It was a bit tough to watch the only woman with her sights set on 2012 presidential bid call off the campaign.

That it was Michelle Bachmann wasn't the tough part.

A lot of Americans never wanted Bachmann anywhere near the hot seat, and in her farewell speech she made it clear that, in Iowa, she got the big hint. She started out as a sharper, more principled alternative to sassypants Sarah Palin but, after a while, her evangelical, tea party-fueled momentum veered toward the fringe and lost its steam. Even so, her campaign operated at an admirable level — she was poised, even a tad glamorous despite all the wild-eyed photos, and she didn't point and laugh during Rick Perry's “Oops!” moment — but the kooky or awkward, politically (or worse, factually) incorrect remarks were just too frequent. In the end, she was out of her element.

But she was the only woman. And, between us girls, that's what stings. Read more;

a -Should people use children to promote political agendas?

b - Should Gay Rights be a political issue?

c - Should abortion be a political issue?

Jerrys Answers;

a - Yes, "From the Mouths of Babes ......"

b - No. Politics does not belong in our bedrooms.

c - No. Politics does not belong in a womans' decision regarding her body.

I still find it hard to believe and have the utmost respect, admiration and wonderment for the reality that a woman can actually grow a baby within her body and then give birth to that new person.

To me that's an incredible event miracle every single time it happens!

I also find it hard to believe there are so many narrow minded people in this country that actually believe they have the Right to take from a woman the decision to give birth or not to give birth.

Also, even though I'm straight, I find it hard to believe anyone thinks they have a Right to interfere or take Rights from a person because of their sexual preferences.

Please participate in the polls and post your opinions in the comment section.

Last weekend, during a promotional appearance for her new book, Michele Bachmann met a young man whose mom sent him to deliver a special message to the Congresswoman. What did the little guy say? Watch the video HERE.

Michele Bachmann's status as frontrunner in the Republican presidential race appears to have faded, but the Minnesota congresswoman is already tapping some of her peers as potential vice presidential picks.

The candidate, in a Thursday interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, didn't shy away from naming potential running mates - among them real estate mogul-turned-reality TV star and perennial possible presidential contender Donald Trump.

She also mentioned fellow presidential candidate Rick Santorum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and conservative South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint as possible picks for her cabinet or VP slots. (Dream on Michele) Read more;

Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman want the troops home, period. The other Republican candidates for president, however, are not so enthusiastic.

But candidates aren't the only ones split on how to deal with the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Experts in the field take different stances about whether troops should be stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan — and how many it takes to do the job.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, is the senior author of the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan Index projects. In an interview with The Daily Iowan, he disagreed with some of the caucus contenders that troops should come home.

"I fundamentally disagree with Huntsman and Paul: somewhere between a major mistake, and simply irresponsible," O'Hanlon said. "To do that is to squander all efforts we made, just picking up and leaving in mid-mission, and in some ways a betrayal of the Afghan people we have been working with." Read more;

Rep. Michele Bachman is nothing if not a colorful and provocative candidate. She was one of the original "birthers" on Capitol Hill, raising absurd questions about President Obama's U.S. citizenship. She has said "all cultures are not equal." She pointed out the strange "coincidence" that swine flu broke out during both the Carter and Obama administrations.

So why do people keep going back to the old standby of gender-related insults the describe her? Or, in the case of NBC, just introducing her when she agreed to be a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Read more;

On his new GBTV network, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck made a point of saying he doesn’t give endorsements, but then appeared to hand an endorsement to former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

"I don’t endorse candidates, I don’t get involved in politics, I don’t make donations to any politician." Rick Santorum is a friend of mine,................ If there is one guy out there that is the next George Washington, the only guy that I could think of is Rick Santorum. I would ask that you would take a look at him."

Beck added that there are only two candidates, in his opinion, that don’t have “scary policies.” Those two being Santorum and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The campaign manager for Michele Bachmann called the head of CBS' political news to apologize for calling him a "fraud" and a more scatological term after the Minnesota congresswoman's team said it had proof the network tried to marginalize her during Saturday night's Republican presidential candidate debate.

The Bachmann for President campaign released an email chain on Saturday that it says indicates a "planned effort to limit" the number of questions Bachmann would receive at Saturday night's CBS/National Journal Debate. 

Communications Director Alice Stewart said the campaign inadvertently received a message from CBS Political Director John Dickerson to Senior Producer Caroline Horn about getting a guest from the Bachmann camp to appear on the webshow. Read more:

Michele Bachmann thinks America blew it by extending a safety net to millions of Americans under President Johnson’s “Great Society.” Her solution? Model the economy after communist China. 

“The ‘Great Society’ has not worked and it’s put us into the modern welfare state,” she said. “If you look at China, they don’t have food stamps. If you look at China, they’re in a very different situation. They save for their own retirement security…They don’t have the modern welfare state and China’s growing. And so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us with the Great Society and they’d be gone.”

Aside from the basic absurdity of crediting a country that’s still officially communist with avoiding the pitfalls of the welfare state, it’s worth noting that Bachmann’s broad condemnation of LBJ’s legislative record is in open conflict with her own political positions. Read more;

This week Jon Stewart said if presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a color, he’d be “beige.” 

But that may change — and not likely to the color green.

According to CBS News, the former Massachusetts governor’s recent reputation for changing positions continues with a move farther to the right on the issue of climate change and human impact.   

As recently as June, Romney acknowledged a human impact on climate change, and even advocated for reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. But by August, candidate Romney was saying that he didn’t know whether or how much humans were contributing to global warming. And at fundraiser in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, Romney reportedly put forth a still different view. Read more;

Rick Perry loves to talk about all the jobs he's created in Texas... but that's only part of the story... and a bit misleading at that.

The other part of the Perry story is that nearly 1 in 5 Texans in the state where he is the governor are living below the poverty line; and that the poverty rate is growing faster in Texas than the national average.

CNN Money reports that Texas ranks 6th in terms of people living in poverty.

Both demographic and economic factors play into this high poverty rate - more than half the state are minorities and many Texans have little education. Especially in southern Texas, many families live in shanty housing with no electricity or indoor plumbing. In 2011.

Also, the poor in Texas don't get much help. The state has one of the lowest rates of spending on its citizens per capita; and it has the highest share of those without health insurance. Read more:

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Just what President Obama needs, another fire threatening to burn out of control.

The Democrats' loss in New York's special congressional election this week could signal serious trouble for Obama and the Jewish vote in 2012.

District 9, made up of parts of Brooklyn and Queens, is one of the most Jewish in the nation. And many believe that if the Democrats lost there, Obama could be in jeopardy in key states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It's nearly impossible to win a presidential election without those states.

The problem is, a lot of American Jews feel neglected by this president and think he has been too tough on Israel.

In the New York race, former Mayor Ed Koch – a Jewish Democrat – endorsed the Republican. Koch cited Israel as the main reason why. He says he likes the president and helped get him elected, "but Obama threw Israel under the bus."

And it's not just Obama's policy toward Israel. A recent poll shows that other issues that trouble many voters – like the economy, Social Security and Medicare – are more important than Israel among Jewish voters.

Republicans smell blood in the water here and will no doubt make Israel a wedge issue in 2012.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic candidate to not get an overwhelming majority of the Jewish vote. All Obama needs is another comparison to Carter.

Obama's approval rating is about 60% among Jews nationally. In 2008, exit polls showed nearly 80% of Jews voted for him.

This makes Jews just one more group to start deserting Obama. He's also lost support among other key voting blocs like blacks, women and independents.

Here’s my question to you: How can President Obama save the Jewish vote?

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

The Republican presidential debates are turning into lively affairs. Maybe too lively.

