Bachmann Roping in Evangelicals

After our discussion on Monday, I became curious as to whether or not Bachmann was actually getting the full support of certain evangelical organizations, so I decided to find some proof. According to a Huffington Post article (posted below), attendees of a rally in early June of this year proved that she did indeed have the full support of not only evangelicals, but the Tea Party, two groups which tend to overlap. 

Huffington Post - For Evangelicals, Bachmann 'Speaks Our Code'

This article was before Perry announced he was running, but nevertheless proves what kind of audience Bachmann is hoping to rope in in order to gain the power she needs to beat other less radical, yet less fervently supported candidates. People at the rally included members of the Tea Party, evangelicals, and members of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, which according to one man is, "'perfect synergy' of the two conservative and politically active groups" (Burke). Those who spoke to journalist Daniel Burke admitted that Bachmann was the only one currently in the race who could succeed in doing what they so much want for the country. As we read last week, the goal of evangelical interest groups is to change how Washington works to a way that's closer to their personal ways of life. One attendee said that unlike previous candidates like Mike Huckabee, Arkansas Governor from the 2008 election, Michele Bachmann "comes from us, not to us". It seems that they loyally appreciate her deep seeded background with Christianity and are looking for the type of candidate who they can trust has their exact same interests, not just one who will say such things in order to get the evangelical vote. They've finally found a candidate that they can wholeheartedly believe in, and it seems that she is doing everything she can to maintain her strongly Christian image and dominate the evangelical vote. Without Perry in the picture, she would have already had the battle won. Below is a quote from the article: 


"We are moving away from Romney and Huntsman," said White, referring to former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is also Mormon. "Their Mormon beliefs are just so different from Christianity."


This is a very interesting thing to hear from a self-identified conservative Christian, because when Romney is asked about his Mormon background, he very obviously attempts to relate it to Christianity as much as possible. His answer tends to include some kind of tie to the Christian morals and values that are also present in Mormonism, as if he is trying desperately to convince evangelicals that they all believe in the same basic ideas. According to this voter's attitude, the evangelicals are not having it. They have grown to appreciate Bachmann's genuine love for Our Lord and Savior, and will take no charlatans in her place.

In more recent news, Bachmann is still capturing evangelical confidence with the amount of religious rhetoric she puts into her public addresses. This "Faith and Freedom" blog from The Miami Herald specifically advertises the religious references Bachmann makes in an address to the Faith and Freedom Coalition before the Fox News debate. It seems Bachmann makes a specific effort to recall Puritan values and support her campaign with well-respected ideas like family to bring evangelicals together as a "family" to make "Barack Obama a one-term president". 


Even as early as the rally in June, she led a two minute prayer and said, "Father God, we want all men to come to know you." This perfectly represents the idea we've discussed that the evangelical goal in becoming involved in the political sphere is to pervade good morals and the love of God. To put it in the words of one Aileen Milton, '"The country is moving in the wrong direction,' she said, 'It is becoming socialist.'" (Burke) 


On that happy note, have a nice weekend.

A devout Christian woman making a name for herself... "Crazy"

Michele Bachmann has entered the race for the presidency with blazing guns and the power of scripture. By flaunting her religious zeal, she's made an image for herself as a devout Christian woman but also as an outspokenly radical politician and that image is starting to dominate voters' perception of her. When typing in Michele Bachmann's name on YouTube, autocomplete answers include "crazy", "slavery", "husband" and "owned". It would appear that the online community is not exactly subscibing to her ideology or attempts to gain support.

Bachmann started out the race using her religion as a platform to gain support from Evangelicals and most conservatives in general, but has recently had to backtrack on many of her very polarized beliefs in order to smooth over her public image. Regardless of her many attempts to appear increasingly credible, she continues to make logical fallacies in interviews and debates. On Meet the Press, she listened to herself claim that gays were of Satan, then attempted to explain her respect for the gay community. The following clip from the New Hampshire debate shows yet another logical fallacy that can be proven by using Jefferson's ideology as portrayed by Edwin Gaustad in Sworn on the Altar of God.

In this clip, Representative Bachmann explains that in her opinion, abortion shold be illegal because of the sanctity of life "from birth to natural death". She supports her argument by quoting the Declaration of Independence and our "unalienable rights" (the right to life) but seems to disregard the fact that freedom of choice and the ability to reason are unalienable rights given to us by God according to Jefferson, the author of the Declaration.

Her attention-grabbing public appearances are convincing supporters and non-supporters of her intense religious fervor, and are possibly pushing moderates into the realm of believing that she is "crazy".