Michele Bachmann’s Leadership PAC Spends 145 Times More On Legal Fees Than Campaigns

BY JOSH ISRAEL/Think Progress

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who announced in May that she would not seek re-election, operates a PAC with the stated aim of helping to elect other conservatives nationally. But while her “leadership PAC” spent more than $250,000 in the first half of 2013, just $400 of that went to supporting other political candidates — the lowest percentage of any such committee of its size.

In 2010, Bachmann registered the Many Individual Conservatives Helping Elect Leaders Everywhere political action committee (MICHELE PAC) with the Federal Election Commission. In 2012, the PAC raised more than $1.2 million from supporters. More than $100,000 of that went to conservative Republican candidates for U.S. House and Senate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation isreportedly investigating whether some of the money was also improperly spent to pay the national political director of her unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign.

But a ThinkProgress analysis of campaign finance data reveals that, so far this year, the PAC has done almost nothing that would qualify as “political action.” Between January 1 and June 30, the committee reported raising nearly $300,000 and has spent more than $250,000. Of that, just 0.16 percent — a $400 contribution to a former staffer running for Mahaska County Supervisor in Oskaloosa, Iowa — went to the PAC’s alleged purpose of “helping elect leaders everywhere.”

Where did the rest of the money go? More than $58,000 went to legal fees — unsurprising given the legal imbroglio, but hardly helpful to her political cause. About $170,000 went to telemarketing, direct mailing, list rental, credit card fees, and other expenses associated with fundraising. The rest went to accounting and other overhead.

While political action committees, including leadership PACs, are mostly free to spend money on whatever the choose, the percentage spent on political activity is unusually low and MICHELEPAC appears to spending virtually nothing on its stated mission. In fact, no other leadership PAC that spent more than $100,000 in the first half of 2013 spent less than 7 percent on political activity and the median level was about 44 percent among those groups.

Campaign finance expert Paul S. Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center frequently warns — when donating to political action committees it is really “donor beware.”

Anderson Cooper Goes After Michele Bachmann Over 'Factually Incorrect Statements' (VIDEO)

From Huffington Post

Anderson Cooper went after Rep. Michele Bachmann on Thursday night, for the false claims she has made in Congress.

Bachmann announced on Wednesday that she will not seek re-election in 2014. Cooper, it seemed, will not be sad to see her go.

"In her four terms in the House, Bachmann has certainly been a lightning rod for controversy," the CNN host said. "She's made, as Dana referenced, several memorable and frankly factually incorrect statements about everything from President Obama to the HPV vaccine. On this program, she made a claim about the pricetag on a trip the president was taking that was pure fiction."

Before turning to John King and David Gergen to discuss Bachmann's political legacy, Cooper replayed clips of interviews where he confronted her over some of those claims, as well as Bachmann racing away from Dana Bash's questioning about her claims that Obama has a dogwalker. "That was an amazing interview because she was the one who brought up this whole dogwalker thing and then she turned it on Dana Bash, saying, 'You're bringing up a dogwalker while four Americans died in Benghazi."

Bachmann could face lawsuit for ‘propagating complete and utter lies’

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

A religious freedom advocate told U.S. News he is considering suing Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) over allegedly slanderous comments she made in a fundraising pitch.

“We are caucusing with our legal counsel to consider the most expeditious course of action we can take in a federal court to stop these bald-faced lies,” Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) said. “About 96 percent of our members [at MRFF] are Protestant or Roman Catholic… of our unpaid volunteers, at least well over 80 percent are Christian… I say [to Bachmann]: Tell it to the judge.”

Earlier this month conservative bloggers falsely claimed that Weinstein was behind a plan to court-martial Christians in the military who shared their faith. The conspiracy was quickly debunked by the Pentagon itself, which noted that proselytizing — a form of religious harassment — has long been prohibited, but service members are free to evangelize and speak about their faith.

But as of Wednesday Bachmann’s website still stated that Weinstein’s conspiracy with the Pentagon could “prevent our military from practicing their own faith.” She described Weinstein as a “left-wing, anti-Christian activists” and a “radical.” She also claimed that Weinstein had compared “sharing the gospel to ‘spiritual rape’ and ‘treason,’” when he actually described misogyny, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism as “spiritual rape” and “treason.”

Weinstein accused Bachmann of “propagating complete and utter lies.”

