Does Michele Bachmann 'Walk the Talk?'

It's common these days to hear media talking heads refer to Michele Bachmann as the "Tea Party favorite" in the upcoming 2012 GOP primary race. Unlike Governor Palin who has always stated that the Tea Party doesn't need one specific leader, Bachmann has tried to cast herself into such a role. She created a "Tea Party Caucus" in congress, and gave the "Tea Party response" following Obama's State of the Union Address last January.

The Tea Party is comprised mainly of independent minded, small government activists who are sick and tired of the way Washington is operating. These are people who are fed up with DC insiders cutting deals with officials at the expense of this country's future. A bloated, centralized system of government with too many payout, has spawned the biggest grassroots movement in recent history. A person who professes to speak for such a group of patriots at the highest level, had better "walk the talk."

While Bachmann may talk a good game, her actions are leaving many with questions that she has yet to adequately answer. Steve Bannon discussed one of these questions during a recent interview with PV Radio that Ian posted on Friday, concerning her family receiving large sums in Medicaid payments for their clinics.



(Partial transcript excerpt, emphasis mine)

"And I think quite frankly, she's got to learn to answer questions. Like Chris Wallace asked a very straightforward question, she had every opportunity to explain this. And she gave quite frankly, an unacceptable answer. The answer was very misleading. And that's just not going to wash, particularly if you want to hold the banner of the Tea Party, you've got to almost be a purist. That means, if you believe in limited government, then you've really got to believe in limited government. You can't talk about limited government and take the benefits from the large state."

Despite being an unlicensed "therapist" practicing a controversial form of counseling, Marcus Bachmann received more than $137,000 in Medicaid payments for his clinics in Minnesota. According to Michael Isikoff:

Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has forcefully denounced the Medicaid program for swelling the "welfare rolls."

The amount is a much higher than the previously reported sum of $24,000 that she answered for during that interview with Chris Wallace. Isikoff writes:

The previously unreported payments are on top of the $24,000 in federal and state funds that Bachmann & Associates, the clinic founded by Marcus Bachmann, a clinical therapist, received in recent years under a state grant to train its employees, state records show. The figures were provided to NBC News in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The $161,000 in payments from the Minnesota Department of Human Services to her husband's clinic appear to contradict some of Michelle Bachmann's public accounts this week when she was first asked about the extent to which her family has benefited from government aid. Contacted this afternoon, Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for Bachmann, said the congresswoman was doing campaign events and was not immediately available for comment.

Questions about the Bachmann family's receipt of government funds arose this week after a Los Angeles Times story reported that a family farm in which Michelle Bachmann is a partner had received nearly $260,000 in federal farm subsidies.

When asked by anchor Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" about the story's assertion that her husband's counseling clinic had also gotten federal and state funds, Bachmann replied that it was "one-time training money that came from the federal government. And it certainly didn't help our clinic."

At another point, she said, "My husband and I did not get the money," adding that it was "mental health training money that went to the employees."

But state records show that Bachmann & Associates has been collecting payments under the Minnesota's Medicaid program every year for the past six years. Karen Smigielski, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, said the state's Medicaid program is funded "about 50-50" with federal and state monies. The funds to Bachmann & Associates are for the treatment of low-income mentally ill patients and are based on a "fee for service" basis, meaning the clinic was reimbursed by Medicaid for the services it provided.

By stating that the payments were a "one-time" payment, Michele Bachmann was dishonest with the audience. She was clearly trying to downplay the issue, perhaps knowing that it hurts her credibility with that large group of grassroots conservatives across the country that she seeks support from.

Medicaid payments to her husbands business isn't the only issue the congresswoman is going to face tough questions about. Michele Bachmann waves the Gadsden flag and calls herself an "outsider," yet she hired many DC "insiders" to run her campaign. She came under some heat for hiring Ed Rollins, but most of those criticisms died down when her people had stated that Bachmann forced Rollins to apologize to Palin's staff. I never heard one way or the other whether Rollins actually apologized, or if those where just more empty words from Team Bachmann. Perhaps someone in the press will look into that one day.

Steve Bannon was right when he spoke about holding the banner of the Tea Party. The people within the movement won't allow politicians to use their cause to simply advance themselves. They are aware and educated activists who are not easily fooled. When an elected official stands with them and speaks their language, they had better back it up with their actions.

"Class Warfare" Won't Work on Governor Palin

Something that became patently obvious after President Obama delivered his speech to the nation about the budget last week, was that not only is he now in campaign mode but his message will essentially be centered around what is considered "class warfare." As Congressman Paul Ryan stated after the president's speech:

I’m sincerely disappointed that the president, at a moment when we are putting ideas on the table, to try and engage in a thoughtful dialogue to fix this country’s economic and fiscal problems, decided to pour on the campaign rhetoric, launches re-election and passed partisan broadsides against us and making it that much harder for the two parties to come together with mutual respect of one another to get things done.

