Conservative lawmaker Bachmann to leave Congress

She left the door open to other, unspecified political options.

How about a Fox News commentator?

Bachmann has been mentioned as a potential challenger to first-term Democratic Sen. Al Franken, but she has given little indication that she would take that step

She'd get trounced if she did.

Bachmann also made a few blunders during her failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, including declaring during one debate that she would support the United States shutting down its embassy in Tehran.

Idiot.

Unfit for office and one of the reasons why the Republicans have been ridiculed as ignorant and primitive. Good news for the Republicans but there are still far too many crackpots in the ranks.

Complete nut case. Makes stuff up as she goes along and runs for cover when called on it. The day just got off on a good note.

All of what she did will be completely thrown aside by Tea Party members.

As McCain has stated, a genuine wacko-bird. She is dropping out as she would lose in the next election cycle even in a very safe republican district. And she is going to be found guilty soon of election rule violations when she ran for president. Even she could see it was all over.

Bachmann and Palin are perfect examples of the kind of women that the republican like, attractive but very stupid. The old angry white guys club that runs the republican party likes these types. They will pick another wacko bird female soon to swoon over.

She's one of the good republicans who wasn't sucked into the moderate GOP establishment elite.

RR

With any luck she will get back with Turner and BTO will be back!

Good congresswoman. Sorry she is leaving, but I don't blame her. And as someone who believes in term limits, I agree, 8 years is long enough. Wish more of them would leave sooner.

JimizoMAY. 30, 2013 - 09:06AM JST Unfit for office and one of the reasons why the Republicans have been ridiculed as ignorant and primitive. Good news for the Republicans but there are still far too many crackpots in the ranks.

Right on dude.

Bob Dole even called the Republican party dis-functional saying "his party should hang a 'closed for repairs' sign on its doors until it comes up with a few positive ideas, because neither he nor Ronald Reagan would now feel comfortable in its membership." NY times.

But apparently, there are still some strong believers in the current brand of Republicans.

Bob Dole even called the Republican party dis-functional

There is also a prominent Democrat from the same era as Mr. Dole who worked for the Democrat luminaries of the day. Ted Van Dyk who was a senior advisor to presidential candidates Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, and Paul Tsongas. Had this to say recently:

My Unrecognizable Democratic Party

The stakes are too high, please get serious about governing before it's too late.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/03/18/my_unrecognizable_democratic_party_304111.html

The Money quote:

Nor can successful governance take place if presidential and Democratic Party rhetoric consistently portrays loyal-opposition leaders as having devious or extremist motives.

Among the many amusing things she did was call the sitting President of the USA un-American, at the same time as she put in an application for dual citizenship in Switzerland that was made possible by her husband's dual citizenship. She deflected by saying her kids talked her into it.

Reportedly she has a trial scheduled next summer, involving one of her campaign staff whose prior claim to fame was playing mercenary in Africa. It is going to be right in the middle of her reelection battle. But Molenir thinks this is all about a principled stand on term limits. MB being on trial in the middle of her closest ever campaign would hand Graves an easy victory, so she folded a year early to give the GOP a chance to find somebody halfway viable in resolutely blue Minnesota.

There is also a prominent Democrat from the same era as Mr. Dole...

Whoa, there, little fella. Bob Dole is a familiar name to most Americans. I have been an active Democrat since the campaign for Eugene McCarthy in 1968. I ran across Ted Van Dyk's name when I lived in the Pacific Northwest, mainly as an op-ed columnist who constantly criticized Democrats. But prominent? I don't think so. (Maybe for ultra-biased conservatives who hire him as a hack to take shots at Democrats.)

But don't take my word for it. The New Republic has been called "the inflight magazine of Air Force One," and here's what they have to say about "The Wall Street Journal's 'Perfect Democrat' ":

Who the heck is this guy? According to his byline, he was Vice President Hubert Humphrey's assistant and "active in national Democratic politics for over 40 years." He claims to have campaigned for Kennedy, Humphrey, Tsongas, and George McGovern--but a Nexis search reveals that he has been posing as an "enraged Democrat" abandoned by Democrats since at least the Carter administration. Liberals should dissent, of course, but this guy is just ridiculous. Check out this assortment of his clippings.

http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/the-plank/wall-street-journal-finds-the-perfect-democrat#

It's this kind of utter lunacy that gets complete idiots like Michele Bachmann elected to our national Congress.

sailwind: There is also a prominent Democrat from the same era as Mr. Dole who worked for the Democrat luminaries of the day. Ted Van Dyk

Man bites dog. We both know the "soul searching" situation is something that's been dominated by Republicans. The good news is that they haven't learned and continue to take positions that stop them from getting into the White House.

But don't take my word for it.

I don't.

He claims to have campaigned for Kennedy, Humphrey, Tsongas, and George McGovern--but a Nexis search

Do a google news archive research and then you can stop wasting my time.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0hcfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J5wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7204,1953757&dq=van+dyk+hubert+humphrey&hl=en

I don't.

Readers should take your use of the word "prominent" as an indicator of something definitely amiss with the writer. Bob Dole is a prominent Republican. Ted who?

Do a google news archive research..

The New Republic called it right: the guy is ridiculous.

Speaking of which, Bachmann's glazed zombie-stare should be in the dictionary under "ridiculous." PolitiFact's ratings of the factual content of statements made by politicians rates her one of the worst -- her string of 13 straight "Pants on Fire" ratings, "awarded" to the biggest lies, is a string unmatched by anyone.

Bachmann, who won the seat in 2006, gained prominence with the rise of the tea party

They seem to have a special affinity for lies and the liars who tell them.

The New Republic called it right: the guy is ridiculous.