As a proponent of the separation of church and state, Weinstein has clashed with fundamentalist Christians like the American Family Association and the Family Research Council. He described the groups as “pitiable unconstitutional carpetbaggers” who “have taken refuge behind flimsy, well-worn, gauze-like euphemistic facades such as ‘family values’” in an article published at theHuffington Post earlier this year.

Bachmann aides shove reporters in flight from ethics questions

By Stephen C. Webster/Raw Story

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was rushed out of a press conference on Tuesday afternoon after reporters began asking about an ethics investigation into her failed presidential campaign, leading to aides shoving reporters out of the way as they fled.

Photos of the reaction were published by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which noted that Bachmann originally wanted to talk about how she believes Medicare pays doctors too much. But when reporters began asking about an ongoing ethics investigation into her presidential campaign’s finances, all bets were off.

The way the Tribune describes it, Bachmann aides Deb Steiskal and Brian Gordon essentially filled the roles of football blocking backs for the embattled Republican, taking up either flank and pushing two reporters out of her way as they made a beeline for the exit. One of those reporters was a cameraman for the local Fox News affiliate, MyFox Twin Cities, whose video is embedded below.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating whether Bachmann funneled money from her super PAC, MichelePAC, into consultant fees paid by her presidential campaign, which would violate campaign finance law. No charges have been announced.

“It looks like it’s politically motivated and they’re not true, and I’m working very closely with the people that are involved to make sure that we answer all of the questions and we get to the bottom of it,” she told reporters Tuesday. “I’m thoroughly convinced that I’ll be cleared.”

It’s not the first time Bachmann has responded to tough questions by running away. Confronted last July by CNN cameras and reporter Dana Bash’s questions about Bachmann’s allegations of Muslim infiltration at the State Department, the Minnesota Republican “nearly broke into a sprint” trying to get away, Raw Story’s David Edwards wrote.

“The good news is I can walk pretty fast in heels,” Bash later told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “The bad news is Michele Bachmann can walk just as fast. And she proved to be pretty adept at not only avoiding my questions, but talking enough that I could barely get any questions out.”

This video is from MyFox Twin Cities, aired Tuesday, April 9, 2013.

Michele Bachmann: Obamacare Will ‘Literally’ Kill People

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

As the country prepares to celebrate the third anniversary of health care reform, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) insisted on Thursday that the Affordable Care Act will “kill” vulnerable women and children during a speech on the floor of the House.

In a long diatribe against the law, Bachmann predicted that the American people will “pay more” and get less, before suggesting that the provisions of Obamacare will “literally” kill people:

BACHMANN: That’s why we’re here because we’re saying let’s repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. Let’s not do that. Let’s love people, let’s care about people. Let’s repeal it now while we can.

Watch it:

While the main coverage expansion provisions will go into effect in 2014, the ACA has so far saved seniors over $6 billion on prescription drugs, reduced administrative overhead, deterred private insurers from requesting double digit premium increases, kept millions of young people on their parents’ health care plans, and provided 34.1 million people with Medicare preventive services without additional cost-sharing.

Moments after calling for the complete repeal of a law that will extend health care coverage to 30 million Americans, Bachmann claimed that her belief in Christ inspires her to care “for the least of those who are in our midst.” After she completed her remarks, fellow Republican Rep. Michael Burgess (TX) observed that the Minnesota Congresswoman “has a way of stating these things that none of us are capable of.”

UPDATE

Bachmann later came back to the floor and described Medicaid — a health care program for lower-income Americans — as a “ghetto.” “Here’s the one that no American wants to be in. It’s the Medicaid ghetto,” she said. “And that’s where the lowest possible care, where very few doctors will be available available to offer this kind of care.” While the program is not without problems, a study by the Government Accountability Office showed Medicaid beneficiaries were just as happy with their health care as those with private insurance.

Bachmann still hasn’t paid presidential campaign staffers

BY ALEX SEITZ-WALD/Salon

Over a year after she dropped out, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has refused to pay five staffers from her failed presidential bid, according to a former top campaign official. Peter Waldron, her controversial former national field coordinator, told Salon the dispute started when former Iowa straw poll staffers refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would bar them from discussing any “unethical, immoral, or criminal activity” they witnessed on the campaign with police or reporters.

Waldron said the staffers are owed a mere $5,000, and that Bachmann has more than $2 million in her campaign account, but has refused to pay unless the staffers sign the agreement. Negotiations over payment with Bachmann Finance Chairman James Pollack eventually broke down and Waldron decided to go public with the news, posting a press release on Christian Newswire this evening.

