As the 110th Congress convenes next month, I believe it is a good time to reflect on how thankful residents of the 6th Congressional District should be for electing Michele Bachmann as their representative in the U.S. House.
In all seriousness, Minnesota is better off with Bachmann in Washington and not in St. Paul.
Having Bachmann in St. Paul meant she actually was able to garner attention for herself and her off-the-cuff ideals concerning:
» Homosexual marriage. (She did run an entire campaign on a moot point.)
» Abortion. (When last did a Republican actually save an at-risk fetus?)
» Childhood education. (Was she planning to home-school all the special-needs children in Minnesota?)
As long as Bachmann was in St. Paul, people actually had to listen to her; in Washington, it will be quite the opposite.
The notion that Mrs. Bachmann will be able to bring anything back to the 6th District in the form of accomplishment makes me laugh. Bachmann finds herself a freshman lawmaker in the political wilderness that is minority status.
This means that the likelihood that her name will be on any legislation is slim to none.
Not many freshman lawmakers ever get legislation of significance passed, let alone freshman in the minority.
It will be interesting in two years when Bachmann returns to Central Minnesota in an effort to tout her legislative achievements. Hopefully her opposition will be ready this time.
Even though Bachmann will contribute almost nothing to the well-being of the 6th District, I take solace in the reality that with 434 other members of the House, Bachmann’s voice will be drowned out.
Obviously some sarcasm here, but I think the ineptness that we project upon Bachmann bodes ill will towards CD 6. Will she truly represent the district? Will she pander to the conservative lobby and push an extremist agenda?
Comments from Story Chat:
count from countyline Number of Posts: 98 Comment Posted: 12/19/2006 4:45:13 AM
"Hopefully her opposition will be ready this time"
It has nothing to do about "being ready" but more to do with being out of touch with the voters of the 6th.
The Dems had a chance to endorse a candidate who was more in touch with the people of the 6th,but the ULTRA LIBERALS refused!
posters proclaiming-------"Patty is going to win" and "The 6th District has gone liberal" do not make those two a reality
Al from Sartell Number of Posts: 88 Comment Posted: 12/19/2006 6:10:17 AM
"Bachmann['s] career in the Minnesota Senate was built on the narrowest of agendas, chiefly injecting her religious values into the public sphere."
"Her recent testimony to a Brooklyn Park congregation that God called her to run for Congress ... is an embarrassment, and despite her polish, she is surprisingly shallow on national issues." (Star Tribune, October 25, 2006)
Michele Bachmann claims "there are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design" (YouTube; 00:19)
Bachmann reiterated her top priorities — ... staying the course in Iraq ... (St. Cloud Times, Oct. 2, 2006)
A bloody course to stay in terms of American lives after nearly four years of a war that has destabilized the Middle East at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars to U.S. taxpayers.
MASTER OF rePUPPETlicanS from Wherever I May Roam Number of Posts: 271 Comment Posted: 12/19/2006 8:30:22 AM
Hopefully her opposition will be ready this time.
Just like Republicans can't win in the 5th or 8th, the DFL can't win in the 6th.
The perfect storm happened a little over a month ago. The winds of change were a blowin from coast to coast and Republicans decided to run a crackpot like Bachmann.
... the DFL still couldn't pull it out here.
The best thing a good democrat can hope for in the 6th is the return of Mark Kennedy ;-)
minnesota cowboy Number of Posts: 7 Comment Posted: 12/19/2006 9:28:46 AM
Howdy,
Anyone who claims that God wants them to run for congress is a crack pot or lying. As a Christian I can not fathom how God would every support any political party that puts the interests of money ahead of the well being of others. Actually considering how Jesus avoided making political stances and how God did not even want Israel to have a king its difficult to believe that God would endorse any candidate, from any political party for office.
I will stand behind our troops but I will not stand behind our "leader" given that nearly everything he claimed about Iraq prior to the war turned out to be false.
Scott
mattaudio from Collegeville Number of Posts: 10 Comment Posted: 12/19/2006 10:15:31 AM
The letter touched on something about the pro-life Republicans...
There are a lot of liberals who disagree with abortion--who are pro-life--but see just as much chance for the pro-life agenda to happen under the Democrat's watch as under the Republican's watch: none.
Call me cynical, but the Republicans have had quite the chance to reverse Roe v Wade. They have had 4 of the 6 presidents since 1973, and they have appointed the majority of Supreme Court justices.
So why will Republicans never work hard to end abortion? Because they would no longer have an issue that drives millions of people to their party. They would effectively be running themselves out of office. So do they really have innocent babies in mind when they make abortion a campaign issue without any follow-up? Probably not--fetuses can't make campaign contributions.
barrier from reef Number of Posts: 21 Comment Posted: 12/19/2006 11:00:51 AM
As to the letterwriter's actual point, I don't see how Bachmann embarrassing us on a national scale, as opposed to a state scale, is an improvement. It would be entertaining if it was someone else's problem (see also: Harris, Katherine), but until the GOP runs Kennedy against her in the 2008 primary, rest assured, they'll be laughing at us, not with us.
The positive, of course, is that she's marginalized in the southern regional minority party, and can't do any damage to anything other than our image. Maybe Speaker Pelosi will let her name some shiny things after Ronald Reagan to distract her.
I think the point from mattaudio is spot on. The GOP has had opportunities to change or overturn Roe v. Wade, right or wrong. The GOP simply plays lip service to MCCL and other pro-"life" groups. If the GOP were to finally "fix" the abortion issue, what else would they have to run on? It would make government bigger, thus defeating the GOP plank of a small, non-intrusive government.
We have less than 2 years to really make an impact in our CD. Lets find a candidate who actually campaigns! We did not see PW out in our area (SD 18) after an August parade in Cokato (Cokato Corn Carnival).
Despite what others say, we do not need a moderate Democrat in win the CD 6 seat. We need a hard working Democrat who can connect with the voters.
Let's go find him or her!
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