Wingnut of the Year: Bachmann's Crowning Accident

Michele Bachmann has been awarded wingnut of the year, a distinction she has worked very hard to achieve, and I am sure she is proud of her new title. As a politician and a business woman, attracting the attention of the general public is a great way of expanding your brand, and as the old adage goes "there's no such thing as bad publicity."

But what has Bachmman actually done to achieve this title? Sure she writes her own material (as far as we know), but when you look at her actual achievements, her success has been more a happy accident of being in the right place at the right time than it has been a product of effort and elbow grease. Many of the factors leading to her "success" were well outside of her control.

She hasn't done anything in congress to achieve the WOY title. Of the top ten Bachmann quips, the only one that occurred on the congressional floor was the "carbon is harmless" gaffe. This quip was little more than a poorly executed weak argument, which happens to all politicians. It's the football equivalent of a starting receiver dropping and easy pass: it looks bad on T.V. but it happens to everyone at some point. And even that quote never would have been printed if her reputation hadn't already been established.

Her firebrand reputation stems almost entirely from her media exposure. But ironically she would have had this exposure if she wasn't a member of congress. When it comes to eye-catching (or ear-catching, as it were) rhetoric, she is nowhere close to the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. This is partially because since she is in politics she has to keep a much keener eye on public opinion. Being hated is good for ratings but doesn’t win any votes.

And Beck and Limbaugh are professionals at stirring people up. It’s what they are paid to do full time and they have much more experience and practice at the art of doing so. And they get paid a lot to do it. Bachmann gets a lot of media exposure because she doesn’t charge for it. Her rhetoric isn’t nearly as powerful as Beck’s but it is more cost efficient.

She has not established herself as a proven leader the way that other Republicans have. She is not a leader of the TEA Party movement but someone they look up to. Democrats like to claim that the TEA Party is "Astroturfed," or instigated by her and possibly other conservative politicians to look like a people's movement, but I give them the benefit of the doubt. If the TEA Party is truly a grass roots organization, it would exist in roughly the same shape today without Bachmann.

Finally it’s also very likely that her gender played a role in her popularity. From a strategy standpoint the GOP had to respond to the Clinton vs. Obama primary by putting minority faces out there. By not doing so they would continue to be seen as the "old white man" party which left them weak against the "you must be racist" arguments coming from the Democrats. By putting female faces on the conservative movement, they established a solid "well, you must be sexist" response.

Joe Wilson’s conservatism is just as controversial as Bachmann, but didn't fit the profile the GOP was looking to promote at the time. I do not think that gender plays any role in Bachmann's character or politics, but it has played a large role in her popularity. Also, I don’t think that the GOP made a conscious or organized decision to back women over men, but GOP members developed a tendency of doing so en masse because of the strategic benefit it gave their party as a whole.

Whether or not Bachmann is quietly proud of winning Wingnut of the Year or sees this as an achievement, I am sure that she has plenty of supporters that see this as a feather in her cap. But as far as I’m concerned this distinction of hers is due purely to accident, not diligence.

And the Winner of the Politifact.com 2009 Lie of the Year Contest IS....

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
Adolf Hitler
German Chancellor, leader of the Nazi party,
1889-1945

"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.”
Henry Louis Mencken
American humorous Journalist & Critic of American life
1880-1956

“People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
British Journalist, Satarist, Spy,
1903 - 1990

Between December 9th and December 16th, one of my all-time favorite sites, Politifact.com, held open voting for their year in review "Lie of the Year" contest. This contest is a great look at both the issues that were important in 2009, and the people who were the faces of those issues. Those competing are so worthy, that picking just one is a terribly difficult decision. (I would have included Ben Bernanke, but oh well.....they didn't ask me.)

Politifact is one of the best fact checking sites on the web, a project of the St. Petersburg Times newspaper. A 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, the purpose of the project, as stated on their web site, is "to help you find the truth in American Politics". Editors and reporters of the Times do the fact checking on "statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups" and then rate them on their truth-o-meter. Ratings on the Truth-O-Meter range from True through a spectrum of partially True all the way to False, and the ultimate bad rating and my personal favorite, because fact-checking American Politics just wouldn't be complete without it, for statements where a mere rating of false would be simply inadequate: "Pants on Fire". Politifact is adamantly non-partisan in their fact checking, so while readers may delight in seeing those who hold opposition figures accountable for their statements, readers should also be prepared to see statements made by figures they may endorse or support given equal scrutiny.

So, who are the candidates for the 2009 Lie of the Year award? (drum roll please!)

In no particular order

Joe Biden, for:
"When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft."
April 30, 2009,
the Today Show.
Rated Pants on Fire.

Barack Obama, for:
"Preventive care saves money."
September 9, 2009,
speech to a joint session of Congress.
Rated False

Joe Wilson, for:
"You lie!"
September 9, 2009
speech by Obama to a joint session of Congress,
(re health care reform would not insure illegal immigrants)
Rated False

Nita Lowey, for:
"An amendment to the House health reform bill puts new restrictions on women's access to abortion coverage in the private health insurance market even when they would pay premiums with their own money."
November 7, 2009,
speech from the House floor
Rated False

Sarah Palin, for:
"Seniors and the disabled will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his beaurocrats can decide, based on a subjective judgement of their level of productivity in society, whether they are worthy of health care."
August 7, 2009,
message posted on Facebook.
Rated Pants on Fire

Glenn Beck, for:
"John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, has proposed forcing abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population." July 22, 2009
Fox News cable television, Glenn Beck program
Rated Pants on Fire

Orly Taitz, for:
"A birth certificate shows Barack Obama was born in Kenya."
August 2, 2009
lawsuit attachment
Rated Pants on Fire

Michele Bachmann, for:
"Page 92 of the House health care reform bill says specifically that people can't purchase private health insurance after a date certain."
October 30, 2009,
Fox News cable television interview
Rated Pants on Fire

So hard to choose, it is so very hard to choose.......

And the winner is..........?

Unfortunately, Politifact did not provide a date for announcing the winner, only that the results will come soon. While readers wait for the announcement, they can browse the Politifact web site which is conveniently organized with Truth-O-Meter findings by persons, rulings, subjects, Pants on Fire rulings, and Health Care. There is a file devoted exclusively to Barack Obama, as well as an Obameter, Joe Biden has his own file as well. Glenn Beck and Michael Moore have their own files as well. TheObameter, worth a look for those who want to determine for themselves if the President gave himself a fair grade for his first year, is divided into headings for All promises not yet rated, All promises in the works, All promises stalled, Broken promises, Obama compromises, and for any topic not covered in those headings, By subject. Politifact is tracking 500 Obama promises, a prodigious undertaking. The site also has sections on people, and pundits.

Staff writer and researcher Angie Drobnic Holan is the Politifact reporter posting the story and presumably also the results to the Politifact web page. Her bio on Politifact indicates she has worked for the St. Petersburg Times since 2005, and holds a Masters degree from Columbia University School of Journalism. She has previously been a researcher at the Tampa Tribune and a business reporter for the Mobile, Alabama Press-Register.

I hope she posts an announcement soon; the suspense is brutal! Well, maybe it is not quite such suspense, for those who are the candidates for this distinction; I imagine they'd be happy to wait indefinitely. One last point: according to Politifact, as regards a difference of opinion covered in a previous article here on Penigma, relating to the Stupak Amendment, let me acknowledge that Politifact supports the position espoused by Thoughts of Eternity, and not the position I expressed. I like to admit it when I'm wrong. Well, I don't exactly LIKE it, but I try to do it.