Bachmann gets rousing support, ‘glitterbomb’ at Minneapolis conservative conference
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 7:30 am
- 7 Comments
A crowd of more than 1,200 that packed a ballroom at the Minneapolis Hilton Saturday morning erupted in cheers and applause when presidential hopeful and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said, if she reaches the White House, she “will not sleep” until President Obama’s health care reform is repealed.
Bachmann was the last of eight speakers at the three-plus hour general session of RightOnline, a weekend-long conservative conference aimed at “bringing together leaders in government, new media, and grassroots activism to provide important leadership and grassroots training, offering the tools and inspiration to more effectively impact public policy in favor of limited government and free enterprise.”
The 6th District Republican spoke confidently, covering topics from healthcare to energy to unemployment and inflation.
Bachmann folded a dollar mostly in half, demonstrating that for every dollar the U.S. spends, 42 cents is borrowed money. She said Obama has “demonstrated a failure of leadership.”
Bachmann presented a number of unemployment statistics, including 40 percent of African-American youth are unemployed this year. She then referenced remarks from Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who stressed the importance of private industry.
“Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear an American president talk about the private sector?” Bachmann asked. “As President of the United States, I will.”
Bachmann perhaps drew her biggest ovation when she said Obama spoke most dangerously when he called on Israel to shrink its borders.
“I stand with Israel,” Bachmann said.
Bachmann gets “glitter-bombed”
But as Bachmann began to walk off the stage to a swarming group of supporters, she became the latest victim of a “glitter-bomb,” a newly popular technique to protest Republican politicians’ anti-gay rhetoric. At the end of the speech, LGBT activist Rachel E. B. Lang rushed to the stage, threw glitter in the air towards Bachmann, and shouted “You can run, but you can’t hide. Keep your hate out of our Constitution.”
Her words echoed the name of the controversial Minnesota ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, which has been vocally anti-gay, and referenced the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage which will be on the Minnesota ballot in 2012. A press release sent out by Nick Espinosa, who was behind a similar action against Newt Gingrich, noted that Bachmann has fundraised for the ministry.
Security personnel promptly escorted Lang out of the ballroom.
“Today I welcomed Bachmann into the Glitter Hall of Fame and, until these politicians stop their anti-gay attacks on families like mine, people will continue to stand up for equality and the freedom to love whoever they want,” said Lang, a straight lawyer from Minneapolis who has gay family members. “As long as Michele Bachmann and other out-of-touch politicians are attacking my family and limiting my freedom, there will be more and more glitterings across the country.”
Pawlenty joins conference, late
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who himself was hit by a glitter activist in San Francisco last week, was scheduled to speak during the morning session, but spoke at the Strong America Now event in Des Moines and showed up in Minneapolis to give a brief afternoon speech.
Pawlenty covered his accomplishments as governor while inserting a number of anecdotes about context and teamwork. “Welcome to the new, conservative Minnesota,” the presidential hopeful told the crowd at the start of his speech.
He briefly mentioned his plan to grow the American economy 5 percent per year if he’s elected president.
“If China can have 5 percent growth, and India can have 5 percent growth, and Brazil can have 5 percent growth, then the United States of America can have 5 percent growth,” Pawlenty said. “Kennedy didn’t say ‘let’s have a space program and go to the clouds.’ ”
At the start of the day filled with shots at embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner and Netroots Nation, a concurrent, left-leaning convention in Minneapolis, Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, spoke about rising gas prices, attributing the spike to liberals’ unwillingness to drill on domestic soil.
Phillips introduced syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, whose lengthy speech criticized “ObamaCare,” the mainstream media and the left in general.
“We’re not squelchers of dissent, you are. We’re not racist, you are,” Malkin said, later telling the crowd to “raise your children right — both with a lowercase ‘r’ and an uppercase one.”
Fox commentator Glenn Beck also made an appearance through a video, telling attendees “there’s nothing a progressive fears more than all of you, sitting in a room.”
Throughout the rest of the day, participants made their way through a variety of tracks, attending expert- and politician-led sessions about the use of new media in spreading conservative ideals.