“I feel a moral obligation to see that my Christian brothers and sisters are paid for worked performed in good faith. I’ve continually communicated by telephone and email with Mr. Pollack for 1 year but he broke every promise made to me to pay the staff. I appealed to Dr. [Marcus] Bachmann for help. I appealed to Representative Bachmann’s Chief of Staff Robert Boland to intercede with Mrs. Bachmann on behalf of her loyal Iowa staff — all of whom are married, all have children,” Waldron said in the press release.

“It is sobering to think that a Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the public by withholding earned wages from deserving staff,” Waldron added.

Reached by phone, Waldron confirmed the details and said the nondisclosure agreement stems from the campaign’s alleged misuse of an email list. A home-schooling group accused the Bachmann campaign of stealing the list, which was contained on a volunteer’s laptop, and then using it to fundraise for the campaign. The home-schooling group has sued the campaign and Waldron said there is also a criminal investigation pending, explaining that he spoke with police about the incident “several times.”

“They wanted us to have no further conversation [with police] without first notifying Michele’s attorneys, and we just refused,” he told Salon. “We’ve been lied to at every turn.”

“This story is important. I’ve got five soldiers, as it were, five men who are willing to stand and not capitulate to this unnatural pressure that is coming from the Bachmann campaign. It’s just immoral what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to shut us up. You want to get paid? You gotta sign this agreement and not talk to either the police or lawyers,” he continued.

Bachmann’s campaign was marked by poor management. At one point in October of 2011, her entire New Hampshire staff quit en masse, in part because of a lack of payment. Waldron was brought on in July of 2011 by former campaign manager Ed Rollins, who quickly left the campaign and later publicly attacked his former candidate. Waldron said he’s known Rollins since the late 1980s and “made a tactical error in sticking with the campaign” after his boss left.

UPDATE: In an email to Salon, Pollack calls Waldron’s charges about the non-payment “false and inaccurate,” but doesn’t specifically address the non-disclosure agreement. His statement in full follows, and we will have more on this in the coming days:

Mr Waldren’s presentation of the facts and related allegations are false and inaccurate. Why Mr Waldren would be motivated to attempt to disparage the Congresswoman, the campaign, or fellow campaign members I can’t explain.

All Bachmann campaign debt is accurately reflected in the FEC filings of Bachmann for President.  As of today, there is but one Iowa consulting firm having only their last invoice outstanding for $3000. We have been in communication and anticipate bringing resolution to this invoice shortly. There are two Iowa consultants who recently submitted invoices to us, over eleven months after the campaign concluded, each of which are significantly under a $1000 dollars. We are in the process of resolving these as well. It should be noted the Presidential Campaign suspended all activity on January 4th, 2012, so any claims for compensation  thru the month of January 2012 are erroneous.

Mrs. Bachmann has paid off in excess of 90% of her Presidential Campaign debt, and we look forward to accurately resolving any residual outstanding campaign debt in the very near future

With Millions Still Waiting For Sandy Relief, Republicans Reintroduce Obamacare Repeal

By Adam Peck/Think Progress

The 112th Congress gaveled to a close on Thursday afternoon without passing a relief package for victims of Hurricane Sandy or reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, but Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) isn’t too concerned about finishing what Republicans had left undone. Instead, at 12:00 PM she introduced the very first piece of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which states are now busily implementing.

House Republicans have unsuccessfully voted 33 times in the last two years to eliminate health care reform and wasted at least 88 hours and $50 million, while failing to pass a single piece of job creation legislation in the last session of Congress.

Dozens of Republicans, including 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, ran against Obamacare, yet the party suffered losses every step along the way. The Supreme Court upheldthe law, House repeal efforts went nowhere in the Democratically-controlled Senate, and President Obama has pledged to veto any effort to rescind the measure. Even newly reelected Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was compelled to admit in November that Obamacare is now the law of the land (though he later backed away from his own comments and pledged to do everything in his power to undermine it).

But House Republicans are apparently not quite ready to give up the fight. At this rate, they could be on track to becoming even less productive than the least productive Congress in U.S. history.

Michele Bachmann Outspends Opponent Jim Graves 12-To-1, Still At Risk Of Losing

By David Bailey/Reuters

ST. CLOUD, Minn., Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, known for controversial comments during her Republican presidential nomination bid, faces a tough congressional election challenge on Tuesday in a Minnesota district that should be friendly to conservatives.

