The Minnesota Independent

Posts by David Weigel

Bachmann: ‘I’m not going to fear Keith Olbermann’

By David Weigel | 10.06.09 | 2:16 pm

BachmannWASHINGTON — At a briefing for conservative bloggers at the Heritage Foundation today, Rep. Michelle Bachmann dismissed MSNBC as a network neither she nor “most of the American people” paid attention to.
“Quite honestly I don’t even know anything…

Pawlenty: I support Sara Taylor–style focus on voter registration fraud

By David Weigel | 10.01.09 | 2:24 pm

pawlentyskyWASHINGTON — On a Thursday morning conference call, I got a chance to ask Gov. Tim Pawlenty about voter registration, voter fraud, and his new PAC’s political adviser Sara Taylor. In the Bush administration, as a

T-Paw PAC hires Bush advisor Taylor

By David Weigel | 10.01.09 | 9:49 am

The Minnesota governor’s PAC is rolling out today with a media blitz reflecting the talent of his staff (such as former Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant) and the credibility he’s built up in the political press…

Smearing Sen. Franken

By David Weigel | 09.29.09 | 12:33 pm

This is some extremely shoddy journalism from Mickey Kaus. The Slate blogger asks if “ACORN chicanery” elected Sen. Al Franken, who won a razor-thin 2008 race for the U.S. Senate after eight months of legal challenges. Kaus links a “tactfully…

Fear of fascism, ‘gay agenda’ dominate conservative kickoff for midterm elections

By David Weigel | 09.28.09 | 1:21 pm

According to Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, the conference drew its largest crowd in 38 years, signaling a surge of grass-roots enthusiasm for 2010.

Bachmann in St. Louis: Defund the Left, beware one-world currency

By David Weigel | 09.26.09 | 2:36 pm

ST. LOUIS — Speaking to a packed hotel ballroom at the conservative How to Take Back America Conference, Rep. Michele Bachmann said that exposés of “criminal tomfoolery” inside of ACORN could kick off a campaign to “defund the left.”

Christian right looks to economic worries, debt for 2010 election

By David Weigel | 09.21.09 | 8:53 am

While usually attendees at the annual Values Voter Summit focus on hot button social issues, this year the hotel buzzed with the 10th amendment and the national debt.

Pawlenty places third in Value Voters Summit straw poll

By David Weigel | 09.20.09 | 1:53 am

In a telling, but non-scientific, survey of the Republican Party’s social conservative base, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) won the 2009 Values Voter straw poll with a 28 percent plurality of the vote. Five-hundred and ninety-seven people voted.

Pawlenty at Value Voters Summit: I’m calling Obama out

By David Weigel | 09.18.09 | 8:10 pm

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s speech to the Values Voter Summit was tipped as a pivotal moment in his appeal to the GOP’s conservative base. Pawlenty hardly missed a target, and got his biggest applause when he mocked the president for

Bachmann: Only “sycophants” trust Obama now

By David Weigel | 09.15.09 | 10:18 am

WASHINGTON — At a small health care briefing put on by several House Republicans, Rep. Michele Bachmann argued that the president had lost momentum on health care reform because Americans didn’t trust him when he talked about it.
“What