Minnesota Not-So-Nice
Today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), one of Mitt Romney’s formal rival for the GOP nomination, shook her own Etch A Sketch and endorsed him during an appearance in Virginia. In honor of her newfound fondness for Romney, we wanted to resurrect a few of her greatest hits on the presumptive nominee.
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 MARRIAGE — 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.
Just like her attacks on President Obama, many of the above attacks on Mitt Romney are not true. Mitt Romney is a climate change denier, the most extreme candidate on immigration in recent history, want Roe v. Wade overturned, supports extreme “personhood” amendments, wants to write marriage discrimination into the Constitution, and has made repealing health care benefits for tens of millions of Americans one of his top priorities.
It’s also worth noting that Michele Bachmann’s problem telling the truth seems to have rubbed off on Romney. PolitiFact has rated 21 Romney statements “mostly false,” 19 false, and another 13 have earned the dubious “Pants on Fire” distinction — exceeding Bachmann’s own 12 Pants on Fire ratings.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed
The Marvel versus DC Comics feud opens up a new front on the big screen.
The Mitt Romney campaign appears to have muzzled gay spokesman Richard Grenell in the days before he resigned, not wanting a fight with anti-gay hate groups.
Romney commissioned 9/11-themed pins for the Salt Lake Olympics, but then had them made in China. He also refused to give Olympics to 9/11 widows and orphans, but gave them out for free to legislators.
After the Senate failed to water down the Violence Against Women Act, now the Republican-controlled House is trying to do it — with a version of the bill that removes the same protections for marginalized communities that the Senate voted to uphold.
A new study reports that salaries for CEOs at American companies increased 127 times faster than worker pay over the past 30 years.
The “don’t say gay” bill in Missouri that would restrict students in public schools from talking openly about their sexuality prompted one Republican lawmaker to say he’s gay.
A former Israeli intelligence chief says that attacking Iran could accelerate its nuclear program.
Romney campaign on invasive ultrasounds supported by many of his backers: no comment.
Jon Stewart takes down a conservative shock jock for his remarks about an openly gay Romney advisor who left the campaign this week.