The race in the sprawling Minnesota 6th Congressional District has been the nation's most expensive in both money raised and spent by Bachmann and Democratic challenger Jim Graves, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The two candidates have raised a total of $22.7 million and spent $20.8, the center reported.

Bachmann, a champion of Tea Party backers of smaller government and conservative social issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights, has outspent Graves by more than twelve-to-one in seeking election to a fourth term in Congress.

But her remarks, including an insistence on a link between an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Muslim Brotherhood, have been denounced by some in her own party and may be wearing on voters, experts said.

Defeating Bachmann would be a significant victory for Democrats, who are fighting an uphill battle nationally to gain the 25 seats needed to retake the U.S. House majority.

Her opponent lacks name recognition, but has used Bachmann's presidential campaigning for half of her two-year congressional term to accuse her of pursing personal ambition over the needs of her constituents.

"When she was running for president, her attention was clearly not on district concerns and I think that perception stuck with some voters and it is a vulnerability that Graves is trying to exploit," Carleton College political science Professor Steven Schier said in a telephone interview.

Bachmann led Graves by 51 percent to 45 percent in an Oct. 16 poll by Pulse Opinion Research commissioned by the StarTribune newspaper. The poll had a 3 percent margin of error.

Bachmann has sought to tag Graves, founder of the AmericInn hotel chain, as a supporter of President Barack Obama's health reform law. Graves, who describes himself as a fiscal conservative, has argued that "there are some good things" in the act, but "the heavy lifting has not begun."

"You can have your opinions, but you can't have your facts on this one," Graves said during a debate on Tuesday.


MONEY MACHINE

A formidable fundraiser, Bachmann had nearly $3.3 million cash on hand on Oct. 17, compared to Graves' $471,311, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Bachmann said several times during the debate in St. Cloud that she was focused on the district, echoing her campaign ads.

"I have paid attention and I have delivered for this district," Bachmann said in the debate. "I know what the pulse is of this district because I am here nearly every weekend."

District voters said job creation was their top concern, as it has been nationally, whether they support Bachmann or Graves.

"The number one thing, we have got to get people working," said Matt Salo, who has voted Republican in the past and describes himself as a conservative.

Jeff Johnson, who said he worked 22 years at the Verso Paper Corp. plant in Sartell and had recently completed training as a truck driver, was one of dozens of vocal Graves supporters at the debate. "He is in touch with the people," Johnson said of Graves. "Michele Bachmann is out there."

The district encompasses eastern, northern and western suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul and stretches north and west to central Minnesota farms and cities. The already conservative district grew more Republican after a 2010 redistricting, analysts have said.

"This is a district that should be a safe Republican district, but Michele Bachmann has never been safe in that district and I think it is because she is so flamboyant and controversial a figure," Schier said of Carleton College.

Bachmann has never won more than 53 percent of the vote in the 6th district and won by only 3 percentage points in the last presidential election year of 2008.

Hamline University Professor David Schultz said Bachmann may have alienated some constituents when she embraced her Iowa roots during the presidential campaign, making the race more competitive, but he still expected her to win reelection.

"I still think she has the district to her advantage. She has the name recognition and she is a money machine," Schultz said. "She is able to raise phenomenal amounts of money."

Jerry Relph, a Bachmann supporter from St. Cloud, said he believed it was "disrespectful" for Graves to say Bachmann had not been a part of the district. "I don't know how anyone with that attitude can reach across any party line if that is what he is claiming to do," Relph said.

Romney Holds Meeting With Supporters Of Bachmann’s Anti-Muslim Witch Hunt

By Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

Mitt Romney held a meeting Thursday with a group of right-wing activists that included several leaders who have been vocal supporters of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) Islamophobic witch hunt, deepening his association with right-wing, anti-Muslim sentiment.

One of the guests at Thursday’s event was Vice President of the Family Research Council Jerry Boykin, who has a long history of Islamophobia, and once said that Islam “should not be protected under the First Amendment.” Most recently, Boykin piled on to Bachmann’s baseless indictment that top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is part of a Muslim Brotherhood plot. “I believe in some aspects of this situation there is support for the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood into our government, that sounds extremist but it is just a fact, it’s a reality,” he said.

