Michele Bachmann is From My State, and I Apologize
| posted by Jeff Fecke | Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I’m a political writer, and for that reason I will never wish ill upon Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. For one thing, I don’t wish ill on anyone, even Dick Cheney. (I keep figuring the Ghost of Christmas Past tried to help him, but got accidentally shot in the face.) But I really hope for Michele’s continued health and welfare. After all, she has given me story after story, most of them having to do with her utter nutjobbery. She’s like a one-woman full-employment act for Minnesota’s pundit class.
Today’s a two-fer. First, the story you’ve probably heard. Michele is pretty proud of Minnesota, the state where all the women are strong, all the men are good lookin’, and everyone has a second job:
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., spoke in support of the Middle Class Job Protection Act, which cuts corporate taxes by 25%, and expressed her pride in Minnesotans working "longer hours" and "two jobs."Yes, she really said "workingest."
"I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota," Bachmann said at a press conference today. "We're the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs."
Most people would not think that it was a good thing that Minnesotans are having to work two jobs to make ends meet, and most people would not view that as a reason to support a massive corporate tax cut, but hey, most people wouldn't affix themselves to George W. Bush, either, so most people will never be confused with our Congresswoman.
Now, Bachmann isn't just about redistributing money from the poor and middle class to the rich. She's also a radical Christian conservative! And to that end, she's authored legislation to take money from the poor and give it to crisis pregnancy centers:
The bill, H.R. 4852, the "Positive Alternatives Act," would carve out a specific exemption to TANF, allowing states to use funding for "information or counseling that promotes childbirth instead of abortion, and assists pregnant women in making an informed decision regarding the alternatives of adoption or parenting with respect to her born or unborn child." The measure would also allow the use of TANF funds for "any other service designed to assist a qualified individual who is a woman to carry her unborn child to term."Of course, we can't have that! I mean, TANF administrators might actually suggest that giving money to organizations that give out "misleading information about the links between abortion and breast cancer, the effect of abortion on future fertility, and the mental health effects of abortion" isn't the best use of aid to the poor. And that would be terrible! No, better we simply carve out programs that will funnel at-risk women into anti-choice clinics, so that they can get neither birth control nor any useful advice. Then they'll end up with more kids, and that will...uh...something! Hooray!
Currently, TANF funds can be used for "pre-pregnancy family planning services," but no other medical services. A few states, including Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, have interpreted this definition to include "alternative-to-abortion" services, but that interpretation is subject to review by TANF administrators.
But that's our Michele: always looking out for the America that exists in her head. I really hope Mike Huckabee taps her to be his running mate. At least then she won't be able to run for reelection.
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