For the third time in as many debates, crowd members have either booed or cheered at what some say are inappropriate moments.

Most recently, former Sen. Rick Santorum was asked about the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

When an openly gay service member asked what the candidates' intentions were for gays in the military, members of the crowd booed loudly.

After the fact, Santorum said he condemned those who booed the gay soldier. He said he didn't hear the boos in the debate hall.

In another debate, Rick Perry was asked about the death penalty and the more than 200 executions that have happened under his watch as Texas governor. The crowd cheered that question.

Another GOP debate crowd got worked up when Ron Paul was asked a hypothetical question about a 30-year-old uninsured man. The crowd cheered when Paul was asked if that man should be allowed to die.

President Barack Obama has criticized the reaction of some of these audience members at the GOP debates; and Vice President Joe Biden calls the booing of the gay soldier “reprehensible.”

Politico asks in an online conversation if the GOP debate crowds are bloodthirsty.

Critics say these debates promote extremism within the Republican Party, and show “the mean season is upon us.”

They fault the candidates themselves for not stamping out the behavior when it happens. They should. Also, some suggest the booing or cheering could turn off moderate and swing voters in the general election. It should.

Here’s my question to you: Are Republican debate crowds bloodthirsty? 

See Caffertys' Blog;

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has shut the door on a 2012 presidential run, saying "now is not my time."

Christie says he won't abandon the commitment he made to his state as governor – you know, unlike a certain half-term dropout governor of Alaska.

Christie put it this way: "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me."

This also means that whether Republican voters like it or not, they are stuck with the current crop of Republican candidates.

Unless, that is, Sarah Palin decides she'll get in. But it's getting a little late for that. Plus, more than two-thirds of Republicans say they don't want Palin to run for president.

So with Christie out, it looks like Republicans will nominate either Mitt Romney or Rick Perry, who's sinking fast in the polls.

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Romney leading the pack at 25%.

Perry is now tied for second place with businessman Herman Cain at 16%.

For Perry, that's a whopping 13 percentage-point drop in this poll.

The Texas governor's stock has been falling after a shaky debate performance and questions about where he stands on Social Security and immigration.

Cain, on the other hand, has been surging in national polls after his surprise win in the Florida straw poll – and a flurry of media attention.

Ron Paul is the only other candidate receiving double-digit support in this survey, at 11%.

With primary season sneaking up on us, it's time for Republicans to pick their poison. Go to Caffertys' Blog

Since Republicans won control of many statehouses last November, more than a dozen states have passed laws requiring voters to show photo identification at polls, cutting back early voting periods or imposing new restrictions on voter registration drives.

With a presidential campaign swinging into high gear, the question being asked is how much of an impact all of these new laws will have on the 2012 race.

State officials, political parties and voting experts have all said that the impact could be sizable. Now, a new study to be released Monday by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has tried to tally just how many voters stand to be affected.

The center, which has studied the new laws and opposed some of them in court and other venues, analyzed 19 laws that passed and 2 executive orders that were issued in 14 states this year, and concluded that they “could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.” Read more;

Businessman Herman Cain on Sunday called it "insulting" that the family of Rick Perry owned a hunting camp with a racially charged name well into the 1980s and possibly even later.

According to a Washington Post article that appeared Sunday, the hunting camp owned by the Texas governor was branded with the name "N-----head." The word -- reportedly on a rock at the entrance of the 1,070-acre parcel -- has been painted over and the camp renamed.

Perry has said it was changed in 1983 or 1984, but others suggest it may not have been covered until later -- with one person estimating for the Post that it was as late as 2008. Read more: 

Let’s say Chris Christie decides to run for for president — then what?

It’s a question that has occurred to Christie and his circle of intimates — and they’ve begun sketching a plan in case the governor goes forward with a run.

They understand that all the enthusiasm and pleading in some Republican quarters for a Christie candidacy obscures the fact that the New Jersey governor would immediately have to scale the side of a steep and unforgiving political mountain.

With the initial primary and caucus states poised to move up their contests to January, an October announcement means that Christie would immediately confront two questions of some urgency: where would he compete and how would he get on the ballot in an array of states coming in rapid succession.

Those decisions have to be made and action needs to be taken while also handling myriad other demands — all of it on the fly.

While Christie’s camp is staying mum, the governor is aware, according to top Republicans and donors, that the hour is growing late. He has to decide what to do within the week — see the issues he’d have to address.

The one African-American running for the GOP presidential nomination said Wednesday the black community was 'brainwashed' for traditionally siding with liberal politicians.

"African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view," Godfather's Pizza executive Herman Cain said on CNN's "The Situation Room" in an interview airing Wednesday between 5-7 p.m. ET. "I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open minded, pure and simple."

(Oh Really? I'll bet that's going to over big with the Black voters.)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in addition to his date with The Donald, held multiple fundraisers in the Big Apple on Monday. 

One was with wealthy Jewish donors who convened at an upscale midtown law firm, Weil, Gotshal and Manges. Like all of his Romney's Monday events, it was invitation only. No press. No pictures.

Two undecided voters who attended the fundraiser said that there were "several hundred people" in the audience and that Romney spoke at length about Israel, and his unwavering support for it. However, he didn't mention his chief rival for the Republican nomination, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, at all, instead focusing his fire on President Obama.

Barack Obama scaled dizzying electoral heights in Colorado in 2008, pulling off a stunning nine-point win over John McCain in this once reliably red state.

But three years later, he’s struggling to regain altitude.

What is particularly worrisome for the Obama campaign is that Colorado in many ways is the most friendly of the high-stakes, fast-changing swing states — that also include Virginia, North Carolina and Wisconsin — that he’s banking on for 2012.

Colorado Governor, Democrat John Hickenlooper, said, “The president probably can win Colorado, but he’s got a lot of work to do”. In a telephone interview he told POLITICO, he thinks Obama will have an easier time if the GOP nominee is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, arguing that Perry’s hard-edged conservatism is less appealing to moderate Colorado swing voters than Mitt Romney’s softer edge.

But either way, he predicts a dogfight. And other Democrats say that fight will be even tougher if Republicans make a play for Latinos by nominating Florida Senator Marco Rubio for vice president. Read more: 

More shocking than Cain's victory (and Perry's defeat) in the Florida Straw Poll, was the utter collapse of Rep. Michele Bachmann. 

Somehow, in a state chock full of tea party groups, Bachmann finished dead last, with 1.5 percent of the vote. Once a frontrunner in early GOP presidential polls, Bachmann has sunk so far, so fast that even moderate Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, whose campaign imploded months ago, placed higher than her. It's all unraveling for Michele. 

Bachmann advisor and veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins, said Bachmann's chances of claiming the nomination are slim. Rollins said Bachmann lacks the "resources or ability at this point in time" to challenge for the nomination after Iowa. Her last-place finish in Florida raises questions about whether even winning Iowa is realistic for Bachmann, especially given Rick Perry's support among the social conservatives who dominate the GOP in the Hawkeye State.

Herman Cain won the Presidency 5 Florida Straw poll with 996 votes, blowing past Rick Perry and Ron Paul, both of whom had organized to win here.

Herman Cain - 996
Rick Perry - TK
Mitt Romney - 372
Rick Santorum - 289
Ron Paul - 276
Newt Gingrich - 224
Jon Huntsman - 60
Michele Bachmann - 40

Of course, Perry had shown up -- he was here from Thursday night to Saturday morning, working over delegates personally. By failing so convincingly, Perry's ensured that the weekend's "trouble for frontrunner narrative" will be plated in gold and frozen in amber.

