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Charlie Neibergall/AP
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., greets audience members Saturday after the Thanksgiving Family Forum sponsored by The Family Leader in Des Moines, Iowa.
By NBC's James Novogrod and Carrie Dann
Although the Family Leader Thanksgiving forum held on Saturday night had far less inter-candidate fireworks than a typical Turkey Day family reunion, Rep. Michele Bachmann launched an attack even before the candidates walked off stage.
The Bachmann campaign sent an email skewering the newly surging Newt Gingrich’s record on abortion.
“Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has failed to uphold a consistently pro-life stance throughout his career in public life,” the email reads. Team Bachmann accuses Gingrich of being "open to watering down the Republican Party's commitment to the inalienable right to life."
The candidate told reporters that she only intends to draw a contrast with other candidates' "surprises."
"What we're trying to do is underscore again the fact that there are differences in the candidates and you won't find surprises with me," she said.
Asked after the forum to comment, Gingrich appeared incredulous.
"I have no idea what she's talking about," he said, later adding "I'm not going to comment randomly on emails I haven't read."
The attack from Bachmann is the second time this week that she has targeted Gingrich. She honed in on reports about his consulting for Freddie Mac earlier this week, telling voters she "wasn't shilling" for the mortgage giant before the financial crisis.
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Ms. Bachmann is starting to get a little catty about her falling poll numbers. Question is, when are the others going to start to attack Romney? Or are they all trying to be his VP pick?
Bachmann's ship has been sinking for a couple of months so she is grabbing up out of the water to hang on to another sinking ship.
This has got to be the nuttiest field of candidates in my lifetime.
Bachmann is a moron....plain and simple. While she is at it though, why does she not explain why her mouth is wrapped around the government tit she is so aptly against.
I thought that they, the candidates, represent the same party and have the same objectives i.e. first and foremost to represent themselves, their policies and beliefs and to unseat the incumbent.
Allow the public to decide what they like or dislike about each candidate…….instead of one running the other down.
She is sinking fast and will take a few down with her if given the chance. She is not well informed and has been a drag on the debates as she apparently knows very little about anything. Now she wants to butt into America's bedrooms and tell us how to behave. The nerve!
"you will find no surprises with me" ain't that the truth it's no surprise that she is a crazy as they come....and every time she opens her mouth she certifies that. How this woman got elected, to anything, is a surprise of biblical proportions, what were you thinking Minn.?
All these attacks by these GOP candidates, against each other, is only helping the democrats. You can expect all of these things that have been said to be brought up again in the presidential election by the democrats. I want to hear their plans on fixing the problems in this country, not what someone else has done in the past. So far I haven't heard any plans from them, that has made any sense to me.
Why do you think she's so adamantly against abortion? More foster kids = more government checks.
I've never enjoyed politics as much as I have during the past couple of months..What a wonderful show, I wonder when (if) they will announce a real candidate?
This country has never fielded a poorer choice of candidates.
How embarrassing, regardless of what Party (or lack thereof) that you support!
This is an issue that surfaced briefly with McCain in 2008. Because of their serial adultery and numerous affairs, both were alledged to have paid for multiple abortions for pregnant paramours. McCain in particular was supposed to have insisted on abortions to terminate pregnancies because both he and his "girlfriends" were in the military and the UCMJ basically defines a pregnancy as the gold standard proof of adultery. Gingrich was accused of pretty much the same thing when he was a history instructor at Georgia Western and his adulterous affairs with students were one of the reasons that GWU refused to put him on tenure-track. The school was worried that either the affairs or the abortions could cause seriously bad publicity for the school which is located in a tiny town where issues like that are much more important.
"you won't find surprises with me" So true ... sadly to say ... what you see with Bachmann ... is what you get!!!!
Who the hell cares about the abortion issue these days except the religious fanatics even though there's not a damn thing about it in the Bible.
The country is a mess and she brings this up and Republicans care. Just shows you how out of touch they are...
Bachmann, yuk, she is enough to make you puke! Somebody get rid of here and send her packing. The most unqualified everything that we have in these times, after Palin.