Three others in attendance at Thursday’s event — American Values president Gary Bauer, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins —penned a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) defending Bachmann’s witch hunt. In that letter, they argued there is legitimate concern about “senior federal officials or branches of the federal government could be animated or influenced by groups affiliated with, or a philosophy grounded in, radical Islam.”

Boehner ended up rebuking Bachmann and her Islamophobic effort — which is more than Romney has done. The presidential candidate has refused to condemn Bachmann saying, “I’m not going to tell other people what things to talk about.”

Romney Refuses To Condemn Bachmann’s Islamophobic Witch Hunt

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

Mitt Romney refused to condemn Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and four other Republicans who have alleged that Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is part of a Muslim Brotherhood campaign to infiltrate the American government. During an event in Reno, Nevada Romney dodged a question about the allegations, saying simply, “I’m not going to tell other people what things to talk about. Those are not things that are part of my campaign.” A growing number of Republicans, including House Speaker John Beohner (R-OH) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) have condemned Bachmann. Watch Romney’s remarks:

This isn’t the first time the former Massachusetts candidate has failed to speak out against extremists in his own party. Romney refused to directly repudiate Donald Trump’s claims that President Obama was born in Kenya just hours before he is scheduled to appear with the reality T.V. star for a fund raiser in Las Vegas, NV. He also wouldn’t decry Rush Limbaugh for calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” or speak out against social conservatives who opposed his decisionto hire an openly-gay national security spokesperson.

Romney’s foreign policy adviser John Bolton, however, has defended Bachmann’s call for the government to investigate the alleged Muslim Brotherhood plot.

Muslim Brotherhood Leader: We ‘Can’t Even Penetrate The Egyptian Government’

By Zack Beauchamp/Think Progress

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) baseless allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood hasinfiltrated the U.S. government — particularly via a top aid to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton — have been met with near-universal condemnation inside the United States. But no one has thought to ask the Muslim Brotherhood whether she’s telling the truth – until now, when GlobalPost reporter Erin Cunningham managed to solicit a public response. While some Egyptians have unfortunately been persuaded by Bachmann’s nonsense, the Muslim Brothers themselves are not among them. They issued a somewhat amusing blanket denial:

“I haven’t heard these rumors, but they strike me as ridiculous,” said Ahmed Al Nahhas, a long-time Brotherhood activist and leader in Egypt’s second-largest city, Alexandria. “Surely the United States government selects its employees very carefully.” …

[I]n Egypt, the birthplace of the Brotherhood, the organization’s leaders were either perplexed by the accusations or simply hadn’t heard them. Nor had they heard of Huma Abedin.

“The Muslim Brotherhood can’t even penetrate the Egyptian government,” said a Brotherhood leader in Egypt’s Daqheleya province, Ibrahim Ali Iraqi, in response to the accusations his group had infiltrated top US agencies.

Indeed, having assumed the presidency following a year of economic tumult and political upheaval, the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi is grappling with severe domestic problems — not least of which is his battle with the ruling military for executive power.

“We are in a period of darkness because the country is still governed by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces — and they have a long history of support from the United States,” Iraqi said. “So it’s ridiculous that these accusations are leveled at us.”

It’s not just Muslim Brotherhood officials that are skeptical of Bachmann’s crusade, which has its roots in Islamophobic leader Frank Gaffney’s wild conspiracy theories. Top Republicans including John Boehner, Marco Rubio, Scott Brown, John McCain, Jim Sensenbrenner, and Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (on which Bachmann sits) Mike Rogers have all disavowed the Minnesota Congresswoman’s tilting at Muslim windmills. Further, Democrat Keith Ellison, one of two Muslims in Congress, has taken point on dismantling Bachmann’s Islamophobic inquisition. Bachmann’s allies, by contrast, include Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Bachmann: Rep. Ellison has ‘long record’ with Muslim Brotherhood

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Thursday responded to criticism over her attacks on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, by claiming that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) also had a “long record” of association with radical Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week, the St. Cloud Times reported that Bachmann and four other Republicans sent a letter to inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments calling on them to investigate “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of the Obama administration by Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Their accusations were based on a report by Frank Gaffney’s neoconservative Center for Security Policy.

On Wednesday, Ellison, who is Muslim, told the Star Tribune that this “is one of those moments when you can’t stay silent,” adding that the attacks were “McCarthyism at its worst.”

Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner, Arizona Sen. John McCain,Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Bachmann campaign manager Ed Rollins also condemned the anti-Muslim accusations.