But in talking to the delegates all day, there was little variation from the panhandle to Miami-Dade, from the I-4 corridor to Pinellas. "I voted for Cain, but I wish Michele Bachmann had shown up," said delegate Tom Andrews. "Perry is just too... the words I would use would be status quo." Multiple delegates told me that had been undecided between Perry and Cain, especially after the debate, but decided to boost Cain because he could use the boost. Read more;

A decade after 9/11, American politics continues to be polarised by some rather unexpected figures. The latest Republican fire-thrower is a Christian conservative from Bandra, finds Shougat Dasgupta -->

IT IS easy to make a convincing case that Dinesh D’Souza, the prominent conservative commentator and Christian apologist, is a loon. Many already have. His recent book, The Roots of Obama’s Rage, is brandished by the prosecution as more, perhaps even clinching, evidence. The book’s case was made in miniature in an article in Forbes, remarkable for its half-baked thesis that Obama is a ’50s-60s style anti-imperialist. Like any student clutching his dog-eared Fanon or Said reader, Obama, D’Souza contends, believes his country to be the oppressor and is acting to subvert its power.

Except, and this is the nub, Obama is not motivated simply by ideology but by the spirit of his Kenyan father who, in absentia, infected his son with a Third World Weltanschauung unbalanced by hatred and rage for the white and wealthy. D’Souza’s evidence? Read More;

Remember how Glenn Beck promised that at last summer’s rally in Washington, D.C., he would reveal “God’s plan….well, not really a plan”? 

Well, this is what Perry said to that audience, “He who knows the number of drops in the ocean, He counts the sands in the desert, He knows you by name?? He doesn’t require perfect people to execute His perfect plan. As spiritual beings, we are meant to live in relationship with our creator and with one another. And the happiest moments of every experience are when I am in communion with God and in community with others.” 

Using Moses and King David as examples, Perry said, “God uses broken people to reach a broken world. The mistakes of yesterday say nothing about the possibilities of tomorrow.”

“His perfect plan”? So, just like Glenn Beck, Rick Perry believes that he knows God’s plan and was chosen to implement it? Do we know which denominations of the Protestant faith fail to teach that pride is one of the seven deadly sins?

Perry’s speech was a combination of “aw shucks” memories of a Lincolnesque Texas prairie childhood, acknowledgment that he was an inadequate student and a testimony of his rebirth in Jesus. And he did describe his “born again” period as “wrestling with God.” Read more;

Perry get's credit for addressing one of the third rails of American politics, but that doesn't mean he has to invite electrocution. The problem with his hot rhetoric is that it can turn off many voters before they even get a chance to listen to his reform proposals, assuming he eventually offers some.

He's even technically right that Social Security is a species of Ponzi scheme (if not a criminal enterprise) in the sense that young people today are putting more into the system than they can possibly get out in retirement.

Even a pyramid system such as this could be solvent if it took advantage of compound interest. But the overriding problem is that not a dime of the payroll contributions the government collects over a lifetime is saved and invested for a worker's retirement. Social Security's pay-as-you-go financing model means that 12.4% of all wages are transferred to current beneficiaries, the surplus dollars are spent by Congress on other things, and Social Security gets an IOU from the Treasury.

As for Mr. Romney, he seems to be taking Social Security assaults a notch or two beyond even the Democratic playbook. At the debate he implied Mr. Perry was "committed to abolishing Social Security," and he has since made this a major campaign theme.

His press shop followed up with a memo claiming Mr. Perry "Believes Social Security Should Not Exist," and Mr. Romney told a talk radio show that "If we nominate someone who the Democrats can correctly characterize as being opposed to Social Security, we would be obliterated as a party."

We'd give Mr. Romney more credit for his professed political prudence if he were at least proposing some Social Security reforms of his own. But ......

The Repbulican primary lineup took on a more clear batting order after Wednesdays Reagan Center debates. Michele Bachmann failed to shine as she did in the first debate, and appears to have lost some of her luster as a GOP front-runner. Ron Paul was more of the same old Ron Paul rhetoric, and it's doubtful he gained any significant number of followers (he never does), but it's just as doubtful he lost any significent number of followers (he never does). I have no idea why Rick Santorum is still hanging around, however Gingrich, Cain and Huntsman at this point, are pretty much campaigning for the VP spot. (I doubt that Bachmann would be considered for the number two spot -too much dejavu Sarah Palin) 

While Romney used his experience gained from being in numerous presidential debates in the past to counter each of Perrys' jabs, Perry did little to allay concerns that his controversial record in Texas and his hard-line conservative positions will present problems in a general election.

If the economy does not improve, Romneys' experience as a governor and private businessman could offer voters what could seem like a more comfortable choice in '012 and Obama could be in some trouble. However if Perry gets the nod, I'm not so sure Americans are going to be willing to take a chance on another flamboyant, opinionated Texas governor, and Obama could survive regardless of the economy in '012.

So, right now, Liberals have to be careful in their criticism of Perry, because if they go after him too strongly, they could make Republicans aware that Perry is "too hot to handle" and nominate Romney, who is clearly the more dangerous candidate for Obama.

A new video game is giving players a chance to explore a post-apocalyptic Fox News studio and kill off zombies that resemble famous conservatives including Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck.

The game, called "Tea Party Zombies Must Die," is project by StarvingEyes Advergaming, a website that provides games for online viral campaigns.

Other characters in the first-person shooter includethe "Generic Pissed Off Old White Guy Zombie," the "Pissed Off Stupid White Trash Redneck Birther Zombie" and the "Express Racist Views Anonymously On The Internet Modern Klan Zombie," who dons the remains of a KKK robe as he wanders around with a sign that describes President Barack Obama as a Muslim. See video:

America's right has weighed in, from Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to pundit Glenn Beck: Hurricane Irene and the earthquake that shook Virginia, Washington, and New York was merely God trying to get the attention of Americans and politicians.

One might think they missed Bible chapters about God's grace, but that's truly what each has said in recent days.

Beck, a leading conservative radio personality, said Hurricane Irene was "a blessing from God," while Bachmann, a House Representative from Minnesota who is also a GOP presidential nomination candidate, said God was trying to get the attention of the American politicians with the earthquake and hurricane all in one week.

Beck made his comments last Friday, days after the 5.8 earthquake shook Virginia, Washington, New York and beyond and as Huricane Irene prepared to make landfall in North Carolina before a run up the East Coast.

Michele Bachmann has promised supporters that if elected President she will make sure gas prices are lower than $2 a gallon.

"Under President Bachmann, you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen."That sounds great in premise -- who doesn't want cheaper gas?

But in actuality, $2 a gallon might not be the best thing for the United States' economy.

In Bachmann's speech in South Carolina, she referenced the low gas price of $1.79 the day that President Obama took office, and put the blame on him for the price hike.

There's a lot wrong with that statement. Read why;

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Forget about the separation of church and state... there's reason to believe that religion might have a whole new meaning for the next occupant of the White House.

The Daily Beast reports that two of the Republican candidates for president - Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry - are "deeply associated" with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism that's called Dominionism.

For those of you who haven't heard of it before, and I was one who hadn't - stand by cause this is "out there."

The Daily Beast writes how Dominionists believe that Christians have a God-given right to rule all earthly institutions. Dominionism finds its roots in a small fringe sect called Christian Reconstructionism. People who advocate replacing U.S. law with the laws of the Old Testament, including the death penalty for homosexuality and abortion. swell.

Bachmann appeared in a documentary for one of these groups called "truth in action ministries." Also, she often praises or cites different religious leaders connected to such beliefs.

As for Perry, there's a group called "the new apostolic reformation" that sees him as their ticket to power. They talk about "taking dominion over American society" and hope that Perry can claim the so-called "mountain" of government. This group was also involved in Perry's prayer vigil in Houston a couple of weeks ago.