They have been attacking Mitt, it's just really hard to hear them as they keep putting their feet in their mouths! And let's face it, how many people are going to take seriously the "Flake", or the "Evangelist", or the "nein/nein/nein Pizza man", or the "Lobbyist/Lier"? Admit it, they are collectively the Bums or the Month Bunch!
gdvegas -- Right you are. The people who elected this woman must be even dumber that she is. I cringe whenever I see her or one of those other Republican candidates on TV. Is anyone of them normal, intelligent and baggage-free? If all else fails, just bring up abortion, prayer in school, or some other nonsense issue that can draw the attention away from pressing problems, like, the economy. I suppose Romney is the normal one, wishy-washy though he seems to be, but the religious right will never vote for him. These stupid pre-election games would be amusing if people weren't actually buying in to them.
bachmann wants government out of the countrys lives ... so she pushes a social agenda of more Gov control over individual freedom ... is it peoples lives or corporate lives Bachmann wants the Gov out of
SNL doesn't even need to spoof the GOP debates for laughs. Just reair the actual footage!
They don't give a damn about abortion, truly. It's the voter base they are after, which, apparently is pretty sizable. A Bachmann White House is unimaginable to me. The rest of the world will know for sure we have lost our minds putting someone like her in office.
Our country needs solid leadership, which we won't get get from any of the (R) candidates. Someone who can give us a plausible budget plan that will fix the debt is the one I will listen to. It's not going to happen with the Repubs. They're too busy squabbling amongst themselves.
Ever since the religious-Right hijacked the GOP, the purity tests have become an obstruction to a wider range of qualified candidates. In regard to a pro-life voting record, McCain was attacked on this, along with Rudy Giuliani, etc. and all with multiple marriages and affairs.
For the rest of the nation, general morals and ethics is what will sink Gingrich. The man is just "unworthy" on so many levels beyond whether he's had a pro-life record. I can't see the religious-Right really getting behind him, at least in terms of morality. I'm not sure they care about ethics and dishonesty, since the majority of GOP/TP supporters are hypocrites just like Gingrich and their other leaders.
The only good thing about Bachmann is that by running she kept Palin out of the race! Thanks Michele!
TruePatriot, I agree with your comments about the religious right hijacking the GOP.
And people forget how unscrupulous Gingritch became in the 90's. Even his own Republican party threw him out of the job of Speaker of the House for all of his continuous ethics violations.
Few recall that he was the architect of the failed, "Contract with America," and the showdown he had against President Clinton for being seated in the back of Air Force One. Few people recall how Gingrich, in revenge for that, particularly after he had a domestic spending cuts dispute with the White House -- shut much of the government down for a number of weeks -- of which upset and angered millions of Americans.
And few people recall how Gingrich hypocritically condemned Clinton for a b.j. and called for his impeachment, while Gingrich was quietly divorcing his wife while visiting his own mistress on the side.
Gingrich has suggested time and again that if he became President, he would consider employing that destructive tactic yet again, shutting down the government for a few days to even up to two years of time, to extort major changes in the U.S. at everyone elses expense, particularly if centrists and liberals in Congress opposed both him and his ultra-conservative Tea Party supporters and their selfish, closet-anarchist, theological agenda.
Gingrich threatens extinct strategy: Shut down the government.
Former Rep. Newt Gingrich recycles an old ploy, forgetting that it cost the Republicans dearly in the 1990s.
www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2010/0917/Gingrich-threatens-extinct-strategy-Shut-down-the-government
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich
Our Country has gotten to the point where we have to remove all these tea-retards, do-nothings like Bachmann from office. A cult of crazy clowns
She is the biggest loser i have ever seen ...She doesn't get it ...92% of America can't stand her ...and the other male candidates ignore her !...Her lies ruined any chance she might have had !...Not to mention all her Anti American statements !
Bachmann is a screwball comedy. Actually, the entire GOP is a screwball comedy.
As Mr. phinephancy would say (hubby), she is dumber than a box of rocks.
ding bat forgot what greenwrench said that if you quote him it is a lie
The Republicans do not seem to realize that the accumulated luggage and populist pandering are literally sucking the air out of the room that is the GOP. It isn't just Bachman, but also Cain, Perry, Paul, and to a lesser extent, even Romney. And it distracts from candidates like Huntsman who have the intelligence, experience, and world view to lead. It is sad when a candidate speaking in gibberish eclipses a candidate who is fluent in Chinese. My honest belief is that Huntsman is the only one in the GOP pack who has much of a chance against Obama. And he has zero chance with the GOP base.
The GOP is such an exclusionary party that it cannot afford to be driving off potential voters. Sure it attracts some far right wingers with populist pandering, but in truth this represents only 15% of potential voters (about the same as the percentage who self-identify as "liberals.")