With entitlement debates ragging across the country, union involvement, and the left's tendency to pit groups of people against each other for their own gain, it's no surprise that team Obama would take this route. How effective his strategy is depends on who the Republicans pick to represent them in the 2012 election. It's much easier to envision this political (and no doubt media driven) narrative could take hold if the GOP where to nominate a run-of-the-mill, milquetoast establishment Republican. The same cannot be said about Governor Palin, if she does decide to run. But that won't stop them from trying.

In an attempt to use this tactic against Governor Palin, the IAFF Local 311 Firefighters Union put out a ridiculous call to action last week. The union has since removed the text from their original posting, but not before Jim Hoft saved a copy of it. It read:

Saturday, April 16
State Capitol
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Leave Station #1 at 11 a.m.
(Call J.R. for more info at 216-****)

Come one, come all, hear the call to . . .DUMP TEA! DUMP PALIN!

Please share widely. The puppets are coming, the puppets are coming! Corporate puppets Sarah Palin and “Americans” for “Prosperity” are rallying at our Wisconsin State Capitol on 4/16.

BRING PUPPETS — sock puppets, hand puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, finger puppets and muppets!

BRING LIBERTY BELLS — that means cowbells, dinner bells, doorbells, jingle bells, you name it, and let’s ring in Wisconsin’s independence from corporate rule!

Let’s show ‘em how we really feel about big corporations passing the tax burden on to the rest of us!

The notion that Governor Palin is a "corporate puppet" is downright absurd, especially to those who are familiar with her actual record. That union is clearly banking on the fact that their members are ignorant, or at least willing to push lies.

Amanda Coyne, a journalist from Alaska who by no means is known for having a pro Palin bias, pointed out how wrong this is via her Twitter page:

Frankly the "Palin is a corporate puppet" meme is ridiculous. She's a lot of things, but that she's not.

Coyne knows Governor Palin's history and she is aware that reality clashes with what the IAFF Local 311 was selling. The governor took on the oil companies and their relationship with the corrupt members of the GOP, directly in Alaska. There's even a book titled "Sarah takes on Big Oil." Corporate puppets don't generally have books written about them on how they "took on big" anything.

It isn't just Governor Palin that this class warfare angle won't work on, it's also the Tea Party movement as a whole. A typical class warfare strategy paints the left's adversaries as greedy "billionaires" and "millionaires," but the Tea Party consists mainly of working class, patriotic Americans who are also overtaxed and feel over burdened by government intrusion. That's why the left tries to pivot to the phony "racist" meme all too often regarding Tea Party Americans. It's much easier for them to lie and say tea partiers hurled racist slurs at Democrat politicians, than it is to lie and say a middle class patriot is really a selfish bazillionaire who wants to see poor people suffer.

The Tea Party is just as sick of the back room deal making and crony rewarded system, as they are about tax rates that hurt all Americans. This is one reason that Governor Palin's message and record resonates with the Tea Party. As James Pethokoukis noted in his recent article about the governor's speech in Wisconsin:

But as it stands, she arguably represents the purest expression out there of Tea Party passion and free-market populist rejection of Washington’s bipartisan crony capitalism. If she ran, her high-wattage appearance in Madison shows just how dangerous her candidacy would be to a field of solid but stolid opponents.

See, the professional left knows all of this. They may try to sneak a fast one by, as they did with that IAFF announcement, but it doesn't pass the smell test. They can't honestly make this argument against Governor Palin in the open without being called out on it. This is one reason they fear the governor over the Mitt Romney's of the world. She effectively removes a powerful weapon from their arsenal of lies, one of which they depend on to win elections.

The left made fools of themselves last Saturday in more ways than one. But nothing looks more foolish than having one of Barack Obama's (a man with more than his fair share of cronies) "rent a mobs" attempt to distort the character of Governor Palin by painting her as a "corporate puppet." It's obvious who the puppets are in this debate, and it certainly isn't Governor Palin.

Eyewitness Report - Oceanside Tax Day Tea Party

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
-- Mahatma Gandhi

I hadn't planned on attending the Tax Day Tea Party event in Oceanside, California Thursday morning when I woke up, but I spent my evening there anyway. The event was well organized by a group called "Stop Taxing Us" who said that there were about 3,500 in attendance. After I saw what time the rally was to be held, the location, and the speakers they had lined up, I knew I couldn't resist. So after work I jumped in the car and headed up the coast to check it out.

