The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Bringing The Stupid

Re: Bringing The Stupid

brianrw — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:56:51 -0000

She's not the only one:

http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/03/maxine_waters_brings_the_crazy_1.php

Re: Bringing The Stupid

wiliwili — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:05:35 -0000

while her sexual prowess might not be relevant, there is something to be said for the attn she's getting being partially because of her physical attractiveness (a la Sarah Palin). though I suppose that could be said of Romney and many other politicians as well...

Re: Bringing The Stupid

bread & roses — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:52:12 -0000

I do understand that a lot of this stuff is coded- I've heard enough exposition of the role of the tri-lateral commission and arguments as to why gold is the only valid currency to understand that. But the actual clip- it reveals where she's coming from, but the actual concerns she VOICES are not that different from mine. I, too, am worried about what exactly are the limits to the funds Bernake and Paulson can use, and I am worried that there are no limits, that congress gave them a too-open door. Now, her insistence that their authority should come from the constitution and not from congress (whose authority comes from the constitution) is deeply ignorant. But do they have a scary amount of unchecked authority? I think so. And that's where I understand how the wingnuts feel. They have mis-identified the source of their powerlessness- but the fact that we're powerless here is really scary.

I am worried about the consequences to the US if China OR Russia OR the EU or, most especially, OPEC, decide to use a different default currency than the dollar. The US enjoys an enormous economic advantage from owning the world's default currency, and if the world (quite fairly) pulls the rug out from under us on that, it's going to hurt big time. Of course, I wouldn't ask if Geitner and Paulson would renounce a global currency. But I am curious what their strategy will be if moves are made towards one.

My grandfather, who voted for Bob Barr (wingut? yes, yes, and yes) thinks we should go back to a gold standard, and I wouldn't be surprised if Bachmann had a similar idea. I think that is completely ludicrous for many reasons. But worrying about what the value of the dollar is based on and how it is vulnerable to other countries' currency decisions? I'm right there. Once again, I think her fear is misplaced (She's afraid of a world currency; I'm afraid of losing power over the world's currency), but what she's afraid of (... and then we'd be powerless...), I'm afraid of, too.

And the secrecy about the bailout really bothers me. I think asking to have the recipients of overnight funds revealed is the wrong tactic, and that was explained quite well. But having an enormous amount of federal money at these men's disposal and they don't even have to tell us what they're doing with it- that totally gives me the willies.

So, yeah, I can tell she's coming from outer right field, but I don't think her concerns are unjustified. They're just aimed poorly, and motivated poorly. I feel sorry for the Minnesotans she represents, because she's not helping at all. But I think as a clip that allows us to all hoot and point at the crackpot, this is not ideal. It doesn't show the crackpotism all that clearly, unless you're primed to see it. To me, it's not like concerns about Obama's birth certificate, or worrying about the source of cells in stem cell research. Those wingut concerns address fears that are pretty much as scary, to me, as the idea that witches might put spells on me. Non-dollar world currency, unchecked power and no transparency at the fed- I think that's scary stuff.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Joel — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:20:47 -0000

For the record, here's reason #98232 why I will never be an elected public official.

If given the opportunity to follow Bachmann in questioning Geithner and Bernake, I would probably ask:

Now, is that the most fundamentally stupid shit you've ever heard?

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Joel — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:16:09 -0000

Michelle Bachmann is basically Glenn Beck, minus the Y-chromosome.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Ricky Bobby — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:03:42 -0000

It would be tough to survive the onslaught of the comically (dangerously) idiotic if it were not for blogs like this and the commenters. Thank you for the time you put in, it helps keep us all sane!

That being said, Weapons Grade Stupid this is. BWO is obviously speaking about things of which she has no real knowledge, and as some of the above posters said, she is ACTUALLY asking:

"Do you renounce a One World Order with the Anti-Christ at its head?"

I would love to see this thrown right back in her face sometime, but even the idea that this conversation is entering our halls of government in coded language is enough to make me want to spoon my eyes out. I couldn't handle seeing the Left Behind series debated seriously in DC by elected lawmakers.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

FOARP — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:35:36 -0000

What I want to know is, where the hell do these ideas come from? Millenial conspiracy theories have been mentioned, as well as talk radio, but is that really where a senator should be getting their news from?