I always tell people, especially those from other countries, that the American political system is like a car. It has parts that appear to conflict, but are necessary. For example a car has an engine to move it just as the political system has liberals and progressives who keep some attention focused on what is good for the individual. But a car also has brakes, which, like the conservatives keep the car from careening ahead with no way to stop it. Both the engine and the brakes are very necessary parts of the car even though their objectives seem to be exactly opposite. But if you look at a car, its movement or stopping are only small parts of its function. It is the steering wheel that decides where the car should go. And in our political system Independents are the steering wheel. About 60% of all likely voters are Independents. And Independents are becoming more and more angry at BOTH parties. And more and more fed up with candidates who will tell you anything the polls say will advance their particular individual candidacy.
I do not think that any GOP candidate except Romney actually entered the race with a belief that they could win the nomination, let alone the Presidency.
Chris, thanks for your well-written post. I agree with your belief that Huntsman is probably the only GOP candidate who can beat Obama, and the only one that SHOULD be Obama. But, you're right, he won't get the nomination. At some point, the GOP decided that people who are qualified to be president by virtue of their eduation and experience MUST NOT, under any circumstances, be nominated.
Why is it that people who would insist on getting the most experienced, best educated specialist that they could find if they needed surgery also seem believe that all it takes is "common sense" and a "love of Jesus" to lead the world's largest economy and the world's most powerful military?
huntsman is just like the resst of the GOP hopefuls .. he will do or say anything the GOP and Norquist want.. dont be fooled by his intelligence ..he is just another right wing republican .. just a little better educated than the rest of the field .. he would be a lousy leader ..because he could do nothing that the right wing base doesnt approve of .. he wont compromise for the countrys sake ..he is just another puppet
One has to wonder if some of these presidential candidates like Bachmann and Perry will be able to get reelected to their old jobs after this. This has been a mistake, to draw attention to how truly incompetent they are.
Romney, Gingrich and Cain (Hunstman, Santorum) do not currently hold office. If Gingrich and Cain sell more books, they'll be happy, and Romney can go back to his life of wealth and comfort with no ill effect.
But Bachmann's and Perry's political careers should be over after this. It probably depends on how Bachmann's district is drawn?
Now that's a Thanksgiving dinner to attend. The politicians had it all, a psychopaths tears and confessions. And, my favorite a seamless policy that only psychopaths can justify, Pro-Life and Pro-War, and the ability to make you believe, they have the countries best interests in mind. When you think about it what politician wouldn't want to expand the next generation of cannon fodder. Just my opinion.
Note: I do not support either corrupt political party. Vote out the incumbents, for true term limits.
Bachmann needs to get Bristol Palin as a running mate, then they could call it Team Stupid...............
Team Bachmann accuses Gingrich of being "open to watering down the Republican Party's commitment to the inalienable right to life."
They believe you have the inalienable right to life, unless you can't afford health care insurance or if they decide you qualify for a legal state sponsored execution.
Wonder how they feel about the other parts of the quote, the part about liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
You can be happy and glad you just can't be happy and gay!
She's confusing "Republican" and "Right-Wing". Newt is probably the most middle-of-the-road candidate and no, "Right To Life" isn't a consistently Republican value.
Michelle "Bat@!$%#" Bachmann is off and running!
The GOP primary race hasn't even started in earnest, yet. Imagine how much blood they'll spill when the race gets hot!
There won't be anyone left to run against Obama, Damn.
who are you for,the republicans or the greedy ? ''you know there's not a difference'' i say let's stay far away from the BUSH traditional fray. let's put a large picture of joe smith in the oval office. and a towering statute of the angel MORONI atop the white house. let's legalize polygamy, and eliminate unemployment in america by opening child care centers everywhere. or let's put a real 100% african slave's great grandson in the white house. it will legally be deemed as the BLACK HOUSE, and restitution will then be forced to the bargaining table. i mean, '' you know they will track his family roots. all the way to the vicious beatings of his ancestors. ''RESTITUTION WILL THEN BE MADE LAW'' but really, i like the idea of having plenty wives. SEX AND MORE SEX IN THE CITY ''SON''. or we can put someone in there with a bad memory, i'm sure much more will get done '' TO THIS ECONOMY. '' or maybe a deviant pretender, who knows that it's imposible for the world to know about his swaggering background. that's what i like about the ''OBAMA HATERS'' they can do the job better. 2012 is in their bag of cash
Just out of curiosity-I saw this exact post on another topic. Did you like it so much that you decided to cut & paste? I thought it was a very disjointed collection of thoughts and erroneous facts the first time and still think so this time.
think about it ; who or what else do you have in your disjointed collection of presidential hopefuls. look at the mess BUSH put this country in. and now bushe's twins want to come in and finish us off. lay back, take a deep breath and THINK. reality can be a cruel intruder
republicans or just plain greedy, so a african american isn't really a african american unless he has ancestors that were slaves?
