HARRIS: Congresswoman Bachmann, on the same theme, you opposed the U.S. intervention in Libya. If President Obama had taken the same view, Gadhafi would, in all likelihood, still be in power today.
Moderator,
Reagan Library Republican Debate,
September 2011
quote courtesy of The Political Guide.com
Michele Bachmann is an embarrassment to Minnesota, because she is so damned ignorant, and so bigoted.
| deceased Quadaffi |
Remember, this woman sits on the Intelligence Committee. You'd think she would know as much as oh, the L.A. Times when they report the findings of the Intelligence community, but NO. Maybe the Republicans had some vain hope that she would absorb some, by exposure. Apparently they were unaware of her dismal attendance record, if that was their hope. But hey! The Tea Party loves her! She's pro-ignorance, and anti-science (apparently also anti-geography).
But it gets better. Want to bet that Bachmann doesn't actually KNOW where Libya is? Not that her ignorance would ever stop her from criticizing Obama or anyone else not on the far right. There is this footage from the Republican debate-of-ignorance in Las Vegas. The following is from the HuffPo:
The next time someone tells you the Republicans - or worse, the nut jobs in the Tea Party - are the party of ideas, point out that they aren't the party of ideas, and they certainly are not the party of FACTS. They are, if anything, fact-aversive.
For example, on the demise of Quadaffi (which is a phonetic spelling, and therefore occurs in many variations) we have this from Michele Bachmann, from Politico:
"For more than 40 years, we lived with the Muammar al-Qaddafi regime and the atrocities he orchestrated. The world is a better place without Qaddafi. It is my hope that Qaddafi's reign of terror will be replaced with a government that respects the people of Libya and one that will be a good partner with the United States. Hopefully, today will also bring to an end our military involvement there, something I opposed from its beginning."
Michele Bachmann is a flip-flopper. She doesn't know where key locations are, she doesn't understand the politics of these countries or movements, and she will say anything - apparently forgetting that her statements are on the record. The web site, Political Guide.com however, does a meticulous job of tracking these flip flops, and has done so with Bachmann, tracking her statements while campaigning, which can be viewed at their site, but more importantly tracking her voting record on Libya :
Voting Record Restricting Funds for Use in Libya
On June 24, 2011 the House voted on a measure to prohibit funds for the Department of Defense (DOD) from being used for U.S. Armed Forces in support of the NATA Operation Unified Protector with respect to Libya, except for: (1) search and rescue; (2) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; (3) aerial refueling; and (4) operational planning. The vote failed 180-238. Michele Bachmann voted against preventing funds from being used for military actions in support of the NATO mission in Libya.
Michele Bachmann voted against preventing funds from being used for military actions in support of the NATO mission in Libya.
Authorizing the limited use of US Forces in support of the NATO mission in Libya
On June 24, 2011 the House voted on a resolution to authorize the President to continue the limited use of U.S. Armed Forces in Libya in support of U.S. security policy interests as part of the NATO mission to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973. The resolution states that Congress does not support deploying, establishing, or maintaining the presence of units and members of U.S. Armed Forces on the ground in Libya unless the purpose of the presence is limited to the immediate personal defense of U.S. government officials or to rescuing members of NATO forces from imminent danger. The resolution failed 123-495. Michele Bachmann voted against the resolution to limit the use of forces in Libya.
Michele Bachmann voted against the resolution to limit the use of forces in Libya.
Removing Troops from Libya
On June 3, 2011 the House voted to direct the President to remove troops from Libya. The vote was bipartisan for and against, but failed 262-148. Michele Bachmann voted in favor of forcing President Obama to remove troops from Libya.
Michele Bachmann voted in favor of forcing President Obama to remove troops from Libya.
Resolution Against Troop Deployment
On June 3, 2011 the House voted on a resolution declaring that President Obama could not deploy, establish, or maintain the presence of units and members of the United States Armed Forces on the ground in Libya. The vote passed 266-144. Michele Bachmann voted in favor of the resolution to declare that the President could not deploy troops.
Michele Bachmann voted in favor of the resolution to declare that the President could not deploy troops.
Clearly, President Obama in cooperation with our allies in NATO, had a clear vision of what was occurring on the ground in Libya as events unfolded. He engaged us in a very limited involvement which lasted some eight months, and did not result in significant loss of life to the United States military, and which has been crucial in developing relationships with the new governments in Muslim countries in Africa. Michele Bachmann doesn't give a damn about Libya; she is simply annoyed that once again, President Obama has been successful, and she has been caught being both stupid, and on the wrong side of history.
"Clearly, President Obama in cooperation with our allies in NATO, had a clear vision of what was occurring on the ground in Libya as events unfolded. He engaged us in a very limited involvement which lasted some eight months, and did not result in significant loss of life to the United States military, and which has been crucial in developing relationships with the new governments in Muslim countries in Africa."
ReplyDeleteRepublicans used to do this, too. George Bush Sr. put together a coalition in order to fight the Iraq I war. Yet we never hear about him. We always hear about President Reagan. Well....
President Reagan, always quoted by the Tea Party, responded to the bombing of U.S. personnel in Lebanon by...pulling U.S. troops out of that country. That's about it. When Libya's government sponsored the airline bomb over the U.K. in the 1980s, President Reagan responded by bombing Tripoli and killing one of Quadaffi's sons, and that's about it. A statue of him outside of the Houses of Parliament in London has a quotation by Margaret Thatcher that reads "...he won the Cold War without firing a shot...." If a Democrat had done that, he'd be vilified by the Republicans as a limp-wristed pansy-ass.
President Obama would be praised for what he did by Republicans if he were a Republican. Instead, idiots like Michele Bachmann this past year blamed him for the two previous wars (Afghanistan and Iraq II) and somehow linked him with President Carter for the Libya scenario. That was last March. Never mind that he did not start the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq II. He inherited them, and they were messes by the time he stepped into office. Regarding Libya, what were the American casualty numbers? Uh.... How many countries took part in helping the Libyan rebels? Uh.... And how do we look to our friends, allies, and erstwhile enemies? Whoops. I guess Ms. Bachmann was wrong--again.
Look at the facts: the top tax rate is lower now than it was during the vast majority of the Reagan administration; Bush II started an incredibly expensive war of choice in Iraq that vastly outweighs the money spent in the stimulus plan; yet President Obama is called a "big spender." This even when Bruce Bartlett, former policy adviser to President Reagan, called President Obama's economic policy that of a "moderate Republican."
Wake up, U.S.A. The G.O.P. has long-since tipped into in crazy land, and a lot of us are headed there, too. It's embarrassing. Let's not let it become irreversible.
Did you hear potential Presidentress Bachmann during the Republican debate chastising President Obama for authorizing troops for Uganda ? Unfortunately, we don't know how Representative Bachmann felt about the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 since that was passed by a voice vote (she may have had a tv gig or maybe she was there?) ... but there were 201 co-sponsors (including all the Democrats representing Minnesota in the US House but zero Republicans from Minnesota but plenty of other Republicans did become sponsors.)
ReplyDeleteOf course, Congresswoman Bachmann probably does not remember that under George W Bush that fifteen US military interventions took place, mainly in Central and East Africa and that President Bush declared the LRA (the Lord's Resistance Army) a terrorist organization.
Oh, and did you hear potential Presidentress Bachmann's speech to the California Commonwealth Club in which she criticized the United States Postal Service for lacking Steve Jobs' focus on profit-making and declared that the private sector in general would do a better job than the government of delivering the mail. She also accused the government of creating a "higher education bubble" by financing too many student loans.
That's the future ... Presidentress Bachmann.