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October 24, 2008

GOP Drops Bachmann (important update - RNC caves)

Randall Hoven
The Republican Party has decided to not help re-elect a 100% American Conservative Union Congresswoman. She committed the mortal sin of saying, when Chris Matthews put the words in her mouth, that Obama "may have anti-American views."

The Congresswoman is Michele Bachmann.  According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune ,

The national fundraising committee for GOP congressional candidates has canceled its Twin Cities TV advertising for Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The ads were canceled Tuesday afternoon, after several days in which Bachmann was the subject of criticism for her televised remark on Friday that Obama "may have anti-American views." ... Bachmann made the comment in response to a question from Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball."

Bachman was elected to Congress in 2006.  In 2007, the ACU gave her a 100% rating, making her one of their "standouts" and one of the few women so honored.  The National Journal gave her a score of 89.2, the 26th highest in a Congress of 435.

Here is part of the interview with Chris Matthews on Hardball  that got her in trouble.

REP. BACHMANN: You have a troika of the most leftist administration in the history of our country.

MR. MATTHEWS: If you have liberal views, does that mean you have anti-American views? What's the connection? I don't get the connection. What's the connection between liberal and leftist and anti-American?

REP. BACHMANN: Anti-American is the point, because --

MR. MATTHEWS: I mean, if you're liberal, are you anti-American?

REP. BACHMANN: Well, the liberals that are Jeremiah Wright and that are Bill Ayers, they're over-the-top anti-American. And that's the question that Americans have. Remember, it was Michelle Obama who said she's only recently proud of her country. And so these are very anti-American views.

...

MR. MATTHEWS: So this is a character issue. You believe that Barack Obama may -- you're suspicious because of this relationship -- may have anti-American views. Otherwise it's probably irrelevant to this discussion.

REP. BACHMANN: Absolutely.

MR. MATTHEWS: So you believe it brings into --

REP. BACHMANN: I absolutely --

MR. MATTHEWS: So you believe that Barack Obama may have anti- American views.

REP. BACHMANN: Absolutely. I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views. That's what the American people are concerned about. That's why they want to know what his answers are. That's why Joe the plumber has figured so highly in the last few days --

MR. MATTHEWS: Okay. I'm not going to get off this.

And boy, he didn't.  If you read the transcript, you see that Matthews was the first one to use the term "anti-American," and once he got her to repeat it, he pushed it and pushed it.  The shark had blood in the water.

I learned two lessons from this.  (1) Never be interviewed on Hard Ball or talk to Chris Matthews.  (2) Never depend on the Republican Party.

Update from Randall Hoven:

Apparently, the Republican National Congressional Committee changed course and is now using Bachmann to raise money. Amanda Carpenter blogs from Townhall.
Amanda thinks we bloggers did it.  I was wondering how long the RNCC would sit on its hands once it saw contributions pour into her campaign directly.

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