Speaking to conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Thursday, Bachmann declined to respond to her Republican critics, but attempted to smear Ellison by associating him with Islamic radicals.

“So when you wrote this letter, then Keith Ellison comes out,” Beck told Bachmann. “Keith Ellison is — he has a record of being the Mafia hitman.”

“Well, [Ellison] has a long record of being associated with CAIR and with the Muslim Brotherhood,” Bachmann agreed. “[S]o he came out and essentially wanted to shut down the inspectors general from even looking into any of the questions that we were asking. So he wanted to shut it down. In response I wrote another letter back to Keith Ellison, a 16-page letter which I would encourage all of your listeners to go and read this letter. It’s what I call a bulletproof letter.”

“And so then now what’s happened is the attack machine has been turned on myself and the other members of congress who have been asking the questions, that somehow we’re the Muslim haters, we’re the witch-hunters, we’re the new Joe McCarthyites because we’re asking these questions,” she insisted.

Later on Thursday, Ellison told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Bachmann’s charges were “ridiculous.”

“That’s not true,” the Minnesota congressman explained. “I don’t have any Muslim Brotherhood connections that she’s talking about.”

“I’m absolutely not trying to shut down their investigation. What I’m trying to do is raise a concern about unfounded allegations of disloyalty, specifically with regard to Huma Abedin and a few other people who she mentioned.”

Ellison continued: “It’s about marginalizing and alienating a group of Americans who she does not view as all-American enough.”

Watch this video from CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, broadcast July 19, 2012.

Bachmann Stands By Widely Condemned Islamophobic Attack, Finds Ally In Glenn Beck

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is doubling down on her Islamaphobic attacks against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even as a growing number of Republicans are repudiating Bachmann’s charges as “nothing less than anunwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen.”

During an appearance on Glenn Beck’s radio show on Thursday, Bachmann reiterated her suspicions that Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, noting, “her late father who’s now deceased was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Her brother was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, and her mother was a part of what’s called the Muslim Sisterhood.” Earlier this week, Bachmann accused Abedin of working on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood in a letter with four colleagues to the State Department’s Inspector General demanding an investigation.

“[D]id she have to go through the same sort of process that anyone else has to go to,” Bachmann asked. “Did they check the boxes…That’s all we’re doing is asking a question.”

Bachmann also tore into her colleague from Minnesota, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) — one of two Muslim Representatives in Congress — and complained that he is obstructing her request for an investigation into Abedin’s alleged connections to the terrorist organization:

BECK: Okay. So when you wrote this letter, then Keith Ellison comes out. And Keith Ellison is ‑‑ he has a record of being the Mafia hitman.

BACHMANN: Well, he has a long record of being associated with CAIR and with the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR is an unindicted co‑conspirator, as stated in the large terrorist financing case that we’ve had in the United States of America and so he came out and essentially wanted to shut down the inspectors general from even looking into any of the questions that we were asking. [...]

We’re asking that the inspectors general answer these questions, and Keith Ellison is trying to shut this, these questions down from getting addressed.

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Scott Brown (R-MA) have all condemnedBachmann’s charges, which some have suspected are being used for fundraising purposes.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) also condemned Bachmann’s remarks on Thursday, noting, “I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character. And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”

Former Bachmann Campaign Chief: ‘I Am Fully Aware That She Sometimes Has Difficulty With Her Facts’

By Adam Peck/Think Progress


Ed Rollins, a longtime GOP strategist and the former campaign manager for Michele Bachmann’s 2012 presidential campaign, penned an op-ed for Fox News’ website today slamming the Minnesota congresswoman for her recent remarks about the Muslim Brotherhood and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Chief of Staff Huma Abedin.

Bachmann has been roundly condemned by members of her own party for suggesting that Abedin, the wife of former Congressman Anthony Weiner, is part of a coordinated effort to undermine or diminish the United States’ response to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Shame on you, Michele!” writes Rollins, before unleashing a wave of criticism on his former boss:

Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest.

Having worked for Congressman Bachman’s campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level.

Rollins’ comments are the most forceful condemnation yet of Bachmann’s decision to submit a letter to several national security agencies in which she and three other congressmen claim — without a shred of evidence — that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the US government by securing senior-level positions in various government agencies. Rollins had guided Rep. Bachmann to a surprising victory in the 2011 Iowa straw poll before he stepped down from the day-to-day responsibilities in September amidst the campaign’s falling poll numbers.

