E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSMinnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's campaign lost another high-ranking staff member on Thursday after that staffer defended another former Bachmann official's defection to a rival campaign.
Wes Enos, Bachmann's political director, has left the campaign, spokeswoman Alice Stewart confirmed to NBC News on Thursday evening.
The resignation comes on the heels of last night's announcement by Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, who had served as Bachmann's Iowa chairman, that he had stepped down from that position to support Texas Rep. Ron Paul's campaign instead.
Yesterday, Enos publicly defended Sorenson, an Iowa state Senator, against charges voiced by Bachmann that Sorenson had accepted money from the Paul campaign, in violation of state law. (This narrative is disputed by Sorenson himself.)
"I can't in good conscious watch a good man like Kent Sorenson be attacked as a sell-out," Enos told NBC News on Wednesday night, insisting that Sorenson felt personal loyalty to colleagues in the state legislature backing Paul.
A similar statement from Enos was released via the Ron Paul campaign shortly after midnight today.
Reached via text message today, Enos told NBC News, of his departure from the Bachmann campaign: "It was a mutual thing. I knew when I undermined [Bachmann's] statement last night that I effectively was tendering my resignation."
Enos adds he has no "ill will" toward Bachmann.
That hasn't stalled the emerging feud between the Bachmann and Paul campaigns.
Bachmann re-iterated her charge against Sorenson at a campaign stop on Thursday, saying that Sorenson had told her he had been "offered a great deal of money" to support Ron Paul, but had given her campaign assurances he would stay.
"He said that he would be staying. He was with me at our campaign stop in Indianola," Bachmann said.
Sorenson joined Bachmann at a Pizza Ranch in Indianola yesterday, where he spoke with voters as he stood by Bachmann's side. Later, he declined to speak on her behalf, citing dental work he had received earlier in the day.
“I’m numb, so I’m afraid I’ll start drooling," Sorenson told the crowd, to laughs.
Today, Bachmann told reporters that, "He told all of our campaign that he was definitely on board and then he got in his car and he went and announced that he was going with the Ron Paul campaign."
The visit to the Indianola event followed a discussion over the phone Tuesday, Bachmann said, in which Sorenson told her he had been offered a "great deal of money" to defect to the Paul campaign.
Leave a Comment:
For the life of me I just don't understand why some people just can't take a friggin' hint! This lady can't be stupid enough to actually think she has a chance at this point, so why not drop out of the race already. Tim Pawlenty seems to be the only Republican with half-a-brain left, because he got out when the gettin' was good!
At least, the Newt is sinking like the rock he crawled out from under.
teabaggers= Idiots following Idiots
Bachmann is, and continues to be a joke. As for the departure of Sorenson, does he honestly believe Ron Paul is a viable candidate outside of a couple of states? If so, he's delusional. I respected Paul until his true colors came out with his racist newsletter. That, coupled with his obvious lies about never having read them before, even though they appear above his signature, makes me realize he's another lying politician, just a bit more convincing than most. I liked Edwards once upon a time, so it shows how gullible I am.
The Conservative Scorecard, which is an easy-to-read description on the strength of the candidates on key conservative positions, can be found here:
Ron Paul scores very well!!
Did she actually PAY staff to tell her to say:
I'm gonna repeal Obama....
I'm gonna repeal Obama....
I'm gonna repeal Obama...
She never got beyond that line. Geez, why would someone quit a cushioney job like that?
There truly is NO HONOR among theives, or among psychotics. It's like a bagful of serpents scrambling, and by saying that, I do not mean to impugn serpents, which are after all, beautiful creatures we happen to find creepy, but still the image works.
First prize for sleaziness among these sleazeballs is Gingrich pretending to take the high moral gound in his campaign when his entire reputation has been built upon lying and character assasination. It is obvious Gingrich did not have PAC money to mount the kind of down-and-dirty campaign he would like to have run if he had had the money. So MR. Shrewd thought he could get way by declaring himself the standard of high moral campaigning. Give me a f---- break!! As Reverend Al would say,"We got you, Newt."
Fiesty Redhead is a lame "brainwashed" shrill that thinks any politician with a "D" next to it is "good" and one with a "R" is bad.
This is exactly why, until more Americans wake up and realize that BOTH PARTIES are filled with corrupt career politicians who are doing the work of the MIC and large corporations, nothing will ever change.
