Showing posts with label Bachmann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bachmann. Show all posts
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Bachmann and the "99%"
The Occupy Wall Street movement has resonated strongly throughout the United States, and it will most likely play a large role in the upcoming election in 2012. Obama has placed himself on the side of the protesters, and therefore has presumably gained some support both from some protesters and supporters of the movement.
On the other hand, Michele Bachmann is facing some animosity from protesters, and as you can see in the video above, she is having to deal with some very forward acts of confrontation on behalf of the "99%". While the event may have been disrespectful in the light of the occasion (a Veteran's Day parade), Bachmann handled the uprising rather gracefully, but still looked somewhat irked.
When she returned to the podium, she said with some chagrin, "Isn't the First Amendment great?", getting a laugh out of her audience, but snide comments like those will likely alienate her from the "99%", a movement on behalf of the American people, supposedly her voter base. Granted, she has made it clear that she has a very specific voting bloc that she is gearing toward, and granted, the position she was put in was understandably irritating, from her point of view, however, she will not be able to gain the support of the "masses" if she continues with this anti-protester attitude in accordance with many other GOP candidates.
While, unfortunately, she may not need the "99%" to get a win by playing politics and dominating a solid voting bloc, it looks like that bloc is not doing too well for her, as a recent Gallup poll put her at 5% with Perry in the lead, Romney in second, and Ron Paul in third. This should be a rough estimate of what her game plan has done for her so far, so it will be interesting to see if she decides to reach out to that "99%", or more likely, independent yet silent supporters of the Occupy movement.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Women in Power Positions
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/06/hail_to_the_housewife.html
The role of women in politics has been a growing one ever since the acceptance of women into the political process since the ratification of the nineteenth amendment in the early twentieth century. Religion has recently started to play an important and highly publicized role in the political process because of female candidates of the past two elections alignment with the GOP and the prevalence of religion among some of their supporters.
Both during the 2008 election and so far on the road to the 2012 election, the role of the woman in an evangelist Christian home has been a widely publicized point of discussion between Bachmann and Palin critics alike. Their critics are both women who are against the submissive role politicians like Bachmann and Palin are expected to fill according to strict Christians, and members of branches of highly traditional/conservative Christianity who think that women would be abandoning their posts as women if they were to run for public office.
The article writes that, "Reverend Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that while he liked Palin's political views, he worried about the effect of her candidacy on her domestic priorities." Ideas like these are likely to face Bachmann again if she ever shies away from her already established claim that she would remain a submissive wife in the White House, though she believes that she and her husband respect each other, so it won't be a problem. However, feminists and women supporters of an egalitarian approach to religion will not be won over with that kind of talk. While Bachmann may be gaining favor with prominent men and other submissive women like herself, she will continue receiving opposition from women who believe the opposite on the role of women in the family.
This dichotomy is sure to divide a majority of women, whether it be in support of Bachmann's respect for family and duty on the home front, or challenge against Bachmann's passive attitude while she runs for arguably the highest position of power in our country. The problem that comes with evangelists supporting Bachmann's quest to be a powerful woman, yet still second in command in her own home originates from the idea that, "If his fellow Christians supported a woman in a position of civic leadership, they should logically support the notion of women exercising leadership in church and at home—but most of them don't."
Christian voters will have to decide whether they are willing to abandon the strict interpretation of the Bible which asserts that women be quiet and remain subservient to their husband, or if they will seek a new interpretation that allows women to compete with men in positions of power without abandoning their families or duties as women.
The role of women in politics has been a growing one ever since the acceptance of women into the political process since the ratification of the nineteenth amendment in the early twentieth century. Religion has recently started to play an important and highly publicized role in the political process because of female candidates of the past two elections alignment with the GOP and the prevalence of religion among some of their supporters.
Both during the 2008 election and so far on the road to the 2012 election, the role of the woman in an evangelist Christian home has been a widely publicized point of discussion between Bachmann and Palin critics alike. Their critics are both women who are against the submissive role politicians like Bachmann and Palin are expected to fill according to strict Christians, and members of branches of highly traditional/conservative Christianity who think that women would be abandoning their posts as women if they were to run for public office.
The article writes that, "Reverend Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that while he liked Palin's political views, he worried about the effect of her candidacy on her domestic priorities." Ideas like these are likely to face Bachmann again if she ever shies away from her already established claim that she would remain a submissive wife in the White House, though she believes that she and her husband respect each other, so it won't be a problem. However, feminists and women supporters of an egalitarian approach to religion will not be won over with that kind of talk. While Bachmann may be gaining favor with prominent men and other submissive women like herself, she will continue receiving opposition from women who believe the opposite on the role of women in the family.
This dichotomy is sure to divide a majority of women, whether it be in support of Bachmann's respect for family and duty on the home front, or challenge against Bachmann's passive attitude while she runs for arguably the highest position of power in our country. The problem that comes with evangelists supporting Bachmann's quest to be a powerful woman, yet still second in command in her own home originates from the idea that, "If his fellow Christians supported a woman in a position of civic leadership, they should logically support the notion of women exercising leadership in church and at home—but most of them don't."