The New Republic is nothing more than a biased liberal propaganda magazine that regurgitates the liberal line, Wiki calls them straight up:

The New Republic (TNR) is a liberal American magazine of commentary on politics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Republic

The New Republic is nothing more than a biased liberal propaganda magazine that regurgitates the liberal line, Wiki calls them straight up:

I would invite readers to read the full Wiki citation, which notes TNR's support for Israel, both Gulf Wars, Ronald Reagan's foreign policy, etc, etc., etc.

Referring to the obscure Ted Van Dyk, I would challenge anyone to provide the name of a Republican/conservative who has been openly opposed to every major candidate the Republican Party has put forward since 1976, and still could be referred to as a "prominent" Republican Party member.

President Obama is telling crowds that Democrats have a real opportunity to win back the house in 2014. Backmann's leaving is an indicator of a trend. Her Minnesota constituency would very likely throw her out, and the Republicans can ill afford that kind of bad publicity.

She has clearly lived up to her minimal government philosophy. In her entire time in the House, she has never had a bill or resolution she’s sponsored signed into law.

She is the poster girl of the new GOP: Zero - yet she still gets paid.

She can retire to her farm, which has received more than $250,000 in federal subsidies. Good timing, too; the House will drop their investigation of her presidential campaign misconduct now that she will no longer be a representative.

"She was hammered in 2008 for saying that the then candidate Obama might have anti-American views, a statement that prompted a rare retreat by Bachmann and made her race that year closer than it would have been."

Gosh, her Democratic opponent was that bad?

Referring to the obscure Ted Van Dyk:........ From 1992

A reluctant Tsongas could be a major impediment to a unified convention. Tsongas won 18.2 percent of the total primary vote, third behind Clinton's 52 percent and former California Gov. Jerry Brown's 20 percent. Tsongas will go to the convention with 551 delegates, well behind Clinton's 2,511.

Thursday, Ted Van Dyk, a Washington consultant representing Tsongas' views before the platform writers, listed four key provisions Tsongas wanted in the document: A capital gains tax break broader than Clinton suggested, a child care credit more targeted to poorer families, a critical look at many federal benefit programs and a plank guaranteeing civil rights to all people regardless of sexual orientation.

Richardson saw few problems meeting those requests, and Van Dyk agreed. He seemed particularly pleased that the tax cut was gone.

"Things have changed since the campaign started," Van Dyk said

http://articles.courant.com/1992-06-19/news/0000200546_1_middle-class-tax-middle-income-tax-tax-cut-idea

Bachmann also made a few blunders during her failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, including declaring during one debate that she would support the United States shutting down its embassy in Tehran. There is no U.S. Embassy in Iran’s capital.

I do not have to say too much about this woman. BOBBY JINDAL damands Republicans Must Stop Being the "Stupid Party" for a change that includes Bachmann..

She is unfit to be a politician.

Hur hur, somebody keeps saying Dyk. What we need to know about the guy is if he was the one who started the jazz hipster facial hair. Next sailwind will shock the world with the news that Van Dyk owned three berets and an electric beard trimmer.

Thursday, Ted Van Dyk, a Washington consultant representing Tsongas' views before the platform writers, listed four key provisions Tsongas wanted in the document:

Tsongas was interesting. Mitt Romney even crossed over and voted for him in the Democratic primary at the time. One of the things I remember best about him was the announcement of his candidacy when then-President Bush's approval ratings were in the stratosphere, and Democrats generally thought he was untouchable. (Tsongas assured the nation in 1992 his health problems were behind him; he died in 1997 at age 55.)

He, along with others like Sam Nunn and Henry Jackson represented a neo-liberal wing of the Democratic Party -- more fiscally conservative and business-"friendly" while more hawkish on foreign affairs. TNR's articles tended to support this view. But Jackson and Nunn were about as far-right as the Democratic Party could go. But this "Van Dyk" character was well over on the fringes, and ever willing to attack the candidates whom the Democrats eventually put up. He was never a prominent Democrat. "Obscure" is about the best that can be said for him.

So when TNR calls him "ridiculous," speaking from the centrist Democratic side, we should take note.

I would inquire again if there is any "prominent" Republican who opposed every candidate his/her party put up for president since 1976.

Here is the important tie-in back to Bachmann: With Clinton, Gore, Lieberman, and Obama, the mainstream Democratic party has indeed been influenced by the neo-liberal minority, especially in foreign affairs. When Obama is said to be emulating George W. Bush, he is actually following the old Scoop Jackson/Sam Nunn Democratic line. The problem with any Democratic leader tracking to the center is that it drives the fringes of the opposition party ever right-ward -- and the loonies like Bachmann, Gomert, Cruz, Inhofe, and many others are living proof of the Republicans increasing abandonment of the center.

Next sailwind will shock the world with the news that Van Dyk owned three berets and an electric beard trimmer.

Nah, he wore BC's (Birth Control Glasses) and he was allowed to actually smoke on the Vice President's Hubert Humphrey's Plane back in the day.

http://crosscut.com/2010/05/25/politics-government/19836/Will-progressive-legacy-shape-brighter-future/

Dang there goes my regular "fix" of blatantly ludicrous statements of "fact". Who's going to replace her as the direct channeler of Looneyland?

Who's going to replace her as the direct channeler of Looneyland?

Don't worry. Even if there are no dopey congresspersons like Michelle to entertain you you can still look forward to wacky remarks from their cheering section on right-wing radio. The other day I read this: "Conspiracy talk radio host Glenn Beck said Tuesday that he isn’t sure why he’s been labeled a conspiracy theorist in the media, but he’s pretty sure it’s the result of a “concentrated effort” somehow coordinated by the White House."

www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/29/glenn-beck-sees-media-conspiracy-to-label-him-a-conspiracy-theorist/