Fiesty, you do a diservice to honest people.
Wake up idiot!
Accusing Democrats of the crimes committed by Republicans is one of the main causes for the "broken" system we now have. The Democrats are the only grown-ups trying to make our government work, for Christ's sake. Are there problems with the Democrats and are some of them corrupt? Of course and of course. One example is the retiring Bennet from Nebraska, but let's agree to let our government function and agree for us to continue to be diligent in rooting out corruption. Let's work on finance laws and lobbying, but let's not throw up our hands and say that both prties are the same in an effort to relieve oureslves of the responsibility of thinking. There is a diffference between the two parties and how they are functioning right now. Our responsibility is to recognize that difference and to act responsibly.
True and might I add that it will come down to the best liar that the people believe
North GA.....................Both parties are reporting to the same elite msters.
The following are all corrupt in my opinion.
Bush - R
Clinton - D
Kerry - D
Baynor - R
McConnel - R
Pelosi - D
Corruption has infiltrated BOTH parties.
People need to wake up.
Slick Romney and I don't have a clue how to run a campaign Bachmann should start marching into the nearest cave. They along with Gingrich are totally out of touch with what ails the country and how to restore it to prosperity. We need to end corruption in Congress. End insider trading in Congress. Throw the bums out!!! Put an end to corp. america spending gazillions to buy an election. Stop shipping jobs overseas. End subsidies for the rich oil companies. Stop spending trillions on military spending and invest that money back into this country. Close tax loop holes for corp. america. Repeal the NDAA. Enact campaign finance reform that keeps corp. america and special interest groups from greatly influencing elections. Provide excellent medicare care, counseling, and jobs for returning soliders from those mindless wars overseas. Start thinking about this country and it's people first before we give everything but the kitchen sink to other nations!!! Extend unemployment benefits beyond a paltry 2 months for the long term unemployed.
Sports,
You wrote, "ut an end to corp. america spending gazillions to buy an election." If you want to end corporate control of Congress, I'm afraid you'll have to urge, as I do, a new amendment to our Constitution to override Citizens United. In that US Supreme Court decision, our first corporatist Justice, Chief Justice John Roberts, extended the concept of "corporations are persons," which had previously been the basis for allowing corporate entities to sue and be sued in American courts since at least 1823, to persons who are entitled to be protected under the First Amendment's free speech provisions. This means that it's unconstitutional to limit free speech, which includes the right to make contributions to politicians or political causes. Roberts additional allowance that such contributions can me made anonymously to PACs was an additional feature of the decision that perhaps is more inimical to democracy than any other part of the decision. Although the right wing says this allows unions and not just corporations to make unlimited contributions, unions have been decimated during the last 30 years, offering little resistance to concessions forced on them by company owners.
In short, if you want to diminish political corruption, whereby politicians are more beholden to special interests than to the public at large, you'll have to start by overriding Citizens United. Until that happens, Congress won't be able to pass legislation that controls the amount of corporate and special interest money that goes to politicians.
We need better oversight for banks, credit card companies, Wall Street, corp. america. Strengthen rather than weaken worker bargaining rights. Make it a criminal offense for any company that raids a pension fund to pay a king's ransom for a CEO's salary and golden parachutes. Investigate companies that artificially drives up the cost of oil and gas to fleece the american public so they can make gazillions. Invest in education and restore budgets.
The frightening part is that one of these side show attractions is going to be the GOP nominee for president. More disturbing is that it is not beyond the realm of chance that he,she or it could be elected president of the United States. Over the last 40 years the GOP has run a succession of candidates both mentally and morally impaired with the exception of George Bush Sr. and he spent four years in conflict with his own base. I also don't count Gerald Fords candidacy which was more a matter of fate than design. Nixon destroyed faith in the office of the president. Reagan convinced americans that their government was an evil beast in need of destruction, that the poor were to blame for poverty, that health costs would be best regulated in a for profit environment, that deficits don't matter, that trickle down worked and that we could be a Service Economy whatever the F that might be. Beyond all that he headed the most verifiably corrupt administration in US history crushing both Grant and Harding before the end of his 1st term. My fingers would tire before I could capture the idiocy that was Bush/Cheyney and the moral and financial depths to which they sank the nation.
