Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
After it was reported the other day that Michele Bachmann's son had joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps that Bachmann railed against as a secret plot to indoctrinate young people, the wingnut prom queen tried to turn that into a fundraising opportunity. My colleague Chris Stellar at the Minnesota Independent has the details:
Don't let them Palinize me!' cries the subject line of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann's email to supporters today. Laying claim to the Sean Hannity-bestowed title of "second most hated Republican woman," Bachmann makes a pitch for cash: "With Governor Palin taking a well-deserved step out of the spotlight, it appears that I may be absorbing even more of the liberals' scorn. And, I'd really appreciate your support so that I can defend myself against their attacks."
In that fundraising email, Bachmann says:
But just as they did with Sarah Palin, the more I talk about the issues, the more they attack with below-the-belt personal hits. In fact, yesterday, a Minnesota paper gave a full column to a hit piece on one of my kids!
But it wasn't a hit piece on her son at all. It was quite complimentary to her son for joining a worthwhile organization and working to do some good in this country. The one targeted in the article, and rightly so, is Bachmann for her ridiculous and paranoid lies about AmeriCorps being set up as re-education camps.
The more I hear from the right, the more that phrase "reality-based community" comes to mind. These people seem to inhabit a different universe.
Politics
Comments
Keith Olbermann picked up on this.
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | August 17, 2009 9:42 AM
Palin taking a "well-deserved step out of the spotlight," seems highly improbable. More likely, she's freeing up her schedule for more political activity down here in the lower 48. Less money left for Michele, with any luck. And that "well-deserved" could be read as a crack, sorta like "good riddance."
Palin/Bachman in 2012? a dream team - for Democrats.
Posted by: Bob Carroll | August 17, 2009 9:54 AM
I can see the campaign slogan, taken from one of theri "best selling" bios:
"The Mendacity Of Hype!".
Posted by: democommie | August 17, 2009 10:06 AM
I may have to start contributing to the opponent of anyone who says something stupid just for fund raising purposes. Of course I would have to keep it small because it happens all the time. And I would have to contribute to both parties because both do it. And I would often be giving to both candidates in a single election. On second thought, nevermind.
Posted by: Don | August 17, 2009 10:11 AM
So does Carrie Prejean...
GOP 12: Carrie Prejean bonds with Palin
Former Miss CA, Carrie Prejean, was at a convention hosted by the Ventura County Young Republicans this weekend.
"Prejean said Saturday that she and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have been attacked for speaking their mind. Prejean said she has spoken on the phone with Palin.
“(Palin’s) been very supportive. I really admire her and look up to her, and I know she’ll do great things,” Prejean said."
[...]
http://www.gop12.com/2009/08/carrie-prejean-bonds-with-palin.html
Posted by: SKin | August 17, 2009 10:20 AM
"The more I hear from the right, the more that phrase "reality-based community" comes to mind. These people seem to inhabit a different universe." I agree. But the same applies to the left. I have the disgrace of seing my third world country descend to fourth thanks to leftist trash.
Pinochet and Castro, Right and Left, Argentinian dictators, Plaza de Mayo mothers: same crap, different ideology.
Posted by: Cambrico | August 17, 2009 10:27 AM
@Cambrico
"I have the disgrace of seing my third world country descend to fourth thanks to leftist trash. "
You should thank yourself that you don't live in a rightist country like Saudi Arabia. Even the fringe right of USA, let alone the mainstream (and non-social) conservative, would be insulted with a comparison of the right wing to a religious theocracy. And so does the American liberal take offense to your comparison of the left wing to communism or even socialism.
Posted by: SKin | August 17, 2009 10:46 AM
What does that even mean?
Posted by: pough | August 17, 2009 10:50 AM
@Cambrico
Btw, when Ed Brayton or I use the term "left wing" and "right wing" we are talking about political ideological divide in the US. The "right wing" in much of Europe, would be center-left(on 'most' issues)in the US. The "right wing" in a country like India would be clearly left in the US. Similarly, the "right wing" in Cuba would be solidly left in the US.