Christian voters will have to decide whether they are willing to abandon the strict interpretation of the Bible which asserts that women be quiet and remain subservient to their husband, or if they will seek a new interpretation that allows women to compete with men in positions of power without abandoning their families or duties as women.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
On the Fence
Last Saturday, Michele Bachmann addressed Perry, Iowa, a town which has a 32% population of Hispanic residents. Throughout the race, the Hispanic vote has been acknowledged as a very important factor in the upcoming election. At the beginning of the Obama administration, Hispanics gave Obama a 60% approval rating which has dropped to about 49% in recent months. While Hispanic voters have usually voted blue, the increasing dissatisfaction with Obama may cause Hispanic voters to search for another leader.
While most Hispanics are either Catholic or some other form of Christian, they are considered swing voters because their minority status draws them to a party which outwardly encourages welfare, equality, and general support for the underdog. However, as the Obama administration is proven to be increasingly inefficient, the capacity of the Democratic party to engage support and incite this kind of welfare-based change is likely to decrease.
For Bachmann to say that she will build a double fence along the entire Mexican border with the U.S., as this articlein the Huffington Post Latino Voices section writes, does not appear to be a move that would bring Hispanic voters over to the GOP. Many questioned the motive behind making a speech like this in a town where a third of the residents are Hispanic. However, Bachmann may have a wiser goal behind this action; during the address she "rejected suggestions that talking about cracking down on undocumented immigrants is racist or anti-Hispanic" (Glover). By dividing the illegal immigration issue from attitude toward Hispanic voters, she is almost asking Hispanic voters to detach themselves from the illegal immigration issue as it does not affect them directly and is an issue that affects all Americans; Hispanic, Asian, African, what have you.
As we learned through Fowler's writing on Latinos and African Americans, Latinos are divided into many small groups depending on their religion and background, and within these groups, ideologies remain fairly consistent. In my opinion, Bachmann is trying to gain the Hispanic vote by appealing to those second-generation Hispanics who identify more as Americans than as Salvadorians, Cubans, or Venezuelans. These young Americans are more likely to appreciate solving an issue that will affect them as Americans, rather than fastening their political beliefs to an old identification to which they no longer have any connection outside of their family.
It will be interesting to see how many Hispanic voters start to think as Americans rather than as a minority group leaning on the Democratic Party.
While most Hispanics are either Catholic or some other form of Christian, they are considered swing voters because their minority status draws them to a party which outwardly encourages welfare, equality, and general support for the underdog. However, as the Obama administration is proven to be increasingly inefficient, the capacity of the Democratic party to engage support and incite this kind of welfare-based change is likely to decrease.
For Bachmann to say that she will build a double fence along the entire Mexican border with the U.S., as this articlein the Huffington Post Latino Voices section writes, does not appear to be a move that would bring Hispanic voters over to the GOP. Many questioned the motive behind making a speech like this in a town where a third of the residents are Hispanic. However, Bachmann may have a wiser goal behind this action; during the address she "rejected suggestions that talking about cracking down on undocumented immigrants is racist or anti-Hispanic" (Glover). By dividing the illegal immigration issue from attitude toward Hispanic voters, she is almost asking Hispanic voters to detach themselves from the illegal immigration issue as it does not affect them directly and is an issue that affects all Americans; Hispanic, Asian, African, what have you.
As we learned through Fowler's writing on Latinos and African Americans, Latinos are divided into many small groups depending on their religion and background, and within these groups, ideologies remain fairly consistent. In my opinion, Bachmann is trying to gain the Hispanic vote by appealing to those second-generation Hispanics who identify more as Americans than as Salvadorians, Cubans, or Venezuelans. These young Americans are more likely to appreciate solving an issue that will affect them as Americans, rather than fastening their political beliefs to an old identification to which they no longer have any connection outside of their family.
It will be interesting to see how many Hispanic voters start to think as Americans rather than as a minority group leaning on the Democratic Party.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Values Voter Summit shows support for Bachmann
This weekend, the Family Research Council is sponsoring the Values Voters Summit. The summit will bring prominent figures of the Republican Party in to address voters, and to emphasize the importance of voting to improve American values this coming October. Michele Bachmann spoke on Friday, delivering an address reiterating her campaign platform and riling up the crowd with issues of "life, on marriage, on family, [and] on
religious liberty."
Major participants in the Summit were the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, and the American Family Council. Throughout her speech, Bachmann addressed many issues relevant to the aforementioned organizations and expressed her personal views on gay marriage, abortion, separation of church and state, and "dismantling bureaucracy", as she says. The groups to which she is obviously pandering will be a very important voting bloc for Bachmann, especially if she continues escalating or even just maintaining the level of her religious and values-oriented rhetoric, which she employed heavily in her address to the Values Voter Summit. She referred heavily to the greatness of "knowing the Lord" and pronounced the decision she made to "radically abandon myself and my life and my future to Jesus Christ."
