Rep. Michele Bachmann took to the House floor today, along with a stream of other Republicans, calling for the resignation of Janet Napolitano, director of Homeland Security over the recently leaked DHS report on rightwing extremists. She says a hearing should be held to determine if Napolitano believes that those espousing conservative values are “extremists.” There’s “no nuancing” in the report, Bachmann claims, arguing that it’s “like a hammer coming down” on people who oppose President Obama’s tax policies, serve in the military or disagree with abortion. (Read the report to see if this characterization is accurate.)
Excerpts:
I think we’re at the point now where we need to have a hearing, we need to have our director of Homeland Security in front of Congress… Ask her why on multiple occasions in this document they call people who believe in the sanctity of life, who believe in owning firearms, who believe in serving in their country in the military and coming back, who are very concerned about the policies this nation is embarking on, spending too much money, taxing too much. It’s all listed right here. These are the domestic rightwing extremists. That is so frightening…
…To consider whole blocks of the American electorate somehow a threat to American security, because I didn’t notice any nuance in this document… There’s not saying we need to recognize and understand that there might be a difference of opinion… There’s no nuancing about that. It is like a hammer coming down on interest group after interest group that apparently the Obama administration perceives as a threat to us all.”













23 Comments »
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
Dear Rep. Bachmann,
Where was your outrage when your constituents were being indiscriminately tear-gassed and arrested en masse for peacefully protesting the RNC? You were absolutely silent when the streets of Minneapolis were being cleansed before the procession of torturers and war profiteers arrived.
Your objections here are over paperwork and bureaucratic trappings. No one has been beaten or flogged nor deprived their freedom, can you see the difference?
Your myopia and selectivity in these matters is truly breath-taking.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
“To consider whole blocks of the American electorate somehow a threat to American security”
Kettle, meet pot.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:38 pm
This woman spews more unbeleivable crap each week. She’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
Yet…if we say “We gotta watch Muslims”. That’s okay? Any “extremist” can be put on a watchlist. Be it on the right or the left. The important factor is the EXTREME part. If you would, say, bomb someone because you love guns or love to get abortions…I hope to god someone is watching you. Extremism is the key.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
Bachmann is a disgrace to public service. SHE IS AN EXTREMIST who does not have a shred of common sense in her tiny brain
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
1) This is coming from a woman who recently called for her supporters to take up arms in revolution.
2) If she actually read the report instead of just grandstanding about it, she’d see that the groups she is listing are just mentioned as possible target demographics for recruitment by extremist groups, not that they are already extremists.
3) There was a DHS report in January about left-wing extremists. All extremist groups are looked at as potential threats, it’s that simple.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
Wow.. is all of Minnesota this off? We are talking about some very different things here, the right to exist and say what you feel against being watched as a terrorist?
What happened to civil liberties and not spying on American citizens? I understand it happens with court orders, but if this holds, it’s a very dangerous step… I mean, why object to this if you have nothing to hide? So since someone objects, we must watch them too… I can feel the size of government growing as I type… half the population will be government workers watching the other half that pay their salary… just in case…
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Dear idiot Republicans. You lost. Ha ha.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
It frightens me that they only want to get the troops out of Iraq, so that they can have them home to protect the country from it’s own citizens. Ooops! I forgot. The troops are extremists, too. Well, good for them. I’d rather have them on my side, anyway.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
What kind of people would elect a person like Michele Bachmann as their representative? I just keep asking myself that question.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
Rep. Michele Bachmann,
Some of your constituents might try to change the subject by bringing up tear gassing, torture and war profiteering while the issue at hand is on Janet N. and the extremeist comments covering a large percentage of Americans. Please try and stay on topic and don’t let the left wing agenda lead you astray from the concerns at hand.
You’d be myopic if you didn’t worry about Janets leanings.
Thanks,
KC
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
The day you start answering questions posed to you, Mrs. Bachmann, others will start to contemplate the questions you wish to be answered.
People have been asking you, on multiple occasions, your agendas, your personal views, your approval of spending trillions of dollars on war. Mrs. Bachmann, you have given no answers to these questions asked of you. And now you demand the same of another member of the US government?
Your hypocrisy is only surpassed by your lack of candor as a elected official.