7 Comments
Comment posted June 20, 2011 @ 8:46 am
When I read about these people it always occurs to me that they have no pride in what we as a society have corrected and accomplished. It is always negative talking points, we failed here, we failed there, we are doomed because, we wasted our money here, we wasted our money there…
I’m not ignorant of our failures and I’m not foolish enough to believe we’ve exhausted all avenues to improve our joint tenancy as Americans, but I am proud of where we have come to, I am proud of our efforts to date and in contradiction to these people, I want us to keep on trying to make things better, to build on what we have and not tear it all down assuming the replacement effort will succeed in what they identify as our collective failure.
Where is the American pride?
Jeff Wilfahrt, Rosemount, MN
Comment posted June 20, 2011 @ 11:19 am
After watching the Republicans have so called debates I’m left wondering what all these people will do fix our nation that, according to Republicans, has been destroyed by Democrats.
After watching Republicans hate on all the people who voted for Democrats I realized this: That in order for Republicans to even get elected, they need to exploit the emotions of people using anti-gay rhetoric along with some fear mongering like “death panels” mixed with a little contentious associations such as the anti ACORN and Planned Parenthood right-wing propaganda. Throw all that in with the “Obama is a Kenyan Muslim” stuff and you get a whole lot of ignorant people throwing away their votes on the worst possible candidate.
Michel Bachman for example actively fights the teaching of evolution in science classes. After all that science has created for humanity, Republicans will still deny any science that contradicts their, cursory but required to be elected, political beliefs. Take away these tools of fear from the Republican Party and you are left with nothing. Crickets.
Republicans don’t actually stand for anything, and funny thing is, no one asks them to.
Republicans rally against regulation of industry, and then America sees how that turns out when BP spills a million barrels of oil in our seas. Republicans will rally against gay people, stripping them of civil rights, and then you find them tapping their toes in airport bathrooms looking for their gay lovers. Republicans will rally against non-existent communists but have no problem driving our economy to the ground with Karl Marx like spending of trillions of tax dollars that they borrowed from China for endless wars against enemies that did not attack us.
After the last ten years of watching Republicans one word stands out as defining them perfectly; hypocrite. vote for a Republican is literally a vote for the absence of leadership.
Obama and Democrats get my vote, the choice is simple. If you have Social Security, Medicare, the right to vote, the right to an education, a clean park or a lake near you. If you were given a disability check or a wheel chair ramp into the store you buy your food, if you like safe bridges, clean drinking water, clean air and a nontoxic environment, if you feel safe when you fly, or eat out, or give your child a toy, then it’s time you give Liberals the credit they deserve.
Comment posted June 20, 2011 @ 12:16 pm
Seems to be a lot of blame towards Democrats and not a lot of solutions being offered by the Republicans. Pointing out everything you think is wrong is not the same as coming up with plans on how to fix things.
Comment posted June 20, 2011 @ 3:20 pm
When talking about Bachman, we should be talking about her dominionist-extremist cult rather than less glitter than she douses herself with at her election victory parties. For example, “Christian revisionism is important in understanding the Christian Right’s approach to politics and public policy. If one’s political righteousness and sense of historical continuity are articles of faith, what appear as facts to everyone else fall before the compelling evidence of faith. Whatever does not fit neatly into a “Biblical world view” becomes problematic, perhaps a delusion sent by Satan.
The invocations of the Bible and the Founding Fathers are powerful ingredients for good religious-nationalist demagoguery. However, among the stark flaws of Reconstructionist history is the way Christian revisionism distorts historical fact.
For example, by interpreting the framing of the Constitution as if it were a document inspired by and adhering to a Reconstructionist version of Biblical Christianity, Reconstructionists make a claim that denies the existence of Article VI of the Constitution. Most historians agree that Article VI, which states that public officials shall be “bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” was a move toward disestablishment of churches as official power brokers and the establishment of the principles of religious pluralism and separation of church and state
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre1.html
Pingback posted June 21, 2011 @ 7:58 am
[...] Saturday, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann became the latest Republican politician to get hit with this season’s most festive form of political direct action: A glitter bomb. [...]
Comment posted June 22, 2011 @ 9:58 am
Hello from Great Britain! The world let out a sigh of relief when you elected Obama. Even if he has not lived up to all that was hoped for, please, please don’t let someone like Bachmann drag the world back into the Dark Ages.
Comment posted June 23, 2011 @ 9:23 am
I hope Minnesotans do not gain a false sense of Minnesota pride and support this woman just because she is from Minnesota. With Pawlenty and Bachmann in the race together we already look bad enough
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