cream social.
After interfering with NY-23, good ol Armey threw the conservative candidate under the boss and blamed him for the loss. I thought these repugs were all about personal responsibility. I guess they only mean that when they find the Democrats at fault. They're all hypocrites.
...Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation co-president, said: "We strongly disagree with McAuliffe's characterization of 'under God’ in the pledge as ‘a permissible acknowledgment of the nation's religious heritage and character.’ This ignores the history of the pledge. It was written in 1892 by a liberal clergyman with no references to a god. Only in 1954, after lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and other religious groups, did Congress tamper with the pledge, ruin the rhythm and divide our previously indivisible nation by inserting ‘under God.’ Re. E pluribus unum
----------------------------------------------
Francis Bellamy(1855-1931), American Baptist minister; author of the original Pledge of Allegiance (1892). His socialist convictions cost him his Boston pastorate in 1891.
Scott Bellamy, great-grandson: "You'd think he would not have had bad feelings about having 'under God' [added by Congress in 1954] in the Pledge. But he was not even happy about them adding "to the United States of America" (which Francis called a "clumsy redundancy ... a mangling of the original").
Great-granddaugher Sally Wright: "As a regular churchgoer who has voted both Democratic and Republican, I believe that my great-grandfather got it right. A Pledge of Allegiance that does not include God invites the participation of more Americans."
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
His original Pledge read as follows:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to* the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"
(* 'to' added in October 1892).
fries, coming soon to an american burger near you
mis-quotes the Pledge of Alliegence, cites the Declaration of Independence THINKING he's quoting the Constitution, has to look-up the word 'dither' and thinks Sara Palin has a brain......
Stupid is as stupid does!
The 'neo-con-nightmare' continues and
FASCISM is here 'wrapped in the flag and waving a bible.'
They're all blithering idiots and proud of it. America f*ck yeah!!
"The GOP and Michelle Bachman" is a plural subject. Embarassess is the singular form of the verb. "Themselves" is a plural pro-noun whose antecedent is the plural subject. The headline should read, "The GOP and Michelle Bachman embarrass themselves . . . ."
Looks like we're dealing with the right wing A team. It's pretty funny how that dipshit Akin said the pledge of allegiance drives liberals crazy and he the moran couldn't remember it himself. How about Boehner confusing the Declaration of Independence for the Constitution? Fails all around.
The teabagger that got a heart attack while protesting health care reform and was attended to by the capitol medical personeel. I really hope he survived. I hope he also sees some benefit to government healthcare after all.
Embarrassed ? In order to be embarrassed you have to have a conscience , some integrity , some pride . For them it's just put a spin on it and lie some more , no problem .
The original Pledge not only didn't have the word God in it. It was nothing but a marketing ploy by a company that wanted to sell more flags.
I have always wondered why:
a. Democrats don't all think alike - it is obvious.
b. What would each republican's position have been if they originally had no means of communicating wih each other and were required to state their own opinion on Health Insurance Reform?
I am almost positive they all act like a bunch of lemmings
Nothing better than to see such a well behaved, diverse, cross section of society.
SHEESH !!!
Matt's book series about Life in Hell is much funnier than The Simpsons will ever be.
It's idiots talking to bigger idiots. These teabagger rallies get sadder each time.
Todd Akin can be defeated! His support wanes every election. Bring someone into the district instead of the usual dead on arrival candidates and most of the citizens in dist 2 will be grateful.
She's a really dim bulb.
See, the problem is that the Obama administration can't see the difference between straight news stories like this one, and opinion shows on Fox News, where they just straight out call him a Muslin terrorist who was brainwashed by his Christian minister.
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