Sarah Palin could have been a heartbeat away and now we have this collection of charlatans , anarchists and fools vying for their chance to destroy whats left of the Republic. The only two candidates who would be allowed at the grown up table, Huntsman and Romney, are anaethema to the base of the party with Romney doing his best to join the crazies.
jkh
Michelle is only staying in it at the behest of Marcus who knows that if she gets a cerrtain percentage of votes she can and might get some Federal Funds. Something the Backman's have been very good at exploiting for many years
I he will leave one campaign to go to another over money, just think what he would do if he ever got in office. But he is probably following what his leader would do, so we don't need him either.
As sheriff Roscoe B. Coltrane used to say on the Dukes of Hazzard:
ENOS, you dipstick!
To the ardent Ron Paul supporters,
Although his failure to quash or disavow racist statements printed on a newsletter bearing his name is highly disturbing, he's to be admired for his consistency. Libertarianism is great for personal liberty, but is simply incapable of answering the economic and environmental challenges of the 21st Century. Moreover, cruelly ignoring the interests of the sick, the old, the crazies, the homeless and the helpless is not my idea of a strong America. Libertarianism may have been fine for the 19th Century, but it's little more than a form of national self-absorption now.
Mr. Paul will not persuade Democrats and Independents that his ideas are right for America.
Michael L. M.,
I agree in the main but I find nothing admirable in consistent stupidity, discrimination and bias. Libetarianism did not work to the nations advantage in the 19th century either. If anything wealth was acquired in the 19th century more directly from the Federal Government. The US government in the 19th century had continuing practices that would make teaparty heads spin. The hallmark of the century was the purchase by the federal government of vast tracts of land and their subsequent giveaway. We gave to individuals, railroads, groups such as the Mormons, built road networks and canals, used the army and navy to expedite trade and settlement and gave away mineral and oil rights still turning profits today. Lincoln established the land grant college system and cattle fortunes were developed through free range and access to rights of way to move the herds. Today the Feds get taken to court every time they want to build a highway exit in the 1800s cattle was moved through public and private land 100s of miles to railheads for travel on railways created by the granting of land whose sale financed their construction.
The whole process of Manifest Destiny was enabled by taxpayer dollars. Wouldn't you like to be able to drive out into the country and stake out a 1000 acres or so build a house on it and sell it off in parcels all a gift of the US taxpayer while protected by the US army.
Ron Pauls heroes such as Ayn Rand, Frederk Heyak and Murray Rothbard are the antithesis of the American ideal of opportunity for all embracing a form of social and economic Darwinism that if practiced would lead to a civil war in short order. Allowing people to starve or go without medical care or educational opportunity because of an accident of birth is not admirable regardless of its consistency.
jkh
From my perception, politics is an institution who's foundation is built on lies, and those who follow the political path all practice the art of lying throughout their lives.
(Yo, MSNBC: Saw this explanation on the net of the Religious Right's "rapture")
Pretrib Rapture 101
This crash course is needed for this 2012 election year. The "rapture" is known theologically as the "pretribulation [or "pretrib"] rapture." It's a secret coming of Christ, said to happen years before the Second Coming, that reportedly can occur at "any moment" and can evacuate all true Christians from earth to heaven before the "great tribulation" found in Matt. 24, Rev. 7 etc. - end time escapism unknown in all official theology and organized religion before 1830!
Conservative evangelicals had long assumed that 19th century British teacher John Darby was the "father" of dispensationalism, the most popular aspect of which is the same "rapture."
Journalist/historian Dave MacPherson, focusing more than 40 years on locating long forgotten "rapture" documents in England etc., has found evidence destroying many such assumptions and, even more monumental, has run into pervasive dishonesty in that fanatical 182-year-old, mass-marketed-in-America theory - the fans of which are not above distorting and even deleting "rapture" facts on Wikipedia!
Curious? Google articles like "Pretrib Rapture Politics" (if the rapture doesn't happen before the election!), "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Pretrib Rapture - Hidden Facts," Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "America's Pretrib Rapture Traffickers," "X-Raying Margaret," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "Deceiving and Being Deceived" by D.M., "Pretrib Hypocrisy," and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty." MacPherson's "The Rapture Plot" is the most detailed, accurate, and highly endorsed history on the same "rapture."
Excellent theological works that demolish pretrib rapture doctrine include Joe Ortiz's "The End Times Passover."
Here's hoping that all of you will get A+ in this course!