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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.
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.
Of course, I tend to think 2012 is probably the defining election of our existence, not a last-chance election. To me, a Republican victory in 2012 will spell an end to progressive values and quite possibly the country as we know it. This is a tipping point, and the one thing Bachmann has right is how important 2012 is.
Joan McCarter at Daily Kos sums those remarks up well:
So here's Bachmann's lesson for Democrats. The only hope Republicans have to finally create their permanent political majority is to destroy every good thing government has done or will do for middle class America, the vast majority of us. The best hope for Democrats is fighting tooth and nail to save those very programs.
Here, let me give you another example of why it's important. From Bachmann's answer to Nikki Haley about the NLRB and Boeing:
“Our president decided to allow the National Labor Relations Board to try to stop what Boeing is doing in South Carolina,” said Haley, referring to the NLRB’s complaint that Boeing moved the plant from Washington state to South Carolina to punish union workers, in violation of law. “It’s the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen. If you were president — knowing he is saying he can’t do anything because it’s an independent agency, what would you do?”
“Why thank you for asking that question,” Bachmann said, inviting the crowd to applaud Haley and promising she would take her calls if elected president. “If the NRLB would also be continuing their current stance, they may not last very long. Once they see what I do to the EPA, they may shape up.”
Ooooh, be afraid.