The Texas Tribune has a story on how important federal stimulus money has been to Rick Perry as he balanced the last two budgets. 

The Lone Star State has spent $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money through the second quarter of this year. Ross Ramsey's story notes that "the governor famously refused $556 million in federal stimulus funds for the state's unemployment insurance program...but Texas happily accepted the rest...

In the second quarter of this year alone, federal stimulus money in the state budget helped create or retain 40,411 Texas jobs, according to the Legislative Budget Board, which keeps a quarterly accounting of the money and how it's spent.... As it turned out, instead of getting Texas through a short rough patch, the stimulus money merely bought the state some time, which ran out when lawmakers turned to the 2012-2013 budget earlier this year." Read more;

"You don't accuse the chairman of the Federal Reserve of being a traitor to his country. Of being guilty of treason,"....

...... Karl Rove, who has clashed with Perry before, told Fox News (via TPM). "And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas — You know, that is not, again a presidential statement."

Rove continued: "If Rick Perry were to be elected president he'd be saddled with Ben Bernanke who has a term. He's an independent chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, appointed by president and confirmed by Congress and serves for a term and the president couldn't even ask him to resign. So, this is — I hope this is not the first of sort of over the top statements." Read more;

President Barack Obama placed the blame for Washington's current political paralysis squarely at the feet of his Republican opponents Tuesday, telling CNN that the GOP's "ideological rigidity" is standing in the way of compromises necessary for stronger economic growth.

In a wide-ranging interview with Wolf Blitzer, the president said the inability of GOP leaders in Congress to support a recent $4 trillion deficit reduction deal focused more heavily on spending cuts than revenue increases is evidence of a party placing political considerations before national interests.

Americans want to see "Democrats and Republicans putting country before party," he said. "The fact that Speaker (John) Boehner and folks in his caucus couldn't say yes to that (deficit deal) tells me that they're more interested in the politics ... than they are in solving the problem." Read more;

DECORAH, Iowa — US President Barack Obama went head-to-head with a prominent conservative Tea Party activist, in a microcosm of a political clash that will play out in the 2012 election.

Ryan Rhodes, a leader of the group in Iowa, took on Obama during an open-air town hall meeting, which marked a moment of new intensity in the president's campaign for a second term.

  Nice people those Tea Partiers -------->

Rhodes shouted out that Obamas' call for more civility in politics had little chance of coming to pass after "your vice president is calling people like me, a Tea Party member, a 'terrorist.'"

The clash came as Obama was wrapping up a town hall style meeting in a barn draped with an American flag,in a rural corner of Iowa.

Obama said, "In fairness, since I have been called a socialist who wasn't born in this country, who is destroying America and taking away its freedoms because I passed a health care bill, I am all for lowering the rhetoric."

Obama and Rhodes later engaged in an animated conversation as he greeted supporters on a rope line after the event, and the activist later told reporters that he believed that Obama was indeed a socialist.

(It's gonna be interesting)

The leg of Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour that’s now ending lasted four days. It began midday Friday, when Palin appeared at the Iowa State Fair—just in time to catch the attention of the assembled national political media mob in town for the Ames Straw Poll.

On Saturday, she visited Ronald Reagan’s childhood home in Dixon, Ill., and his nearby alma mater of Eureka College, where she was when the Iowa straw poll results were released. 

When asked what she thought of the results, Palin told NBC, the only major news outlet following her in Illinois, “The prediction was that it would either be Ron Paul or Michele Bachmann, because they spent a lot of time and energy to make sure they had delegates there who would cast those votes — so not really a surprise,” 

That single camera marked a dramatic change from the media horde that pursued Palin during her May swing through the Northeast. That first leg of the tour, which began in Washington, D.C., and wound up in New Hampshire, lasted six days.

Read more: 

She won the Ames straw poll on Saturday and is the clear favorite to win the Iowa caucuses in January. There's a method to Michele Bachmann's madness.

Since her election to Congress in 2006, Bachmann has earned a reputation as one of the lower chamber's biggest bomb throwers. She has accused the president of harboring "anti-American" views, warned that census data could be used to round up dissenters into internment camps, and declared that the Treasury Department is quietly planning on replacing the dollar with a global currency. To her critics, Bachmann is flat-out crazy, a purveyor of, as Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) put it, "psycho talk."

In 21st century American politics .... crazy works!

As someone who didn’t find the sexism in the Newsweek cover photo flap, I believe there is no doubt that the reason Byron York only questioned Bachmann on submission had everything to do with her gender.

York’s question was: “In 2006, when you were running for Congress, you described a moment in your life when your husband said you should study for a degree in tax law. You said you hated the idea. And then you explained, “But the Lord said, ‘Be submissive. Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands.’ ”

“As president, would you be submissive to your husband?”

In all of my years covering politics on the local, state and national level, many stories have earned the “Are you serious?” look.

The newest one? The so-called sexist cover of Newsweek depicting Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Conservatives have been up in arms, slamming the “liberal” Tina Brown and Newsweek for choosing a photo that supposedly depicts Bachmann as the political equivalent of Jack Nicholson in “The Shining.”

To the angry conservatives, and delusional feminists, ..... give it a rest.

(NOT the photo used by Newsweeek ------>)
It's a photo I found in a Google search  

See the article for picture on Newsweek cover, then check the Outtakes posted by The Daily Beast that could have been used.

The debt deal fiasco proved that any decent, honest politician like the president simply doesn’t stand a chance against the likes of Michele Bachmann. Charles Fried on how the Tea Party ruined America.

arack Obama is not a skillful strategist like Bill Clinton. He is not a gifted rhetorician like Ronald Reagan. Nor is he a bold and inspiring leader like Abraham Lincoln. And he can’t seem to shake himself loose from the strings that attach him to the trial lawyers, to big labor, and, surprisingly, to the standard banker-economists who got us into the mess we are in now. But he is an honest man. He is intelligent, analytical, and knowledgeable. And he tries hard to think through the dilemmas which confront us and to tell us clearly and straightforwardly what he wants to do and why he wants to do it.

But it doesn’t seem to work.

Soon after Barack Obama addressed the nation from the Press Room regarding the budget negotiations, and as Speaker John Boehner whipped up votes in the House, Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann complained that the agreement spends too much and does not cut enough. Bachmann, the only presidential candidate out so far with a statement blasting the deal to avert default, has made it clear she would oppose any debt ceiling increase (apparently oblivious to the fact that is simply has to be done.)

The self appointed Chairperson of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus said, "Mr. President, I'm not sure what voice you're listening to, but I can assure you that the voice of the American people wasn't the voice that compelled Washington to act. It was you that got us into this mess, and it was you who wanted a $2.4 trillion dollar blank check to get you through the election. Everywhere I travel across the country, Americans want less spending, lower taxes to create jobs, and they don't want us to raise the debt ceiling."

She went on to say,  "The President continues to press for a balanced approach,' which everyone knows is code for increased spending and taxes. Throughout this process the President has failed to lead and failed to provide a plan. The 'deal' he announced spends too much and doesn't cut enough. This isn't the deal the American people preferred either, Mr. President. Someone has to say no. I will."

IMO, the only one "hearing voices" is the Congresswoman. In the first place the "the voice of the American people" was clamoring quite loudly for Washington to act. In the second place, Barack Obama did not get us into this mess, the favorite Right Wing talking point, that the national debt has doubled under Obama, fails to point out that the additional debt is due to the money borrowed, and the interest on the money, that was used to pay for the unfunded debts run up by the previous administration.

(At this point the Right Wingnut responds with "It's time to stop blaming Bush!" to which I say (?!) How does one do that? The fact is, the Bush administration ran up the bills, and the Obama administration has to pay them ..... or not pay them, ..... and put the country in default.) 


