Posted by
Aubrey Immelman on Saturday, September 19, 2009 2:02:11 PM
The 'Bomb-Throwing'
Michele Bachmann
Politico reports that elements within the GOP are concerned that the "bomb-throwing" Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, may be inflicting damage on the party's reputation with her incessant incendiary rhetoric.
The report is buried in an article by Glenn Thrush on House Minority Leader John Boehner's unsuccessful attempts last week to cajole South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson to apologize for heckling President Barack Obama at the Sept. 9, 2009 Joint Session of Congress with the retort "You lie!"
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By Glenn Thrush
Sept. 17, 2009
Excerpts
House Minority Leader John Boehner spent much of last week trying to persuade a stubborn Rep. Joe Wilson to apologize to the House — telling associates he needed to “get to” Wilson before the weekend to elicit an apology.
But as the days dragged on, Boehner had to back off: Wilson’s spine was stiffened by $1.5 million in campaign contributions, the Democrats’ anti-Wilson rhetoric had become increasingly extreme, and the South Carolina Republican was rapidly accumulating support from the conference’s dominant right wing. ...
Like a surfer riding the heavy waves before a hurricane, Boehner, a conservative with a penchant for compromise, has spent the past few months trying to harness the anger of the GOP base without allowing his conference to veer too far to the right. ...
Long before the tea parties or Wilson’s outburst, Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) had struggled to moderate the rhetorical excesses of House conservatives hammering away on Obama’s birth certificate, decrying the creation of “death panels” and ferreting out signs of creeping socialism.
Sources say they have been especially wary of the possible damage inflicted on the party’s reputation by bomb-throwing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who last fall called for an investigation into whether members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.” [link and emphasis added] ...
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Related reports
[Republicans] certainly are in a bind when it comes to Bachmann. On the one hand, the base loves her and she's frequently invited on television. On the other hand, she calls for revolution and warns against the government using Census data to round people up into internment camps. [links added] ...
Dump Bachmann gets straight to the point:
Until the GOP refutes or otherwise officially distances themselves from Rep. Bachmann, she will remain the face and shrill voice of the party. [link added]
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann: New "face and shrill voice" of the GOP?