Find a mirror and stare into it. You will find the answers you seek. They will not be pretty.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
Wow – the comments. The Dems are really riding high. The traditionally peace-loving party has some enraged members, I see. Nothing wrong with that – but don’t lose perspective in coping with your blanket of power. There is nothing wrong with Bachmann bringing the bigotry within the DHS report to light. Understand: not all Republicans agreed with Bush, and they should not all be persecuted for his mistakes. Not everyone who voted for McCain wanted Bush’s policies to stand. Not all Americans who can identify the railroading nature in the DHS report are affiliated with a political party. Wake up. This is not a basketball game. In fairness, I will defend the well-meaning Democrats when Obama has run our country into the ground. You didn’t mean for that to happen, I’m sure.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
MATT D
Obviously you were not there and are only spouting leftwing rhetoric. The protests were anything but peaceful, AND they were in ST. Paul, not Minneapolis!
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
Bigotry in the DHS report? Do you remember the Oklahoma City bombing? McVey was a right-wing extremist according to the reports about him from the Feds. You want a blank check for extremists on the right but not on the left? Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. Ask the rank-and-file agents at the United States Secret Service and the FBI what they think of that idea. They’ll tell you that ALL political extremists are potentially dangerous. And trying to excuse one while attacking the other is very unpatriotic and dangerous to America.
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
All Americans remember the OKC bombing. Don’t be silly. I don’t give a hoot about right or left. That’s fluff. Why do you assume that people who don’t agree with the DHS report have to be extremists? OF COURSE extremists are dangerous! OF COURSE I don’t want extremists to be plotting attacks here! The issue is the definition – you’re attacking the wrong group. Free thinking Americans and Republicans are DIFFERENT from criminals who want to hurt us. Can we agree to stand up to them together?
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
Michele Bachmann IS AN ANTI-CHRIST AND SHE’S AN ANARCHIST SHE IS EXTREME..LEGALIZE POT IS WHAT I SAY MAKE EVERYONE MELLOW
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
The issue at hand is not Janet Napolitano’s “leanings” (whatever that means). Her reputation and abilities as an executive were never in question while she was governor of an extremely conservative Arizona. She was and is very popular here. She makes sensible and principled decisions and if she was not limited to two terms here she would have gone on crushing all comers in election after election (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_gubernatorial_election,_2006) and would not be troubling Representative Bachmann today. She has a good deal of experience defusing the far-right militias and Mormon polygamists in Arizona, and thus is making an honest threat assessment based on her work here.
The issue at hand IS consistency (which is not a hobgoblin of the conservative mind).
I am not a democrat. I am also not a Democrat. I don’t see why anyone would think that party matters here. I’m not offended by your misjudgment. I think it lends credence to my point. Religious fundamentalists and neo-fascists are not equipped to come upon the correct conclusions based on any body of evidence. I also don’t see how selective and arbitrary national security and irrational threat assessments are going to make us any safer. I also don’t see the value in candy-coating the language used to describe domestic threats.
People above have made references to Oklahoma City this is an absolutely valid point, but puts the danger of far-right politics firmly in the past. There is much to be concerned with in our present, and it seems odd that Republican politicians can express their terror of persecution without embarrassment in the same week that something like this happens:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/04/us_marine_arres.html?s_campaign=8315
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
McVeigh and the Washington DC sniper were US military veterans. Anti-abortion extremists have killed medical doctors and bombed medical clinics. I would hope that the government keeps a close eye on anybody who through their first amendment speech expresses sympathy for the methods used by those veterans and antiabortion extremists.
To try to spin that into some broad “spying on conservatives” sort of story is precisely the dark reality-twisting perceptual manipulation the Republican right has been using since Newt Gingrich ran the House.
It’s pretty pathetic to hear Representative Bachmann waste precious speech on such darkly manipulative spin. Conservatives in American are trying to wrap a victim blanket around themselves ….. when they are the victims (along with the rest of us) of the foolishness implemented by conservatives as governing policy for the Bush years.
How are foreclosures going in your District, Representative Bachmann? How is the unemployment rate in the Minnesota 6th? Every baby already born being cared for? Every elder getting the assistance they need? What do you think of the torture memos? Are you glad you went ga-ga over the President who lied a Goebbles-style lie saying we do not toture, when if fact we did?
Comment posted April 23, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
gopherguy79
I guess that is why they’re called the twin cities.
Comment posted April 24, 2009 @ 5:59 am
michelle bachmans supporters are a in a district that is heavely fudamentalist christian… extremists.
Comment posted April 24, 2009 @ 9:08 am
For the survival of this Republic, I certainly hope that every American is an extremist when it comes to defending the Constitution.
I am.
SSgt Eric Nordstrom
United States Air Force
Comment posted April 24, 2009 @ 1:21 pm
Rep. Michele Bachmann Should immediately resign. That’s is who should resign. Janet is doing her job. Does she have to be a hate monger like the loser Republicans to be a DHS head? Please get a life. We are going to vote you all out. Republicans are racist clowns and soar losers.
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