Michele Bachmann's Holy War

The wrong John Wayne Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo’s own John Wayne. The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo’s John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer. Mrs. Bachmann grew up in Waterloo, and used the town as the backdrop for her campaign announcement, where she told Fox News: “Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. John Wayne, the movie legend, is in fact from Iowa and the John Wayne birthplace is a celebrated landmark — only it’s in Winterset, which is a nearly three hour drive away from Waterloo. Gacy, though, had his first taste of the criminal life in Waterloo, where he lived for a short time, and where he had his first criminal conviction for an attempted homosexual assault, which landed him in prison for 18 months.

The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today | Connecting the Dots, What Matters Today With the separation of church and state so much in the news these days — whether Rick Santorum’s “makes me want to throw up” attack on John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association or the current debate over reproductive rights and varying interpretations of religious freedom — perhaps a little history lesson’s in order. Which is just what’s provided by an award-winning documentary, The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today, currently making the rounds of public television. Written, produced and directed by Jay Rosenstein, and narrated by David Ogden Stiers (of M*A*S*H fame), The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today is the story of McCollum v. Vashti McCollum smiles as she reads of her victory before the U.S. Vashti McCollum was a mother in Champaign, Illinois, whose son was pressured into attending once-a-week “voluntary” religious instruction at a local public school. After what Mrs. Watch the trailer of The is Not on Trial Here Today:

Michele Bachmann: A small-town, small-minded isolationist. - By Christopher Hitchens That was actually three dripping custard pies, rather than just the one, with which Rep. Michele Bachmann assailed her own face by bragging to Fox News about her small-town Iowa roots. Having hymned the incomparable Dairy Queen and Wonder Bread facilities boasted by the sturdy small town of her girlhood, she went on to claim that "John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa," adding, "That's the kind of spirit that I have, too." Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was a columnist for Vanity Fair and the author, most recently, of Arguably, a collection of essays. John Wayne was from Winterset, Iowa, which can be found about 150 miles to the southwest of Waterloo. Traditionally, the phrase "to meet your Waterloo" means to encounter a final and unarguable defeat. Where does it come from, this silly and feigned idea that it's good to be able to claim a small-town background? This is dispiriting.

High schooler challenges Bachmann to debate on U.S. Constitution | Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media. A high school sophomore from New Jersey is challenging Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on civics and the U.S. Constitution. “I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics,” Myers wrote, according to a report by City Pages’ Nick Pinto . Politifact rated Bachmann’s statements about the U.S. Here’s Myers full letter: Dear Representative Bachmann, My name is Amy Myers. Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time. Key Abortion Restrictions in the States By Igor Volsky on March 6, 2012 at 11:24 am Conservative lawmakers around country have introduced legislation that would not only limit women’s access to abortion services, but also severely interfere with their reproductive health decisions. The bills — ranging from requiring women to hear ultrasounds before undergoing an abortion to significantly limiting when physicians can perform the procedures — would significantly expand state government regulations and, in some instances, severely interfere in the woman-doctor relationship. ThinkProgress has created an interactive map of the most restrictive measures moving through state houses around the country and has broken down the legislation into five categories: Move the mouse over the map for short summaries of the bills. Kerry Mitchell, Amanda Peterson Beadle, Jessica Arons, and Fatima Najiy contributed to the creation of this map.

Michele Bachmann's Former Campaign Manager Calls 'Retardation' Comment A Mistake WASHINGTON -- Ed Rollins, the former campaign manager for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), strongly criticized the presidential candidate's comments earlier this week that a vaccine once mandated by Texas Gov. Rick Perry might cause "mental retardation" in children. "She made a mistake. The quicker she admits she made a mistake and moves on, the better she is," Rollins said in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday. "Ms. Rollins admitted that Bachmann has taken what was a hugely positive issue for her and at the least tainted it, allowing Perry to escape the full brunt of scrutiny he would have otherwise borne. "I think the bottom line here is she has made what was a very positive debate and made the issue about Perry to where it's now an issue about her, and she needs to move on," Rollins said. A Bachmann spokeswoman has not responded to emails or phone calls. Appearing on Fox News after the debate, Bachmann recounted a conversation with a woman in the audience. Watch the MSNBC interview here:

Another Odd Bachmann Rebuttal: 'I've Been Part of the Real World Throughout My Life' Speaking to reporters at a sparsely attended press conference Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann delivered a response to President Barack Obama's jobs speech. "Even if the President's plan passes, we already know it will fail," she said, offering her own nine-point plan. During questions, Bachmann told reporters that her response to the president was not "campaign related." "This is the president who called 535 members of Congress to hear what I believe was nothing more than political speech," she remarked. "It is so misguided of the President to just put forward a retread of everything he has put forward before that has failed," Bachmann asserted. "You don't create jobs until you grow the economy. The Congresswoman explained that she had not been able to attend the President's speech in person because of bad road conditions. "I listened to it on the radio coming in and then I caught the tail end of it in my office."

IRS May Make Political Groups Pay Dearly for Keeping Donors Secret -- And Out Them Karl Rove, GOP strategist and backer of the political group Crossroads GPS, arrives at a fundraising luncheon in June. WASHINGTON -- For years, the IRS has done little or nothing to check the rise of overtly political groups that claim a special tax-exempt status in order to funnel secret money into election-related advertising. But in a sign that the agency may be waking from its slumber, the IRS has sent detailed questionnaires to several Tea Party organizations -- and possibly other political groups -- to determine if they truly qualify for the 501(c)(4) designation intended for groups whose exclusive purpose is to promote social welfare. Should any group currently calling itself a 501(c)(4) have its designation denied or revoked, tax experts said the consequences could be severe, including fines of 35 percent or more of the money they raised in secret. And the groups might have to make donors' names public. Reform groups have been pressuring the IRS to enforce its rules for months.