Josh Lederman of The Hill, a publication based in Washington D.C. writes that "while the candidates will likely emphasize their conservative credentials to appeal to the social conservatives, it could make it much harder for them to inch back to the center if they win the nomination and face a general election, where they will have to win over more centrist voters... But Perkins said there’s no reason to worry that Values Voter could push candidates too far to the right." (See the rest of the article here: The Hill - GOP candidates take on social issues) With that in mind, the role of the Values Voter Summit attendees and voters like them is a very supportive one, where candidates are trying to establish rapport with them in order to secure firm backers in the future. However, the candidate who advances to the general election will either have to learn to adjust to not only organized groups like those listed above and appeal to a wider voter-base, or gain all of the support from their largely politically active fans and simply out-mobilize moderates and liberals. The former does not seem likely for candidate Michele Bachmann, who is very good at reaching specifically organized groups with values resembling her own, and said in her address to the Summit, "Don’t listen to these people who every four years tell you we have to select a moderate from our party and we have to settle for the sake of winning. I am here to tell you, we are going to win, not - this year we don’t settle. We’re going to win the White House." For Bachmann, it's too late to turn back. She has promised her devoted backers that she will continue to represent the rightest of the right, which will be a very difficult promise to uphold when she faces voters like the protesters from the Southern Poverty Law Center who set up a news conference outside the Values Voter Summit in efforts to call "values voters" out on their "hatred" of gays.
All in all, the organized groups present at the Values Voter Summit are fairly representative of the groups that Bachmann is targeting in her goal of gaining a devoted following. However, her competition with Rick Perry for the evangelical vote or the "values voters" vote will divide the voting bloc she is counting on, and her refusal to budge on far right ideologies will alienate her from various other prospective support organizations. Bachmann's success in the primaries and possibly the general election will depend on which organizations she is able to win over and how many of them she will lose to Perry's similar socially conservative, yet slightly more moderate.
The transcript for Bachmann's address to the Values Voter Summit can be found here: TIME - Bachmann Values Voters transcript
religious liberty."
Major participants in the Summit were the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, and the American Family Council. Throughout her speech, Bachmann addressed many issues relevant to the aforementioned organizations and expressed her personal views on gay marriage, abortion, separation of church and state, and "dismantling bureaucracy", as she says. The groups to which she is obviously pandering will be a very important voting bloc for Bachmann, especially if she continues escalating or even just maintaining the level of her religious and values-oriented rhetoric, which she employed heavily in her address to the Values Voter Summit. She referred heavily to the greatness of "knowing the Lord" and pronounced the decision she made to "radically abandon myself and my life and my future to Jesus Christ."
Josh Lederman of The Hill, a publication based in Washington D.C. writes that "while the candidates will likely emphasize their conservative credentials to appeal to the social conservatives, it could make it much harder for them to inch back to the center if they win the nomination and face a general election, where they will have to win over more centrist voters... But Perkins said there’s no reason to worry that Values Voter could push candidates too far to the right." (See the rest of the article here: The Hill - GOP candidates take on social issues) With that in mind, the role of the Values Voter Summit attendees and voters like them is a very supportive one, where candidates are trying to establish rapport with them in order to secure firm backers in the future. However, the candidate who advances to the general election will either have to learn to adjust to not only organized groups like those listed above and appeal to a wider voter-base, or gain all of the support from their largely politically active fans and simply out-mobilize moderates and liberals. The former does not seem likely for candidate Michele Bachmann, who is very good at reaching specifically organized groups with values resembling her own, and said in her address to the Summit, "Don’t listen to these people who every four years tell you we have to select a moderate from our party and we have to settle for the sake of winning. I am here to tell you, we are going to win, not - this year we don’t settle. We’re going to win the White House." For Bachmann, it's too late to turn back. She has promised her devoted backers that she will continue to represent the rightest of the right, which will be a very difficult promise to uphold when she faces voters like the protesters from the Southern Poverty Law Center who set up a news conference outside the Values Voter Summit in efforts to call "values voters" out on their "hatred" of gays.
All in all, the organized groups present at the Values Voter Summit are fairly representative of the groups that Bachmann is targeting in her goal of gaining a devoted following. However, her competition with Rick Perry for the evangelical vote or the "values voters" vote will divide the voting bloc she is counting on, and her refusal to budge on far right ideologies will alienate her from various other prospective support organizations. Bachmann's success in the primaries and possibly the general election will depend on which organizations she is able to win over and how many of them she will lose to Perry's similar socially conservative, yet slightly more moderate.
The transcript for Bachmann's address to the Values Voter Summit can be found here: TIME - Bachmann Values Voters transcript
Friday, September 23, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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".
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