Then there is this "blank Check" cliche" the Republicans so lovingly incorporate into their rhetoric. It is NOT a blank check, it is the money needed to pay Bushes bills. And this, "Americans don't want to raise the debt ceiling" nonsense, of course Americans don't want to raise the ceiling, but Americans know we have to pay our bills and raising the debt ceiling is the only way we can do that. (at least most American know that)

Michele Bachmann isn't that stupid,...... but she thinks the American people are. She thinks if she keeps repeating "Americans don't want ....", "blank check", "...the President has failed....", and the rest of the Right Winging Talking points .... the voters will begin to believe them. 

What she doesn't realize is that the majority of Americans are not as dense as 1/2 the voters of the Minnesota 6th Congressional District.  

Among the 11 declared candidates, polls are beginning to suggest that the Minnesota congresswoman is the one with the best chance of upsetting front-runner Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, and that has put a target on her back for those with longer-shot hopes.

Candidate Tim Pawlenty has led the attacks on Bachmann. He likened her lack of executive experience to that of Barack Obama at the 2008 election. His campaign slogans include “Results not Rhetoric,” a thinly veiled attack on his fellow Minnesotan, and he constantly suggests that she would have no chance of beating Obama if she were to win the Republican nomination.

He's got that right!

btw, compare the current file photo of Ms. Bachmann (right) to the slightly airbrushed Newsmax photo used in the article.

Politicians are a vain lot, and even if they weren't, the necessities of the television age enforce a certain need to maintain a baseline level of attractiveness. 

In the 2012 GOP primary campaign, one of the frontrunners is Mitt Romney, a fantastically wealthy man who can probably afford to pay for a cloud of nanobots to clean him down to the pores in order to keep him looking like Bob Dobbs. 

So, when I hear that Michele Bachmann has had to step up her spending to keep herself looking camera-ready, is this something that's supposed to surprise or outrage me? Andy Kroll of Mother Jones, in a piece that's really beneath him, reports:

The Huffington post has an article defending Michele Bachmann?

What's up with that? 

[Read more]

There are a lot of reasons I would never vote for Michele Bachmann. But the fact that she gets migraines is not one of them.

Ever since the news broke that the presidential hopeful suffers from the severe headaches, a debate about whether that is a presidential disqualifier has taken over.

Really? We’re talking about migraines as a campaign killer? The argument against Barack Obama’s former cigarette habit is more plausible than this. (And I’m an Obama believer.)

But the truth is, many of us fall victim to the harsh head pain. Migraines aren’t a choice or a bad habit. Read more:

Recent reports that the therapy clinic co-owned by Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann offers “ex-gay” therapy are raising questions about the extent to which federal dollars are subsidizing the widely discredited practice.

John Becker, a gay activist with Truth Wins Out, an LGBT group dedicated to fighting “ex-gay” conversion therapy, posted a report last week detailing his experience seeking reparative therapy with Bachmann & Associates, a Minnesota-based clinic operated by Bachmann’s spouse, Marcus Bachmann.

Feigning a desire to change his sexual orientation, Becker caught on tape sessions with counselor Timothy Wiertzema, who told him he could change from being gay to straight. Major psychological and other medical organizations have refuted the idea that people can change their sexual orientation.

The Real Clear Politics average still has Romney on top in Iowa, if only barely, but a new poll by The Iowa Republican has Bachmann in the lead for the first time, 25 to 21 over Romney, with Pawlenty and Cain well back at 9.

To some of us, this isn't at all surprising. I have long thought that Bachmann has impressive political skills (whatever her right-wing craziness) and could do well in this race, particularly in the absence of another viable candidate on the right.

Do the Republicans have a viable candidate?

Rick Perry is watching 2 Things: Bachmann's excitement And Romney's money.

With a Republican primary electorate not entirely satisfied with its field of candidates, this man is eyeing a run for the Presidency. 

The Texas state legislature special session is over (without a win on the anti-TSA bill), and Texas Gov. Rick Perry will now enter the intensive phase of his deliberations over whether to run for president. As he does so, he will be closely watching two things: Michele Bachmann's grassroots excitement and Mitt Romney's money.

 Reporters have anointed the 55-year-old Minnesota congresswoman as the flavor of the month in the wake of her dignified performance at the Republican candidates’ recent debate. But their interest in her will dim before long.

Previously, she was treated like someone who was about three bricks shy of a load.

“It’s amazing how we in the media swung from saying, ‘Bachmann is an idiot’ before the debate and now ‘Bachmann can do no wrong,’” pointed out Melinda Henneberger, a political writer for Time.

If history is any indication, Bachmann will do her part by saying something to embarrass both herself and the same journalists who are trumpeting a New Bachmann.

Now in her third House term, Bachmann has never had a bill or resolution she’s sponsored signed into law, and she’s never wielded a committee gavel, either at the full or subcommittee level. Bachmann’s amendments and bills have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control. In a chamber that rewards substantive policy work and insider maneuvering, Bachmann has shunned the inside game, choosing to be more of a bomb thrower than a legislator.

Bachmann advocates say her constant attacks on President Barack Obama, her fights to block legislation and her ability to articulate on the House floor — and on television — what grass-roots conservatives believe in is far more important to GOP primary voters than how many bills she got passed.

(?!)

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field.

Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. 

The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

For Republicans to keep conservatives happy, social issues - like abortion, gay marriage, "don't ask, don't tell" - manage to work their way into every political conversation. And that may prove to be a problem for Republicans once we head into the general election campaign.

According to a CNN Opinion Research Corp. poll, nearly three-quarters of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters say they want a real contender who can defeat Obama in 2012, even if that nominee doesn't agree with them on every issue. More importantly, that's up 7 percentage points from January.

With the president's approval ratings near all-time lows, our national debt sky-high and climbing, and unemployment above 9%, it would certainly seem it's the Republicans’ race to lose.

Jacks Question;

Will Republicans have to lighten up on social issues in order to succeed in 2012?

Today the media seems to be focused on Anthony Weiners' weiner. I know, he's a Democrat and he's not running for president .... but that's what everybody is talking about, because it's a scandal, and we never want to pass up on a good scandal! And then there is Sarah Palins' emails from when she was governor of Alaska ....... like that's important! Actually the emails are revealing that she was a more engaged governor than most people thought and will likely help her more than hurt her, but because there's no juicy scandal there, the media will quickly loose interest and move on to ...... Newt Gingrich, .... because his staff quit. (Surrendered is a better term .... there is no way he's going to get the nomination)

Maybe we'll find out something tonight when the GOP holds it's first debate and although Sarah Palin will not be there, Michele Bachmann will be. Actually, between the two of them, Bachmann is the more articulate, she is always absolutely clear about her lack of knowledge regarding American history, where Sarah hem's and haw's as she re-writes history. I mean even I know Paul Revere was Americas' first silversmith!

So what do you think the candidates should be discussing? The debt ceiling? Oh, now that's exciting! Who cares if they have to put a new ceiling in the accounts payable department of the Treasury Department? They need someplace to store all those bills, don't they? And then there's the deficit, another exciting issue that requires math to understand. So what if we have a deficit, we're Americans, we always spend more than we make. It's a tradition! So what's to discuss?

JOBS! They can discuss jobs! Even though 91% of Americans that want jobs, have jobs .... the politicians insist it's an important issue. Because, everyone knows the reason the economy is bad is because we need more jobs, and the way to get more jobs is to fix the economy, so as soon as we create more jobs the economy will be fixed! (Hey, we're talking about politics here, we're supposed to go in circles aren't we?) 