DEVILS ADVOCATE ; please be advised, you're barking up the wrong tree. go back through the crack you've slipped through. two can play that game, but i'm not the one.
Well, I think we can agree that you are not the one. And your statements are so full of allegory that it is hard to ascertain what you are trying to say.
spoke fast ; thought late, i deserved that. barbara you got me, which way is the nearest retreat ?
Have to admire a man who can apologize gracefully. :-)
this is the way i never vote any one who run for president of AMERICA, I sow all of them are "GREEDY to POWER & MONEY" all their "sinner" they done are come out. who ever win for the president in AMERICA at this time by the power of "LUCIFER" who put in there. i know one person but they don't want to run for president of AMERICA, IN THE NAME OF MY FATHER GOD , king of the universe in the heaven this person will be the president of AMERICA but they tired of people in AMERICA ATTITUDE , A LOT OF AMERICAN PEOPLE are "BLIND TO THE TRUTH" their spirit are sold to "LUCIFER" their lovely god in the earth. this person AMERICAN COUNTRY they need in AMERICA , the name of this person is HILARY CLINTON . remember this , i don't know this person but i was observing how they serving the NATION. MY FATHER GOD is in her side when she become a president of AMERICA, AMERICA will not be suffered ECONOMIC CRISIS any more, my father god , king of the universe in the heaven we will not destroy the world if she handle AMERICAN COUNTRY , believe me or not in the name of my father god thru JESUS CHRIST THE SON.
And the inverse correlation between usage of all caps and a poster's sanity just got a little stronger.
I really should copy this to a FoxNews thread and see if they think it's as funny as I do or rally behind it as a position statement.
Mendoza. Wow man, you sound like you could work in the Bachmann camp.
What the... oh nevermind. There's no getting through to this one. Nurse...!?!
is this person retarded?????
you would trust a woman with a nuclear button ? a woman , who,s husband gets on her last nerve, '' TOO MANY TIMES '' ? my friend , you need to relax, take a chill pill. call on our creator , he's the onle ONE who can help america in this generational time. HE WILL DO IT, '' JUST TRUST HIM '' not the secretary of state. POOOLLLLLEEEEEASSSEEEEE !!!!!!
.....Bachmann is still running?
...her mouth...constantly.
Keep at it, Michele. Nothing says "small government" like throwing every woman who has a miscarriage into an interrogation room to be grilled by a police officer. Nothing says "limited government" like putting an armed officer in every hospital maternity ward to force women at gunpoint to go to term with their pregnancy. Nothing says "libertarian" like forcing women to report to the government their sexual activities so as to keep track of when they get pregnant, lest they be arrested on the suspicion of being a serial killer.
Michelle bachmann by hitting on his co-republican nominees only show his motive is not for the americans but to serve her selfish ambition. If she is truly concerned with the mess america is in now, he should be more aggressively attacking the pro-muslim anti-judeo/christian obama, and his discreet policies of putting america downs. That's the enemy of americans in the big picture. For her to attack other republican candidates only shows her lack of maturity and her selfish obssession of being the president without real/genuine concern for america.
Davepinoy
I'm sorry, where do you get this stuff? President Obama is as much of an American as all of us are. What you're doing is spewing tea party talking points that are lies, lies, lies. Please, pick up a book and learn. Stop listening to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. They are doing nothing but poisoning your mind.
That DID sound like Rush, didn't it? I heard his voice while reading it even before I read your comment, lol.
Notice how it's always wild accusations, not an iota of "proof". Apparently they think if they repeat the lie often enough, it will become "fact".
For once I will applaud Ms. Bachmann for calling a spade a spade with Gringrich. His record on personal values is deplorable to say the least.
Bachmann needed to expose Newt for what he is...inconsistent.
Neither of these two candidates would I vote for but one big "ATTABOY" FOR BACHMANN.
You really needed to hear it from Ms. Bachmann? I mean... really? If you've been listening to him for the last 10 or so years... you would have already filed his "personal values" book in the fiction section next to his copy of "Contract for America" in the GOP library.
