I never thought that I would say this, but Michele Bachmann has made my day week. In an 8’40” video that was 7’40” too long, she announced that she will not be running for office again amid a whole bunch of nonsense that I only half-listened to, because I was too busy playing DOTS.
However, feeling that I had an obligation to be familiar with her words in order to be able to write this post, I searched online for a transcript of the speech, and was lucky to find this excellent Raw Story article containing excerpts translated “from Wingnutese to English.”
One statement, that was only partially covered in the Raw Story article, caught my attention:
“I fully anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term. They always seemed to attempt to find a dishonest way to disparage me. But I take being the focus of their attention and disparagement as a true compliment of my public service effectiveness.”
I have two things to say about this remark. The first one concerns her expectation that the “mainstream liberal media” is going to negatively spin her resignation. This is a classic case of “the pot calling the kettle black.” Speaking of black, let me remind you of the opening statement in a pro-traditional marriage pledge signed by Bachmann back in 2011:
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.” [The Telegraph]
Bachmann’s team later claimed that the “candidate vow” portion of the pledge did not include any mention of slavery, which means that she signed a two-page document without fully reading it. Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?
But, I digress. My second observation regarding her remark concerns its last sentence. If, indeed, the attention and disparagement that she receives from the liberal media is a true compliment of the effectiveness of her public service; then, logic dictates that her disparagement of President Obama must be a true compliment of the effectiveness of his.
Of course, logic is a very foreign concept to Michele Bachmann as is anything foreign, given that she believes so much in American exceptionalism and in her own patriotism. Speaking of patriotism, I’d like to point out something that I noticed while I was half-listening to her resignation speech. I’m surprised that none of her advisors have ever told her that if you’re going to be a U.S. flag-waving xenophobe, it might be a good idea to know how to pronounce our country’s name correctly. Yes, somebody should definitely tell Bachmann that we live in the United States of America, not in the “Unined” ones.