It is news all over the Internet that Michele Bachmann, appearing to have a political deathwish, went uber-McCarthyite, on national TV (to the profound embarassment of every citizen of this State).
Bill Prendergast has a transcript and related material posted at DumpMicheleBachmann. Go there to read it. It undeniably is both awful and offensive to the sensibilities of cogent, reasonable people. It is Joe McCarthy, repackaged, Stillwater style.
Basically, Bachmann went into "anti-American" dimensions of her world - her distorted view of the real world, that is.
While gross offensive overstatement is not an unusual for Bachmann, she usually has had the sense to do it among her zealous core constituency, not on national broadcast time.
This time the will to be Michele Bachmann far exceeded the will to be at all prudent.
Bachmann's been recognized before as first with the firebrand, and there to cast the first stone, (at those in her worldview she believes deserve it, a view excluding her deserving anything but love and respect and willingness to not hold her to the meaning and true impact of the outrageous things that come out of her mouth).
Bachmann's meltdown (self-immolation??) hit the blogs and Tink got barrels of bucks that his own qualities did not merit independent of Bachmann doing her inimitable accusation mongering.
It bothers me that Tinklenberg benefits.
But how can you avoid holding your nose and going with the least offensive choice - when considering Bachmann vs. Tinklenberg?
One answer: It's Simple. Send Bob Anderson money, or vote for him. He has a chance now, with Bachmann removing herself as anything but a joke candidate. Bob Anderson is the one of the three that is not a career politician, nor is Bob Anderson a consultant-lobbyist as Elwyn Tinklenber is.
When you see the Tinklenberg ads showing how clearly awful Bachmann is, ALWAYS REMEMBER THE NAME - BOB ANDERSON.
HE IS THE ONE AND ONLY REAL SIXTH DISTRICT INDEPENDENCE PARTY CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE ON THE NOVEMBER BALLOT.
GIVE BOB CONSIDERATION.
_________________
ONE PROPER DISCLAIMER: Bob Anderson's campaign website is here. Please have a look. He has reposted from Crabgrass. That is a decision I have had no say in, but I regard it as a complement and an honor. The Anderson campaign is entirely separate from this blog - as is the Independence Party which Anderson will represent on the November ballot. There is no connection of friendship, kinship, fees, or service between me and either Anderson or his party. I have not met nor seen Anderson in person, ever, unlike with Michele Bachmann and Elwyn Tinklenberg. I have had no telephone contact with either of the three candidates. Views on this blog are entirely mine, and mine only, and I have no financial or other personal stake in how any election turns out. I speak as a voter, wanting to be informed, and to raise issues for other voters to consider. If I have posted any opinion here (or as comments to other websites) which any reader may find offensive - they are mine alone and should not be held against or attributed to Bob Anderson or to any other person. While everyone "discuses politics" no other person has influenced or been responsible for what I think to say in a post. Finally, Crabgrass has no reservation of rights statement at its end. Everything on it I have created is public domain, to be quoted or countered by excerpting or otherwise. All is public domain, except photos or quotes from other sources where intellectual property rights - copyright - are reserved subject to limited non-business fair use.
If you dislike me for any cause please do not hold that against anyone I publish about favorably.
In a separate post I mention that Aubrey Immelman has placed himself in the November election as a write-in candidate (based on the shameful showing Bachmann made on national TV). Hence this disclaimer also applies to the Aubrey Immelman campaign.
I still believe Immelman the best candidate there was in the district this cycle. Now that he has placed himself on the ballot as a write-in candidate based on things Bachmann has done after winning the GOP primary, my choice between Immelman as a write-in or Anderson as the IP ballot choice will be difficult, and a decision I would not make at present.
I truly respect Immelman, his intelligence and rectitude, and my major reservation is that from a write-in position he might generate insufficient attention to be a serious alternative to either of the other three candidates. You cannot choose both Immelman and Anderson, it's not set up to work that way.
For example, as a write-in, Immelman has been excluded from debate sessions while only in one instance of inexcusable bad judgment known to me, has any debate sponsor excluded Anderson, the legitimate third-party printed ballot choice.
If I had my way there would be four-way debates for the few weeks before election day.
See the parallel Immelman post I publish today, for more.
Photo from Strib, here. Because some Strib material is taken offline after several weeks, the photo was downloaded, corrected for color tone/darkness, and reused.