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Mercutio42 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:15:28 -0000

I guess one of my points of departure is that I don't think she's being presented as a national leader. Pretty much all the coverage I've ended up seeing of Bachmann boils down to "Oh my goodness, look at how crazy she's being! Again!" Sure, she can get re-elected in Minnesota's 6th, but that's because the district itself is disproportionately megachurch-oriented, and she's their kind of crazy. (And even then, she only won re-election with 46.4% of the vote; there was an independent candidate who got 10%.)

As for Minnesota, our unemployment rate is currently 8.1%. National average: 8.1%. We are generally doing better than average on education, mostly by riding on borrowed strength built during the 70's and sustained during the 80's and early 90's before the Ventura administration and (especially) the Pawlenty administration oversaw slow declines in our performance there. On mortgages, our statewide foreclosure rate is up 306% from 2005 - our raw numbers are better than the national average, but we're not exactly sitting in growing prosperity over here. On a different note, we also have headquarters for 34 of the top 1000 publicly traded companies, including notables like Target and Best Buy, as well as UnitedHealth Group (the second largest health insurance company in the country). I would imagine most of these companies and the people they employ in the state are likely to be impacted by the slowdown.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding overly defensive, but I know that there are people from our neighboring states who could offer similarly compelling statistics and stories. I'm asking that we not be dismissed as being markedly less relevant to the national discourse - everybody's hurting right now, and I don't think that hurting slightly less in some areas and being totally representative in others disqualifies you from being worth listening to.

Bottom line:

Michele Bachmann = crazy, but largely irrelevant.

Minnesota = potentially relevant, and hopefully not used to dismiss our saner representatives with worthwhile concerns. [We do have several fine representatives, including but not limited to Jim Oberstar (MN-8), Keith Ellison (MN-5), and Tim Walz (MN-1), not to mention our presently overworked lone senator, Amy Klobuchar.]

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Ta-Nehisi Coates — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:22:06 -0000

Your comment was fine. I don't want us to be walled-off and PC. But some subtlety helps, sometimes.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

darnica — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:14:28 -0000

The funny side-note to all that is the way Michelle Bachmann is being portrayed in the Russian media. Since the whole idea of the world currency was kinda floated by Russia (and Russia was mentioned by Bachmann) the official Russian media (and even the Kremlin's website!) now cites her testimony along the lines of

"As the American lawmaker Bachmann has testified, the head of the Chinese Central Bank proposed today to use SDRs as the global reserve currency"

and

"Under the pressing of the Minnesotan lawmaker, the Bernanke and Geithner had to abandon the idea of the single currency".

Of course, she would fit right at home with the "Amero currency" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... conspiracy nutcases who are quite plentiful over there.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Incertus(Brian) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:12:52 -0000

The look on Geithner's face when she asked about the Constitutional authority is awesome. There's a brief moment where he starts answering earnestly and then realizes that either she really doesn't have a clue or she doesn't care. The line of questioning made it seem to me like she was clueless, mostly because there weren't any follow-ups. She had a list of questions written out for her and she followed them one right after the other.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

DJ ImagoDei — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:11:32 -0000

My bad TNC. I'll keep the fratty douchiness to a dull roar from now on :P In other news, the phrase of the day is mos def "Weapons Grade Stupid".

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Ta-Nehisi Coates — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:56:04 -0000

I'd ask us to stop this right here. I'm not against talking about physical appearance. But I don't think this is how we should do it.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Al K. — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:55:36 -0000

Deleted. Come on man. Seriously?

Re: Bringing The Stupid

rgajria — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:47:10 -0000

Yup, Lady in the street, wild between the sheets. She does have five kids and adopted a bunch more. I think Bachmann Wingnut Overdrive is from Balloon Juice. I read so many blogs, I get confused.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Stacy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:44:15 -0000

Fair point, CitizenE. Maybe I am underestimating the percentage of people who DON'T find this woman to be certifiably insane. Although you're right, with the Palin rallies only being a few months ago, it's probably important that I don't underestimate the harm these people could cause.

BTW, I like your Warriors team. I haven't gotten to see them as much this year, but that Randolph seems to be the real deal. I also love Biedrins' game. I think you guys need to deal Wright, because if Nelson isn't going to play him, a lot of teams seem pretty high on him from what I've read...