Earlier today, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) gave an impassioned defense of Abedin and denounced Bachmann on the senate floor.

Bachmann rails against ‘activist’ court after health care ruling

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Thursday accused Chief Justice John Roberts and the four other justices who upheld President Barack Obama’s health care reform law of being part of an “activist” Supreme Court.

“It really is a turning point in American history,” Bachmann told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We will never be the same again. … For my mind, this is clearly unconstitutional. There is no basis in the Constitution for the government to have this level of history-making expansion of power.”

“I urge people to read the dissent that was read from the bench by Justice Kennedy and joined in by Justices Alito and also Scalia,” she continued. “Because that opinion said very clearly that this was an activist court that you saw today. What they did was not just uphold Obamacare, this Supreme Court rewrote Obamacare in line with its own designs. So this is an even more far-reaching decision than anyone had expected or imagined.”

The Minnesota congresswoman went on to call on Americans “who believe in liberty and the Constitution” to elect presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

“If Barack Obama has a second term, we will not be able to get rid of Obamacare and we will remain mired much like Europe is today,” she warned. “We want to be Greece then follow the Supreme Court decision today and re-elect Barack Obama, but if we want to be a pro-growth economy and have millions of high-paying jobs then we have to replace Barack Obama.”

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast June 28, 2012.

Michele Bachmann endorses Romney

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Michele Bachmann’s 10 Best Hits On Mitt Romney

By Alex Seitz-Wald/Think Progress

A 119 days after she dropped out of the presidential race Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) will finally endorse presumed GOP nominee Mitt Romney today.

“She really liked Romney during all the debates,” he former campaign manager said. You wouldn’t have known it from watching the debates, where Bachmann repeatedly trashed Romney, as she did for months during her primary bid. Here are Bachmann’s 10 best hits on Romney:

1. CAN’T BEAT OBAMA — “He cannot beat Obama,” Bachmann told ABC News in December. “It’s not going to happen.”

2. ‘NEWTROMNEY’ — During the moment that Newt Gingrich was on top, Bachmann lumped the two leading candidates together as single entity — “NewtRomney” — a corrupt insider who supported socialized Medicine and other nefarious liberal polices. “When you take a look and people say this is a two man race I would agree, but the one man is ‘NewtRomney’ and the other man is Michele Bachmann, the only proven consistent conservative,” she told CBS News.

3. ROMNEY WRONG ON IMMIGRATION, CLIMATE, STIMULUS — Bachmann went on to say that ” ‘NewtRomney‘ are on the same side as the president when it comes to cap and trade, the $700 billion bailout, illegal immigration, even the payroll tax this week.” “NewtRomney” also “advocated for the healthcare mandate,” she said.

4. ‘BIG GOVERNMENT CANDIDATE’ — During a debate in Iowa, Bachmann charged that “Mitt Romney is the big government candidate.”

5. ‘CHAMELEON’ — In a speech in Florida, Bachmann called Romney a “chameleon” for his propensity to change positions in the political winds.

6. NOT PRO-LIFE — At the same speech, she said, “If you look at Mitt Romney, he…has been very inconsistent on his positions. He has been both sides of the abortion issue, on both sides of the issue of same-sex marriage.”

7. PRO-GAY MARRAIGE — Bachmann accused Romney of signing “189 same-sex marriage licenses.” This attack was false, but Bachmann said it cast doubt on Romney’s willingness “to fight against same-sex marriage.”

8. INDIVIDUAL MANDATE — Bachmann repeatedly hit Mitt Romney for implementing the antecedent of ObamaCare while governor of Massachusetts, saying the dreaded individual mandate “was Newt Gingrich’s idea, and Mitt Romney implemented it.”

9. NOT COMMITTED TO REPEALING OBAMACARE — Bachmann often criticized Romney’s plan to repeal Obamacare, which she said didn’t go far enough. “You’ve got to full-scale repeal it, and I don’t think the governors have that level of commitment to do it,” she said in a radio interview in Iowa.

10. ROMNEY ENDORSEMENT FALSE — Back in February, Bachmann seemed to take offense at the prospect of endorsing Romney, demanding the Boston Globe retract a “completely false” story reporting that negations were in the works. “Let me be absolutely clear — there are absolutely no negotiations between me and the Romney campaign regarding any pending endorsement of Governor Romney,” she said in a statement.

See Rick Santorum’s and Gingrich’s best hits on Romney before they endorsed him.