Posted by: SKin | August 17, 2009 10:57 AM
This could be their campaign theme song.
Posted by: ESC | August 17, 2009 11:07 AM
Bob Caroll "Palin/Bachman in 2012? a dream team - for Democrats."
Is this hope that maybe after a term in office the Democrats will have grown enough of a spine to actually stand up to the Republicans? Because right now I'm not seeing a great deal of difference in the sorts of laws being passed with a democrat majority, given they're still mostly caving in to the republicans at every opportunity.
SKin - I've always been a little bemused by the way most americans seem to speak about socialism without apparently knowing what it means and always seem to do so in the sort of tones usually reserved by the rest of the world for child molestors.
It seems to be an emergency brain-bypass switch for american voters. I'm fairly sure you could get the US military disbanded by linking it to socialism if you tried hard enough. (After all, it's a government run military organisation dedicated to defending government interests and people approved by the government of being "american"! It lures in young people with a variety of promises and offers, including funded "education" if only they sacrifice some of their cherished constitutional freedoms for a time to serve in in the military. ZOMG!)
Posted by: Captain Obvious | August 17, 2009 11:20 AM
Captain Obvious said:
Yep, and as the interests of America's government include invading and occupying other countries without cause, its military effectively becomes a collection of mercenaries whose work endangers their fellow citizens rather than protecting them, an effort which said citizens are forced to fund. Using the word "socialist" to disband that doesn't sound like such a bad idea, to be honest.
Posted by: Gretchen | August 17, 2009 11:29 AM
@Skin
Thank you for your clarifications. I understand very well you are talking about the right and left in US. But:
1. These blogs are read by people of other nationalities, that are very interested in US, your politics and what is going on over there. Think "internationally" when you see some comments.
2. Compare your extreme rigth with our extreme left: both use the same tactics, live in a paralell universe and think they are some kind of world saviors. Give them the power, and the first victims are individual liberties, while the "enlightened" leaders get very rich.
3. I was for McCain because I was afraid a Democrat will be too appeasing with some leftist crackpots in Latinamerica. But I shiver when I think of Palin as President. So I changed my mind, and now I like the way Obama and Clinton are handling issues like Honduras, and I hope they are intelligent enough to understand that a democracy is not only elections, but the respect for the other institutions and the coexistence of people with differente ideas. These last points total inexistent in your extreme rigth and our left.
An additional point: I am not an apologist of latinamerican rigth wing despots, but they are mostly dead or retired. Now is the left wing demagoges that are pissing me off.
Posted by: Cambrico | August 17, 2009 11:37 AM
Skin,
The right wing in Cuba lives in Miami.
Posted by: Bill Poser | August 17, 2009 4:19 PM
Does it bother anybody but me that we live in a country that people all around the world are quaking in their boots wondering what crazy turn our politics is going to take next?
Posted by: The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge | August 17, 2009 6:24 PM
It takes a very special kind of person to make Palin look clever, but Bachmann has what it takes.
Posted by: Nemo | August 17, 2009 7:26 PM
Posted by: ESC | August 17, 2009 11:07 AM
MY EARS!!! must clean them out with some Ministry or something louder.
OMG That was as bad as a Narnia Movie no worse...
Posted by: theroachman | August 17, 2009 8:56 PM
Don writes (tongue in cheek, I think), "I may have to start contributing to the opponent of anyone who says something stupid just for fund raising purposes."
I actually attempted to use Bachmann's cheap attempt at leveraging her disingenuousness, incendiary rhetoric, and political paranoia into campaign cash as an opportunity to fundraise against her (see link below), but without any success as of yet.
http://www.immelman.us/news/bachmann-plays-victim-again/
Posted by: Aubrey Immelman | August 18, 2009 1:43 AM