"personal values"?? Then what is Gingrich or Bachman doing parading ttheir views on abortion in the national politial arena if they're "personal"? You can't have it both ways. Either you have personal freedom and yes, even for women, or you do not. You do not get to force your religious beliefs on a legal procedure and a constitutional right on the nation masquerading it under "values". (not that she'll ever win a primary).
Damage done by mr grover & the gop & the soviets on freddie & fannie is enormous as is the damage to this country's economy. So much of our economy is crippled by the massive amounts of money lost in bad loans guaranteed by the govt. But gingrich made millions.
Yet another wedge issue coming from a contender who is slipping away... game over Bachmann.
"What we're trying to do is underscore again the fact that there are differences in the candidates and you won't find surprises with me," she (Michele Bachman) said.
Actually, millions of us are very surprised you haven't gracefully bowed out of the dog and pony show known as the GOP nominating process. Buying votes and then claiming victory in the Iowa straw poll is no more a "win" than it is a "real" straw poll. The whole process is canned. The U.S. is electing a president, Michele, not a pastor. And when you do drop out of the race, how about paying back all of the federal subsidy dollars you've garnered for your "farm" over the years. And don't take another dime.
But - but- goverment subsidies arent' "welfare" if it goes to the wealthy!
The late, great Senator Barry Goldwater ("Mr. Conservative" as he was known at the time) believed that religion should have no place in public policy. He was a true fiscal conservative. He insisted on a constitutional test of all proposed legislation and was effective in repealing current legislation that did not meet the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution. Bachman and her fellow believers want it both ways - NO government or less government interference in fiscal matters but they do not hesitate to use government by legislating morality and controlling our private behavior. Thank God this right wing wingnut is fading away.
How about aborting her, even if it would be considered late term. After all nobody wants a brain dead idiot where a lot of tax payer dollars are needed to keep her in the public view.
But she is so entertaining, Ed! At least let her thrash around and try to scratch the eyes out of her colleagues' faces before she is put down.
Michelle, the TP favorite is now polling at 4 percent. This just goes to show the TP is dead.
The Wal-Mart conservative crowd needed a ..shot in the arm..
I'm waiting for her to come out in support of conceal and carry in elementary schools...
If God didn't want 4rth graders packin' heat, he would have said so !!!
"The candidate told reporters that she only intends to draw a contrast with other candidates' 'surprises.'"
So Michelle "Bat@!$%#" Bachmann is going to "out" Gingrich? And perhaps other candidates, as well?
This ought to be good!
Give it up, MS Prada. Who cares! Move on away from this abortion nonsense, the @$@*ing country is going down the tubes, and soon the entire population will be impotent.
Bachmann sank like a rock in the polls after the homophobic tea-publicans realized that if Michele were nominated or elected, there'd be a "first lady-man" in the White House. She has been largely ignored by the teafarty as of the minute Marcus opened his mouth and spoke. Kind of ironic that she is now the victim of her own brand of hateful bigotry, but she is probably too dull to even realize that.
Let's make sure we save all their photographs, They can be used to show the future generation just how low some of the American choice of Republican people to represent them became 2011.
Newt has a new book out. It's called "A Contract with Tiffany's."
"The candidate told reporters that she only intends to draw a contrast with other candidates' 'surprises.'"
^^^
Bachmann has a new campaign slogan: Nuttiness you can rely on!!!
Bachmann finally got something right!
There aren't any surprises with her - she's just consistently stupid.
I am a pro-choice liberal and even I don't believe the entire republican party holds that stance, Paul for one would leave it to individual states to decide.
Not really - Ron Paul is strictly anti-abortion and has supported and even introduced legislation at the federal level aimed at outlawing abortions:
For instance, Paul introduced the Sanctity of Life Act in 2005, aimed at defining human life as beginning at conception. Not a state bill, a federal bill. He also supported the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, 2003.
Paul claims to be a libertarian and in favor of states' rights, but like so many conservatives, his actions don't fit his words when it comes down to social issues that he wants to have his say on - in these cases, all of the sudden federal control is the way to go.
He also introduced legislation that would prohibit the Supreme Court from ruling on issues relating to abortion, birth control, the definition of marriage and homosexuality, and would cause the court's precedents in these areas to no longer be binding.
Don't buy Paul's rhetoric - he is as bad as the rest when it comes to wanting the federal government to have a say on social issues.