Despite dropping in the polls, Michele Bachmann is undeterred. God will, evidently, perform a miracle and vault her to the White House, no matter what.

In a town hall appearance Thursday in South Carolina, Bachmann answered a question from "undecided voter" Nikki Haley about the NLRB and Boeing (video above), and then made a couple of astonishing claims, even for her.

Politico:

The Minnesota congresswoman struck an urgent tone, issuing dire warnings to voters of the consequences of not electing a Republican who will repeal Obama’s health care law in 2012.

“I have wept in Washington, D.C., watching what’s happening to our country,” Bachmann said.

Speaking in hushed and sometimes pleading tones, she warned that the implementation of Obama’s health care law would be a death knell to conservatism in America. “You can’t put socialized medicine into a country and think that ever again you can elect as president a Republican or conservative or even a tea partier and think somehow we’re going to get back to limited government. It won’t happen because socialized medicine is the definition of big government,” she said.

“That’s why this is it — 2012 is it,” she added, calling it a “last-chance election” for the country.

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Michele Bachmann won the Ames, Iowa straw poll with 4,823 votes out of more than 16,000 cast. Ron Paul finished 192 votes behind her, with a very large gap between 2nd and 3rd place. Here is the full list:

1. Michele Bachmann: 4,823
2. Ron Paul: 4,671
3. Tim Pawlenty: 2,293
4. Rick Santorum: 1,657
5. Herman Cain: 1,456
6. Rick Perry: 718
7. Mitt Romney: 567
8. Newt Gingrich: 385
9. Jon Huntsman: 69
10. Thad McCotter: 35

Rick Perry's 5th place showing came from write-in votes. He was not an official candidate.

Bachmentum! Or Mich-mentum! Or something.

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Michele Bachmann lies. That's no surprise. But in this case, her lie is so insidious and stupid that it just has to be debunked.

When asked about the debt-ceiling, she said she wouldn't have raised it because Congress had an opportunity to cut spending and ducked it. Of course, she doesn't say that the debt-ceiling relates to debt already authorized by Congress, the funds have been appropriated, and whether she voted for those appropriations for that or not, it's what they've done. A refusal to honor that debt and invite default (either on payments to the debt or promised spending) is the dishonorable claim of a deadbeat.

But wait, there's more. Bachmann once again refers to the $2 trillion-dollar "blank check." Maybe it's just me, but blank checks usually don't have amounts on them, right?

Now we get to the real lie. Here it is:

BACHMANN: I think we just heard from Standard & Poor's. When they dropped our credit rating what they said is we don't have an ability to repay our debt. That's what the final word was from them. I was proved right in my position. We should not have raised the debt ceiling and instead, we should have cut government spending, which was not done and then we needed to get our spending priorities in order.

That's a pants-on-fire moment for Bachmann. Here is a direct quote from a Standard & Poor's conference call yesterday:

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Tonight is the Big Republican Debate on Fox News. Candidates appearing are Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich. And of course, ever present in this debate will be the corporate "persons."

Fox will be livestreaming it here, or you can follow my live-tweets on Twitter.
Discuss. :)

I may chime in on Twitter @JohnAmato

Behold, Michele Bachmann at her very best. Sometimes she puts Sarah Palin to shame with her unbeatable capacity for intellectual dishonesty and wide-eyed idiocy. Here is one such instance.

MODERATOR: I got a lot of questions from people asking is it fair for you to call for dismantling federal programs you ultimately have been a beneficiary of? So in terms of guaranteeing home mortgages, do you think the federal government has a role in that…?

BACHMANN: Now unlike all of you, who I’m sure pay cash for your homes, there are people out there like myself who actually have to go to a bank and get a mortgage. And this is the problem. It’s almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved. Whether it is with the FHA, whether it’s with Fannie, whether it’s with Freddie, it’s almost impossible to buy a home…What’s important is that we do dismantle a number of these federal programs that everyone agrees are clearly out of control.

The question stems from a Washington Post report that she and her husband took out a loan in 2008 which is likely guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac so they could move up to the country club set.

Bachmann’s mortgage was part of a package of debt that she and her husband, Marcus, assumed to buy their home, public records show. They also have other loans, including a home equity line of credit, a business mortgage and another business loan for their Christian counseling clinics, bringing their liabilities to more than $1 million, according to the most recently available public records.

I'm really trying to follow Bachmann's logic here. Is she saying that if these federal programs were dismantled some other "free market" for mortgage lending would crop up? Does she not understand that the reason Fannie and Freddie exist is to mitigate credit risk for banks? Without these programs (which admittedly do have problems) banks simply wouldn't lend, which is what we're seeing now.

I might have more respect for these Birch conservatives if they weren't so baldly hypocritical about what they do, as opposed to what they say.

Think Progress:

Bachmann’s disapproval of federal home loan programs obviously didn’t stop her from using them to buy an enormous house for herself. During recent campaign stops, Bachmann has bragged that her family simply “did without” government aid when times were tough, but apparently this time they couldn’t help themselves.

Yeah, that country club home was just screaming for a federal loan guarantee so the Bachmanns could live there, but you know, god forbid some young person, veteran, or middle class family might need one.

The Stranger: The bravest woman in Seattle.

The Bearded Crank: The price is very very wrong when it comes to Mitt Romney.

Politicus USA: Wisconsin GOP not having much luck with their candidates in Wisconsin.

Bark Bark Woof Woof: Corky from "Waiting for Guffman" and a Bachmann worked into the same post? Mustang Bobby goes there.