Re: Bringing The Stupid

CitizenE — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:42:54 -0000

I think because Bachman is being presented as a national leader from a state that does not bear many of the crucial issues of the day that we are concerned with nationally. Perhaps I am wrong but I don't believe that the issues of unemployment, education, the mortgage crisis, and so on are as extreme in Minnesota as in other states. New York and California of course are financial powerhouses whose problems echo those found at the federal level. The interests of big agricultural producing and energy producing states or potential energy producing states also would seem to be more pertinent to the national discourse.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

CitizenE — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:33:53 -0000

Well Stacy, I get both your and sg's comments on Bachman, and perhaps her inanity is better for liberals than the social darwinist tripe that the elitist intellectual elements of conservativism put forward with their faux veil of reasonableness. But I am tired of the noise, and a bit frightened of what it portends. Clinton was a very popular President, who administered a successful economy and by and large an extremely long period of peace. After Clinton, we had 8 years of Bachmanalia.

Obama, despite the current national mood and Democratic majority, will be a miracle worker to turn the effects of the last eight years around. As a nation, we are very fickle, and all one has to do is recall the Palin rallies to remember that however entertaining their daily drama was--much better tv than the Obama campaign--they also represented something extremely scary.

I can remember when people like Bachman were entirely marginalized, which I believe is the correct response. I really do worry about folks in your generation--my kids' ages and younger, my students, and younger, my grandchildren. I don't think this woman or her ideas are harmless.

For entertainment, I have popular African dance music, Cal and 49er football, the (Golden State) Warriors, albeit 49ers and Warriors are often "weak sauce," to put it kindly, and the Food Channel.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

nina s. — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:28:52 -0000

Sgwhite is completely right, it's a dog whistle. If you have a little insomnia one night, turn on the tv in the wee hours and flip around 'til you find that ubiquitous paid programming about bible prophecy. They're fixated on looking for signs of the anti-Christ and Armageddon in current events. They can't wait for it. Of course, even though this is a patently ridiculous question and everyone knows what Geithner and Bernanke's answers would be, that's not the point. It has now been injected into the discussion, which allows nutjobs to peddle conspiracies like, "The federal government denies it, but it's being talked about as a possibility, so they very well may be planning it and not telling us. Mark your Armageddon calendar!"

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Mercutio42 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:24:38 -0000

I agree with sgwhite: News is made by the people or events that interest people, because that's what drives viewership. And Bachmann is often fascinating (in, as Stacy says, that special train wreck kind of way), especially when she goes off like this.

Perhaps also worth asking is why blogs and their commenters focus so much on her; certainly we aren't constrained as directly by news norms. At the end of the day, I think it's because she usually distills a particular kind of crazy-stupid that we know runs through her wing of her party, which makes her awfully convenient to discuss as a poster child of everything that's wrong with that particular Republican sect.

Finally, while I'm not particularly insulted by you calling out her as being from Minnesota (and goodness knows I wish we didn't have that particular bit of shame associated with us), I wonder if you think "a completely inane, pathetically stupid representative" from New York or Texas or California would somehow be more newsworthy. And if so, why?

Re: Bringing The Stupid

JR Shells — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:22:25 -0000

This was too hilarious for words... 30 Rock could not have done a better spoof of a congressional hearing. Can't you just see Alec Baldwin in the role Bernanke trying to answer rationally and this nutjob Bachmann continuing to ask inane questions? I would be rolling. She is such a Bite Nuker...

Re: Bringing The Stupid

kvenlander — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:20:57 -0000

She is obviously weapons grade stupid, but I don't see any reason to talk about her in a sexualized manner. She is a lawmaker, as incredible as it is, not a starlet.

Re: Bringing The Stupid

sublicon — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:18:39 -0000

My favorite part of this video is how Geithner's face contorts as she asks him, for the third time, to cite what constitutional provision allows the Treasury to appropriate the funds for the stimulus.

I wonder if she realizes that Bernanke and Geithner aren't the ones who should have to answer that question, that it's Congress that might need to give her a refresher course on their legislative authority in this country.

She's absolutely ridiculous.

And you can tell instead of using the phrase "centralized government economic planning" she wants to jump on her desk and scream "COMMUNIST!!! ADMIT IT! YOU'RE A COMMUNIST!!!"

Re: Bringing The Stupid

Bruce — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:17:14 -0000

well...my limited life-experience has taught me that there is a small but significant correlation...however, i don't think you can automatically infer quality...more "freakyness"

Re: Bringing The Stupid

DJ ImagoDei — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:17:12 -0000

I agree 100% w/ Stacy. A lil' bit of crazy is always nice. But there is NOTHING little about Michelle Bachmann's allotment of crazy. She seems like the type that would give the term 'freak' a very bad name...