Posted by
Stuart London on Friday, February 04, 2011 11:48:42 AM
I admit that I love people who buck the establishment.
Maybe that comes from being a Republican in Philadelphia, where 99-percent of the establishment is Democratic.
Anyhow, I have watched with fascination, and admiration, at the way U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has risen from what the GOP house leadership hoped was a life as a backbenching non-entity into one of the most well-known Republicans in the country, all in a few short months.
I am not getting into her stands on the issues or other negative claims, this about how someone who was left for buried and politically dead was able to almost singlehandedly by her efforts into being talked about as a serious Presdiential contender.
Flash back to a couple weeks after the 2010 midterm elections.
Bachmann had been a stalwart in the Tea Party movement that helped sweep the GOP into control of the house. Sublety was not her thing, she rallied the troops and got them to the polls.
But the House Republicans big-wigs did not think Bachmann could switch from red-meat rhetoric to the needed diplomacy of inside Congress, so they sought to marginlize her.
Bachmann wanted to be the No. 4 Republican in the house leadership. The big-wigs stomped that idea out in a couple days and she had to withdraw. Other Tea Party-favorites were installed into leadership positions.
Bachmann reportedly wanted to be appointed to the powerful Ways & Means Committee. Considering she is a tax attorney by trade, not an outrageuos request. But she did not get that. Instead Speaker John Boehner appointed her to the Intelligence committee. A plum spot also but one in which most of the business is done in secret, hence, no chance for her to generate publicity.
Bachmann appeared outflanked, but she then outflanked the flankers. They might have the power in the house, but she went above them to the people-at least the Conservatire Republican and Tea Party people.
Policy-wise, she sponsored bills to repeal Obamacare and the Wall Street reform package and came up with plans to cut hundreds of billions from the deficit (causing veterans groups to go up in arms).
Outside the Hall of Congress, she floated the idea she was considering the idea of running for President in 2012. To a media bored with a field of middle-aged white guys and having done a zillion Sarah Palin stories, this was like giving catnip to house of felines. When she spoke before an anti-tax dinner in Iowa in January, there were 250 people in the audience - and 50 members of the media chronicling it.
She then gave the Tea Party-version of a response to the president's State of the Union address, putting her on an equal footing with the offical Republican response (which irked the leadership who had snubbed her to no end). It was televised live on CNN and while there was a bit of a problem with which camera she looked at, that even incresed her recognition. How many congresswomen just starting their third term get a skit on Saturday Night Live after all?
Chris Matthews' obsessive ranting on her, of course, does nothing but increase her standing with the masses. Right now, most Americans know only three members of the House: Boehner, Nancy Pelosi - and Bachmann.
All I hear on the libelral blogs is how 'stupid' Bachmann is. Well, all I have to say is, here is a comment from the pollster who took a Presidential caucus survey in Iowa right after the possibility of her running came out..
"Watch out for Bachmann"