So take the poll and tell us what you think is important, after all it's your opinion that's important here!

While serious competitors for the Republican presidential nomination have dropped out of the running. Romney has flexed his financial muscle with a $10 million-plus one-day fundraising haul. 

Most of all, his narrow, economy-focused message appears to be resonating amid growing alarm about the unemployment rate – which rose above 9 percent the day after Romney declared his campaign.

Add it all together and Romney has had his best political month in nearly four years. He increasingly looks like the 2012 election’s marathon man, a steady and durable candidate who enters Monday’s New Hampshire presidential debate with a better shot than ever at becoming his party’s nominee.

I'd like to ask you to do something strange, maybe even a little shocking: take Michele Bachmann seriously. 

If you're like most people, chances are you know Bachmann only as that crazy Tea Party congresswoman who delivered her own response to the State of the Union, in which she looked into the wrong camera for seven minutes. 

But she IS running for president, and she's not kidding around.

Don't get me wrong -- Bachmann is neither a serious legislator nor a serious thinker. Her ideas are radical nearly to the point of being nuts, and the thought of her in the Oval Office is, well, unsettling. 

As a representative of the extreme right, she'd have almost no chance of beating Barack Obama in a general election. But the other candidates in the race could well find her to be more formidable than they expect.

Rudy Giuliani said in an interview today that if Sarah Palin decides to become a presidential candidate, she should not "fall into the trap that I fell into" during the 2008 campaign, ......

..... thinking that national popularity automatically means victories in early primary and caucus states.

The Republican former New York City mayor agreed that, like him, but "for different reasons," Palin has high national name recognition.

I would say to her, don't fall into the trap that I fell into (in 2007 and 2008) in thinking it's about how nationally popular you are.

Giuliani said that while he won't decide until later summer whether to run for President because he wants to see "how the field develops," if he does, "I'd never run the campaign like the one I ran three years ago. That was a big mistake."

Of course The Donald would invite The Sarah up to his New York penthouse. She is, after all, taking her Clampett bus expedition to American shrines, and that's what Donald Trump considers himself.
Sarah Palin and Trump also share two interests: presidential politics and sham reality shows.

(Actually, that's just one.)

They both also have a remarkable ability to turn reporters into shills who chase after them to snap up whatever crumbs they toss.
Palin can even keep a straight face when she tells her Fox News BFF Greta Van Susteren that her bus jaunt isn't "a publicity seeking tour." All the while she's getting disproportionate publicity from the very news people she disparages.
"I don't owe anything to the mainstream media," she gloats.

Thursday Palins' "One Nation," traveling road show stopped in Boston, where the former Alaska governor, her parents, her husband, and little Piper visited Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, and Bunker Hill. Palin posted photos of that leg of her trip on the SarahPAC blog.

One moment that you won't find posted on the blog is Palin's response to reporters when they asked her who Paul Revere was. she stammered while saying this;

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

Needless to say, the lamestream media are having a field day with that gaffe.

After months of relatively robust job growth, President Barack Obama and his team must now reckon with the reality that the economy probably won't be on firm ground during the 2012 campaign — and that he must temper some of the Morning-in-America optimism he'd hoped to run on.

The president has been unable to curb the nation's nine percent unemployment rate, so he will be forced to put the best possible face on a sputtering recovery.

Democratic strategists say that means adopting an ungainly three-pronged political approach: Talking up economic gains since the darkest days of 2008 and 2009, highlighting a modest job-creation agenda blocked by Republicans and making the case that things would be far worse if the GOP were in charge.

,

[By Steven Bertioni - Forbes]
Donald Trump just took possession of his big, used Boeing 757 plane. He wants everyone to know about it. His camp sent Forbes this article (yes, I see the paradox of me now writing about it. Does it mean Trump wins?)

     Trump Force One at La Guardia ---------->
     [Photo by Matt Molnar/NYCAviation] 

Naturally, the article very bluntly raises the question of 'will he rejoin the Presidential race he never joined?' America loves reading and debating that question. Plus, Trump can't let Sarah Palin and her bus tour hog the entire election-speculation spotlight.

As Matt Molnar points out; The Boeing 757 is a very presidential plane ...." See article for Molners full comment.

On day three of Sarah Palin's unconventional bus tour came the most surprising moment by far.

The former Alaska governor and her daughter Piper dined with media mogul Donald Trump and his wife Melania at a pizza place in Times Square. Palin met Trump at his apartment in Trump Tower, near Rockefeller Center; they rode from there in his limo to the restaurant, part of a New York City chain.

Sarah Palin mesmerized by The Donald as he tells everyone how it is -------> 

Both Palin and Trump, who made a show of considering a presidential bid in the past few months, have contracts with Fox News. The two could be seen eating through the windows, against which surprised passerby pressed.

This being New York City, not the most pro-Republican part of the country, there were loud chants of "Obama!" as the pair exited the restaurant.

Republican Michele Bachmann is making plans for a presidential campaign announcement next month in Waterloo, Iowa, the city where the Minnesota congresswoman was born.

Bachmann trickled out the details in a conference call with reporters Thursday night, but said she could still reverse course and sit out the 2012 White House campaign.

When describing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's tour through Washington D.C. on the back of a motorcycle -- in theory a grand kickoff to her national bus tour of significant historical sites, in actuality a media circus surrounding a creeping crawl through our nation's capital -- perhaps the New York Times said it best: "A short ride with lots of rumbling."

WHERE'S SARAH?  ------>

Palin only took a slow, meandering tour through D.C. on Sunday, but she got more public attention than any speaking engagement could possibly bring. And it all comes back to Palin's greatest strength: her ability to whip the media -- the same "lamestream media" she claims to despise so much .......

The Republican Party flirts should stop complaining about how tough it is to run for president and get in the game

Increasingly, we are told, White House aspirants are horrified by the grueling pace, the relentless attacks, the withering scrutiny, the notion of dragging their families into a slimy swamp that will taint them forever. My response: stop the whining.

First, the presidency is a pretty cool job. You get a nice mansion with backyard, a bowling alley, a chef, your own helicopter, and an impressive pile of nuclear weapons. No one forced these folks to stir up presidential speculation. The agonizing is getting old.

Second,.....

The New Hampshire Republican Party found out Sarah Palin would be coming to town by hearing about it in the news.

Where would she be stopping? They didn't know. Palin's staff wouldn't even return their calls, leaving them to ask reporters for more answers.

And they're not alone: With hours to go before Palin's bus tour is supposed to begin, it's still unclear what she'll be doing when she gets to the first stop. It's even more of a mystery what her second stop will be.

Or when.

Or why.

In Iowa's conservative circles, Michele Bachmann's name seemed to be on everyone's lips last week.

With a GOP presidential field that has left voters wanting more, the provocative "tea party" favorite arrived Friday seemingly well positioned to snap up supporters of 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee after he declined to run for 2012. Her visit here to attend several GOP fundraisers and private meetings with activists generated a flurry of speculation that the Minnesota congresswoman would enter the race earlier than expected.

Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks at a GOP fundraiser in Ohio on May 20. (JD Pooley, AP) ----->

But Bachmann's visit also showed how her ambitions have been complicated by another charismatic firebrand from the right: Sarah Palin.

Michele Bachmann's goal for today? Raise $240,000 in 24 hours

Though the Minnesota Republican says she won't officially announce whether she is running for president until June, it has not stopped the Tea Party favorite from an aggressive grassroots fundraising effort.

"Please make a contribution and join my 24-hour money bomb to raise $240,000 in 24 hours and make Barack Obama a one-term president," Bachmann writes on her website. (And the nit-wits will send it to her)

When ABC News first reported in January that Bachmann was seriously considering a White House bid, the news was generally treated as either a compelling media sideshow or a savvy fundraising head fake on Bachmann's part. After all, the idea that a third-term congresswoman with a light legislative record and a penchant for controversial statements could become a serious White House contender seemed unlikely at best.