Round-up by William K. Wolfrum; send tips to mbru [at] crooksandliars [dot] com.

Other things happened, but you'd never know it to watch the majority of prime-time cable shows this week. So I thought a quick review might be in order.

Things that make me want to stomp my feet in frustration

• White House contemplates payroll tax holiday for employers. Why does this set off my inner 2-year old? Because it increases the deficit by yet again giving tax cuts to companies who are actually holding this recovery hostage while they hold their breath and turn blue to bankrupt this country and drive us into a hole we might never recover from at all. Someone please explain to me how this works to create jobs? And what part of the trillions these companies are sitting on can't be used to create them now?
• Rick Perry still thinking about running for the 2012 GOP nomination. The idea of a guy who actively spoke in favor of secession generating "excitement" for the GOP nomination? Ugh. Stomp, stomp, stomp.

Things that make me want to cheer

• Blue Shield caps profits, distributes $180 million in rebates to customers. Gosh, that seems to fly in the face of the dire predictions that the Affordable Care Act will lead to terrible premium inflation, doesn't it?
• The vote to delay debit card fee caps failed in the Senate. Big banks are sad; retailers are happy, and Democrats are divided. The divided Dems are no surprise, but I love it when big banks don't get their way.
• Michele Bachmann's campaign manager slams Sarah Palin, then backtracks wildly. Beyond the obvious catfight aspects, it highlights the power struggles taking place within the GOP. Rollins was absolutely 100% right when he said Palin is unserious. But after being "taken to the woodshed by the big boys" he's contrite. What an interesting dynamic we have there. I want to know which 'big boys' came after him and where Palin fits in the GOP plan for 2012. But of course, that would require the Beltway boys to take their eyes off someone's weiner.

What we should not ignore

The debt ceiling is still a very real problem. Fitch Ratings warned this week on concerns that it might not be raised. Someone needs to tell these Republicans not to play around anymore and get this done before there really is a collapse in the markets. Also, I'd appreciate it if, at all possible, some folks in the mainstream could possibly frame this issue as an issue concerning our ability to pay debts. Anyone who votes against raising the debt ceiling is saying, in effect, that the United States does not have the ability to make payments on the obligations it has. Do Republicans really want that? Where is their "American exceptionalism" cry?

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President Obama had some opinions on the 2012 field of Republican candidates. I think my favorite was his message for Michele Bachmann.

Michele Bachmann is here, though, I understand. And she is thinking about running for President, which is weird, because I heard she was born in Canada. [laughter] Yes Michele, this is how it starts.

Tim Pawlenty:

He seems all-American, but have you ever heard his real middle name? Tim Hosni Pawlenty? What a shame.

Jon Huntsman:

Now, there's something you might not know about Jon. He didn't learn to speak Chinese to go there. Oh, no. He learned English to come here.

On Mitt Romney:

There's a vicious rumor floating around that I think could really hurt Mitt Romney. I heard he passed universal healthcare when he was Governor of Massachusetts. Someone should get to the bottom of that. And I know just the guy to do it. Donald Trump.

The Donald Trump comments are about as funny and as withering as anyone could get without descending into the nasty zone. Watch those to see what I mean.

As annoyingly insular as these events are -- and they are -- they're also an opportunity for the President to use humor as a way of disarming ongoing and aggravating personal attacks with some humor and some class, which he really did quite nicely.

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Like Survivor, the alliances are beginning to form in advance of the first round of primary purges. And like leeches on a willing host, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are aligning around front-runner Donald Trump.

It really is pathetic. Donald Trump, the unserious candidate of the century, needs his Big Buddy Hannity to save him from that mean ole George Stephanopoulis, after a particularly awkward interview on ABC's Good Morning America yesterday morning.

In classic horror movie fashion, Sarah Palin is the zombie rising yet again from the dark and murky corners. Her host this time? The Donald, of course.

I clipped this short excerpt about Trump, but in the full segment she goes on about how fortunate we all are that we have fair and balanced media so that candidates can be sure to control their message, and how glad she is for Facebook and social media to get her message out. Oh, happy day.

As usual, Palin and Hannity never really come out and say a certificate of live birth is a lesser document. They run this from two tangents. First, Palin claims that the Donald really wants to talk about serious issues like oil but GSteph keeps pushing the conversation back to his birtherism. Second, and offered in an almost offhand way as if to downplay it (but not really), Palin repeats the assertion that the president just hasn't answered this question directly. Because evidently producing this certificate of live birth which was acceptable for both of my children's passports, Social Security cards and drivers licenses, post-Patriot Act is simply inadequate in some ephemeral, undefined universe. Translation: We know it's really stupid but it's effective so we're going to keep flogging it.

They're all glomming onto the Iowa poll Rachel Maddow mentioned on her show tonight showing that 74% of Iowa Republicans think Barack Obama was not born in the United States, or they're not sure if he was. Take this poll for what it's worth. It was an automated poll, and the questions seem almost guaranteed to trigger responses that fit an expected outcome. Nevertheless, it encourages people like Donald Trump to keep...trumpeting, with Sarah Palin floating along on his purse strings coattails.

Later in the show, Michele Bachmann jumps on the bandwagon too. Why the heck not? It seems like the economy and international scene can be damned to these incredibly banal and worthless candidates in favor of a blowhard with a bad toupee' who wants to invade Middle Eastern countries and take their oil as bounty.

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Michele Bachmann is worried about liberals putting John Boehner in a box and the Tea Party's rigid budget
stance being viewed by "Howard Dean's liberal press buddies" as political? Oh, please spare me.

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