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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

UK: Watching Bachmann's SOTU Response

The Guardian

Michele Bachmann's Tea Party overdrive mocked for Obama response

State of the union: self-styled Tea Party leader in Congress breaks with convention and is ridiculed for gaffes

"Erin McPike of the conservative website RealClearPolitics said the big difference between Ryan's official Republican response and Bachmann's statement was one of tone: while Ryan said the Republicans would work with the White House in reducing the national deficit, Bachmann "offered a litany of criticisms of Obama's economic measures".

"Bloggers swiftly pointed out exaggerations and half-truths in some of those criticisms. Bachmann, for instance, said the "bureaucracy now tells us which light bulbs to buy and may put 16,500 IRS [tax] agents in charge of policing President Obama's healthcare bill".

"That is an old canard from last year's mid-term elections which politics website Factcheck debunked as "partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation".

"Even more ridicule was heaped on Bachmann for comments at the end of her statement, where she sought to conclude on a rousing patriotic note. As the backdrop changed to the famous photograph of the American flag being raised over the Pacific island of Iwo Jima she talked about the "miracle" of America's creation, referring to the battle of Iwo Jima at the close of the second world war as "a battle against all odds".

"David Frum, a former speechwriter for George Bush, was one of many to highlight the historical inaccuracy of that statement. He tweeted: "Did Bachmann really say that Iwo Jima was a battle against the odds? For the Japanese I guess …""

read the rest of the article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/26/tea-party-reply-state-of-the-union

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