Almost five months after would-be contenders like Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour and John Thune decided to take a pass -- the notion of a serious Bachmann campaign doesn't seem so implausible anymore, especially in Iowa.

On Tuesday, (May 17th) the Teapot Party announced our biggest endorsement yet – former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson for the Republican presidential nomination.

But not so fast. I sent the press release and coverage links to Nelson. His response took me by surprise: "My position is it too early for me to endorse anyone. And I think every one should vote their own conscience."

".........I think I will wait and see where he stands on other things. My bad. Sorry. I still think he is a good guy but so Is Dennis (Kucinich) and if he decided to run I would personally vote for him. If it came down to either him or Gary I'm already committed to Dennis."

Tim Pawlenty will formally announce his candidacy for president on Monday in Iowa, an aide told POLITICO.
The former Minnesota governor has scheduled a town hall in Des Moines at 11:30 a.m. His wife Mary will introduce him.

After the announcement, Pawlenty will travel to Florida, Washington, New Hampshire and New York.

Choosing Iowa for his official announcement is just the latest in a flurry of activity there by Pawlenty, reflecting a high-stakes contest in which he needs to quickly establish himself as a viable contender for the GOP nomination.

The Questions: Will Pawlenty win the nomination?
If he does, can he beat Obama?

It's a sign of the GOP's straits that the party is depending on the bland, wonkish Daniels for an adrenaline boost.

Top Republicans are increasingly convinced that President Barack Obama will be easily reelected if stronger GOP contenders do not emerge, and some are virtually begging Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to add some excitement to the slow-starting nomination race.

But interviews this week with longtime party activists and strategists made clear that many in the Republican establishment are unnerved by a field led by Mitt Romney, who could have trouble confronting Obama on health reform; Tim Pawlenty, who has yet to ignite excitement; Jon Huntsman, who may be too moderate to get the nomination; and Newt Gingrich, weighed down by personal baggage and a sense that he is a polarizing figure from the 1990s.

In other words ..... they're desperate.

Salon's Alex Pareene, in response to Rep. Michele Bachmann's latest fundraising appeal to her supporters, declares bewilderingly, "I am just looking for some sort of silver lining to the continued, demoralizing political prominence of a person who is very obviously deranged."
Of course, taking into consideration the congresswoman's wildly misinformed statements and crass invective against "big government," there's no mistaking her political profile for the silhouette of a figure tilting against windmills.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R) Minnesota 6th District ----->

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann passed on the first GOP debate Thursday night, but they were all quick to hammer the Obama administration Friday over the latest mixed jobs report.

The economy added 244,000 jobs in April, but unemployment rose for the first time since November, ticking up to 9 percent. from 8.8 percent in March.

0.2% Increase we're talking about here, mostly because people are moving back into the job market.

None of the potential candidates in the Republican presidential field breaks the 20% mark, according to a poll released Wednesday on the eve of the first official debate among some contenders.

"It's difficult to get a handle on the 2012 Republican race," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Hamden, Conn.-based polling institute, said in a statement. "Many contenders are not well-known, and many who are known are not liked."

In interviews with registered voters of various political stripes, 58% said they would never consider voting for Donald Trump or Sarah Palin in a general election. Also, 42% of those surveyed saying they would never consider voting for Newt Gingrich, of Georgia.

Rep. Michele Bachmann invoked the Holocaust Saturday morning as she described the tax burden that America's next generation will face unless action is taken to reduce federal spending and the national debt.

The Minnesota Republican told more than 200 Republicans gathered at a meeting of conservatives that she recalled learning about the Holocaust as a young girl and being horrified that many Americans didn't learn until after World War II that millions of Jews were killed.

"We are seeing eclipsed in front of our eyes a similar death and a similar taking away," Bachmann said. "It is this disenfranchisement that I think we have to answer to."

Perfect logic ... no wonder she is in her 3rd Congressional term.

Sarah Palin is traveling to Wisconsin this weekend to provide some in-person support for embattled Gov. Scott Walker's push against state labor unions.

For Palin, the decision comes at time when her political future--or lack of same--is being fiercely debated. Recent polls, including one this week conducted by CNN, show her tumbling down the ranks of potential GOP 2012 contenders.

Donald Trump appears to have supplanted her as an incendiary right-wing media colossus. Meanwhile. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who holds similar appeal to social conservatives, has been laying the kind of groundwork in Iowa and elsewhere for a presidential campaign that Palin has avoided.

Washington (CNN)– Rep. Michele Bachmann was heckled by a handful of University of Iowa students at an appearance in the Hawkeye state on Monday.

The Minnesota Republican spoke for under thirty minutes about her opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, and concerns with national debt, at the university memorial union in Iowa City, according to the Des Moines Register.

Bachmann was interrupted by the students who held a sign reading, "Homosexuality Desensitization" and shouted questions.
------

It was a little surprising when Paul, in the Senate less than three months, said last week that he was likely to run for president in 2012 .....

...... if his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, 75, didn't restart the campaign he ran in 2007-08. An adviser to both Pauls told Politico Friday morning that the father would decide in "the next month or two."

Pauls' timing and maneuvering coincides with that of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who is competing with Rand Paul for congressional leadership of the tea party, the largely Republican group that he trumpets in his campaign biography, The Tea Party Goes to Washington.

It's easy to dismiss Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) as a bomb-throwing back-bencher who is eying a presidential run largely because her attempt to secure a post in the House leadership was stymied.

There's a long history of camera-hungry House members making improbable runs that have served mainly to highlight their irrelevance.

The political universe has changed dramatically since — the rise of cable news, the expansion of talk radio and arrival of the Internet are among the new forces, all of which will work to her political advantage. And Bachmann, who CNN reported Thursday is planning to form a presidential exploratory committee, possesses an array of other strengths that are certain to make her a factor in the GOP primary.

CNN has exclusively learned that Rep. Michele Bachmann will form a presidential exploratory committee. The Minnesota Republican plans to file papers for the committee in early June, and possibly sooner if necessary to participate in early Republican presidential debates.

Sources close to the Congresswoman said, "She's been telling everyone early summer," the source told CNN regarding Bachmann's planned June filing and announcement. But the source said that nothing is static.

With Michele Bachmann .... that is an understatement.

A blunder of historical fact - not proportions - tainted Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's first visit to New Hampshire this weekend. Speaking to students and conservative activists in Manchester, the Tea Party activist encouraged the Granite state to be proud of its role in the Revolutionary War.

"You're the state where the shot was heard 'round the world at Lexington and Concord," Bachmann said at an event organized by the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire.

Lexington and Concord however, are in Massachusetts.

Watch these videos of Rep. Bachmann in action on "Meet the Press". She claims there is 105 Billion dollars hidden in the the Health Care bill.

(She also at one time said Obamas trip to the Middle East was going to cost over 200 million dollars a day)

She is absolutely unwilling or unable to answer any direct questions during the interview.

Thousands of the nation's most passionate conservatives have descended on Washington for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, including many potential 2012 GOP presidential nominees -- except the former Alaska Ex-Governor.

Last week, Palin declined an invitation to address the conference citing a scheduling conflict, marking the fourth time in as many years that she skipped the annual conservative event.

But did conference-goers notice, and do they care?

The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is not really.

"Where's Sarah Palin? Probably on a reality show," said Brian Jencunas of New Jersey, shrugging his shoulders. "Instead, we got Sarah Palin lite -- Michele Bachmann. She has the same hair, the same voice, the same issues." (Only dumber)

In his little red book, Chairman Mao wrote "revolution is not a tea party." The GOP leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives has already started to learn this lesson the hard way.