(Photo courtesy of StopTaxingUs.com)

Although I was entirely unprepared (no camera or notepad) the Tea Party did not disappoint. I arrived just as Steve Poizner, the Conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate began to speak. Poizner was obviously looking for votes but he did a good job of outlining the states problems and the solutions he's putting forth to fix this mess. I do believe that he is a true Conservative and I find it entirely ironic that the GOP establishment rakes him over the coals for being married to a liberal. The California Republican Party has a reputation for having a certain relationship of it's own with liberals, so they really aren't one's to talk on such matters.

Steve Poizner is pushing for "radical change" for the state of California and by that he doesn't mean the Obama brand of radical. He's the anti-Obama as far as his political ideology goes and his solutions all point to decreasing government, not increasing the beast. During his speech, he purposed changing the California Legislature to part time, to shouts from the attendees of "pay them minimum wage" and "drug test the jerks." I love Poizner's purposal because it takes these professional politicians and tools of the special interest (mainly SEIU) out of the game. He also called for "across the board" tax cuts and fiscal sanity. This is honestly the first time in my adult life that I can say I'm proud of California... Just kidding, had to get a Tax Day dig on the First Lady. Seriously though, I have never heard a candidate for governor, in this state talk like this. He's a breath of fresh air and I don't care if he's married to a liberal or not. At least she's not a Kennedy.

Another speaker at the event that I liked a lot was Senator Mark Wyland. He is actually a member of the California State Legislature representing the 38th district. They should feel very lucky to have a man of his principles representing them in Sacramento. I am not so lucky. Needless to say my representative didn't attend the event and probably is horrified the Tea Party movement even exists. Mr Wyland impressed me though with his fiery speech and his passion for exposing the corruption and dysfunction in the state capitol. I feel a little bit better knowing he's up there fighting for us, even if he is totally outnumbered. He asked Californian's to write him and send him emails to help back him up. He can get more people to listen to him up there if he has a stack of letters and emails from ticked off citizens arguing for lower taxes, smaller government, and suspending AB-32, California's state Cap and Trade bill. You can contact Senator Wyland here.

There were many good speeches from lots of different candidates and tax payer advocates, but Chuck DeVore stole the show. I'm a supporter of DeVore's but after the rally, I would say I am a big supporter. The man gave a great speech where he really connected with the people. It didn't hurt that he just so happens to be a very funny guy too. He made the crowd a promise today. He said that he will call Barbara Boxer "Ma'am" during all of the debates if he win the GOP nomination. Senator Boxer has a little trouble with being called "Ma'am."



DeVore also discussed his ongoing court battles with the likes of Don Henley and the ever present battle we have here in California to get our message out there, while the media and the entertainment industry do everything they can to shut us up. Chuck DeVore is a lot like Sarah Palin in his unwillingness to "sit down" and "shut up." He's not going to do it and suggested the Tea Party participants take the same attitude.

Overall the crowd was large, enthusiastic, and Veterans were in the majority. I spent most of my time standing with a Marine Corps Vet and a lovely African-American woman who were both very inspiring individuals. Another African-American woman joined us half way though and disclosed that she was a registered Democrat who had voted for Obama. She was suffering an intense case of 'buyers remorse' and was very interested to hear the message of the Tea Party movement. She was even taking notes and asking us lots of questions. So, it appears that phony "racism" meme the media has been pushing so hard lately is working like a charm for them... er, not. If the media wants to be effective they should report the opposite message they are trying to convey, considering they have less than zero credibility left.

The threat from the left to infiltrate the rallies seems to have failed due to the fact the left-wingers aren't as smart as they think they are. We had a couple of goons on the outskirts of the event but nobody that I saw was carrying out the prescribed M.O. or getting carried away like they did at other events around the country. There was one guy standing on the guard rail with a sign that said "A FOX Event." Interesting considering the only news cameras there were from Channels 8, 9, and 10. None of which are FOX stations. I guess the unwillingness to besmerch people with false accusations of racism is akin to corporate sponsorship, in the minds of the left.

It was a great event, at a great place, on a day that reminds us all what is going on in this nation with this dysfunctional government machine. Everyone that showed up to a Tea Party today is concerned about the future of this nation and the futures of their children and grandchildren. Repeated all over the country on Tax Day, at thousands of rallies, this message could not be extinguished by the power brokers in the government or their political hounds in the press. We are standing united, even if we disagree on certain issues, the out of control waste and corruption of process in both the state and national governments has got to stop. And these patriots are taking ques from people like Sarah Palin and Chuck DeVore. We too, are not going to "sit down" and "shut up" while the country becomes insolvent and degraded. The big government Alinsky political propaganda machine doesn't know what they are up against. The Tea Party movement is growing and it is sustainable. We will win.