The 112th Congress has been in session for less than a month and already there are already signs of the sharp divisions between the GOP House leadership and rank and file Republican members in the Tea Party caucus. The leader of the Tea Party caucus in the House is Rep. Michele Bachmann. The first sign of trouble came when Speaker of the House John Boehner denied Congresswoman Bachmann a minor post on the GOP leadership team. [Check out a roundup of political cartoons on the Tea Party.] See Link Comment #1

Minnesota does have a history of electing some, shall we say, different public officials.

Remember, they had wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor. And they presently have comedian Al Franken in the Senate.

So maybe conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann fits right in. She shoots her mouth off and thinks later, which seems to be the template for tea party success. It worked for Sarah Palin for a long time, although Palin's whiney "I was a victim of the mean press, blah, blah, blah" screed after the Arizona shootings seemed to turn off a lot of people.

For those who thought the Tea Party was a passing fad, it might be time to reconsider:

For starters, it seems like the Tea Partiers may be among the only people in Washington who are serious about reining in government spending.

While Democrats and Republicans talk... and talk... and talk about cutting spending and reducing our skyrocketing deficits and $14 trillion national debt, some in the Tea Party have real solutions.

Newly elected Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is proposing cutting $500 billion from federal spending in just one year. To be sure, he has some drastic suggestions - including cutting $42 billion from the food stamp program and $16 billion from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Justice Antonin Scalia, is courting controversy by accepting Representative Michele Bachmann's invitation to speak to the House's Tea Party Caucus about the constitution, specifically on the topic of "Separation of Powers."

Addressing concerns that, by accepting, Scalia is essentially suggesting that "an alliance between the conservative members of the court and the conservative members of Congress," as one law professor phrased it to The Los Angeles Times, Bachmann's people pointed out that the event, while organized by the Tea Party Caucus, is nonpartisan and open to Democrats and Republicans alike.

The country has a new guardian for its national security secrets: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The outspoken Minnesota Republican and Tea Party favorite has been tapped by House Speaker John Boehner for a coveted slot on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the CIA, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community.

The move comes as Bachmann is seeking to burnish her national security credentials as she weighs a possible run for higher office.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is the keynote speaker at a GOP event in the early presidential caucus state of Iowa later this month, and a spokesman said Wednesday that the Tea Party favorite has "not ruled out" a bid for president.

"Nothing's off the table for her," said Andy Parrish, Bachmann's chief of staff. "She's looking forward to traveling to Iowa for the fundraiser, and you know, she's looking forward over the next year to traveling and sharing the story of why we can't re-elect Barack Obama as president."

Rep. Michele Bachmann took us all on another ride aboard the crazy train this year, questioning the president's patriotism, defending BP, proclaiming herself the queen tea partier -- and winning re-election in the 6th congressional district.

Here's a look back.

Yep! Gore Vidal's "Burr" created Michele Bachmann. Because it was "snotty" to the founding fathers.

Every good conservative icon needs an origin story. The best ones -- the vast majority of them, if you believe them -- are former liberals, "lifelong Democrats," or even former Marxists. They become virulent right-wingers, usually, because of something horrible the Democrats did. Reagan was a Democrat -- and a union leader! -- until, in his formulation, "the party left me." (Around the time the party began supporting civil rights legislation, but that's neither here nor there.) But big events, or supposed betrayals, work best; 9/11 awoke the inner General Turgidson in every supposedly former liberal warblogger.

Never letting the facts get in the way of a good soundbite, Michele Bachmann's been caught with her pants on fire by PolitiFact again.

George Stephanopoulos, on "Good Morning America," asked her why it was okay for the wealthy to get tax breaks, but not okay to extend unemployment benefits. Here's what she said:

"And people want to think that these are millionaires, sitting in leather chairs, lighting their cigars with $100 bills," she said. "That's not what we're talking about. These are people who, who are carpet layers who maybe employ two or three other guys, or a plumber, maybe himself and his brother, and it's $250,000 in gross sales for their business. They're the ones that are looking at massive tax increases."

PolitiFact found that she's not telling the truth. Read article to see why.

Her Republican colleagues made clear, over and over again, she would not have a seat at the new House majority's extended leadership table.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, they whispered, is too loud, too unruly, too Tea Party. (Too stupid?)

But as the Minnesota Republican strode out of the Capitol the other day and onto a leaf-strewn grassy park to rally a few hundred Tea Party activists (a group with questionable intellect?), it was undeniable that she was their leader. (the Birds & Feathers syndrome)

(Don't blame Phil Rucker, the brackets are mine)

Midhele Bachmann, 62 other Reps, file brief supporting pending lawsuit by 20 States calling HCR unconstitutional.

Requiring people to buy health insurance or pay a penalty "would constitute an unprecedented expansion of Congress's commerce power that would threaten Americans' individual economic liberty," the representatives and the American Center for Law & Justice said today.

"Congress cannot pass any law that seems to most efficiently address a national problem," the representatives said. "Every federal law must derive from one of the grants of authority found in the Constitution."

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, an outspoken critic of farm payments, listed between $15,000 and $50,000 in farm income as one source of revenue on her personal financial disclosure statement last year, citing a Bachmann family farm in Independence, Wis., as an asset.

That farm, which was owned by her father-in-law, received more than $250,000 in subsidies over the past 15 years, according to the Environmental Working Group. A Bachmann spokesman said she is not involved in any operational decisions.

Even though Bachmann's bid only lasted about a week, it serves to illustrate the headwinds a tea party candidate could face in official Washington.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann dropped out of the race for House Republican Conference chairwoman Wednesday night, ending a quixotic bid for leadership that many saw as the first real test of the tea party against the GOP establishment.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Bachmann said that Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling has her "enthusiastic support for his candidacy" for the top messaging post in the GOP. Bachmann's decision means there will be no contested positions for Republican leadership jobs as the party prepares to take control of the House.

Bachmann announced last week that she would be throwing her name in the hat for the title of GOP Conference Chair, which is soon to be the party's fourth most powerful post.

It didn't take long for some of the most powerful Republicans, including top officials such as likely House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) and Mike Pence, who had earlier retired his title as Conference Chair, to unite behind Bachmann's rival, Hensarling.

It's just the latest wrinkle in a GOP leadership dispute that has pitted establishment Republicans against the new wave of conservative energy.

(?!)

Joe Miller's "Politicking with the Stars" stormed into Anchorage's Dena'ina Convention Center Thursday night starring former Gov. Sarah Palin, a Hollywood actress and a handful of GOP leaders.

Featured player rolls went to State Sen. Fred Dyson, Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and Janine Turner -- the actress from the old Alaska TV show "Northern Exposure." The group of GOP and tea party stars who appeared via prerecorded video were 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, and South Carolina's Sen. Jim DeMint.

"Lady Liberty and Sarah Palin are lit by the same torch," Bachmann said in her recorded speech.

More than $2 of every $3 in large contributions are from out of state

In what's believed to be a national record for a congressional race, 6th District Republican Michele Bachmann's staggering fundraising numbers show strong support at home but an even bigger boost nationally.

Of the $4 million Bachmann has raised in large contributions to date, $2.7 million comes from outside Minnesota. She has drawn heavily from conservative strongholds in Florida, Texas and Southern California. She has also raised $5 million in smaller, unitemized contributions.

A week after releasing its Senate Wingnut Index, the Daily Beast investigates wingnuttery in the House. Using a "semi-scientific" process to identify the most extreme members on both sides of the spectrum,

See link for how the site ranks them: