The parade of the Unarmed and Dangerous into the annals of fame continues unabated. You'd think after Barack Obama chided them for this tactic, they'd stop. Ah, the urge to slander Michele Bachmann is more powerful than even Obama can overcome.
From US News and World Report, a column by "nationally-syndicated radio show host" Leslie Marshall:
What we are lacking amidst all of this anger and violence is personal responsibility. Even for those of us who aren’t directly responsible; there are words, actions that contribute indirectly to these acts. (...)And of course Michele Bachmann’s “I want people armed and dangerous” over Obama’s healthcare reform legislation.
A superb effort, with the now classic KARE-TV technique of both taking the comments out of context and getting it factually wrong. Of course, it was cap-and-trade legislation Bachmann was speaking about on our radio show, NOT health care reform legislation. I suspect we'll see more of this particular error. It's easier to cast aspersions on the Tea Party if one of their key issues (ObamaCare) is dragged into the fray. It's a story that is simply too good to check.
Next, Steven Thomma of McClatchy Newspapers:
In March 2009, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., suggested armed revolution to fight a proposed energy bill in Congress."I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax, because we need to fight back," she said.
A nice amping up of the libel before providing the quote. Nothing like setting expectations. "Armed revolution" she called for!
Finally, a local gal makes the list. From the City Pages, Erin Carlyle:
While the suspect's motive for the mass shooting isn't yet known, many are calling for an end to the war-like language used to talk about politics by people like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and our own Congresswoman Michele Bachman, who has called on Minnesotans to be "armed and dangerous," which is an uncomfortably close description of shooter Jared Loughner.
Bachmann's comments were "uncomfortably close" to the description of Jared Loughner? Two possibilities exist for this remarkable statement.
A) the City Pages is in possession of information that indicates Loughner was driven to mass murder by getting information from Michele Bachmann's meeting in Woodbury about Obama's cap-and-trade energy tax proposal in March of 2009
B) the reporter has no idea what she's talking about and no fact checking was involved in the creation of this article
Cynics who are familiar with the typical level of editorial accuracy the media has given this story may have already made up their minds. Me? I'm holding out for that City Pages front page scoop about Lougner's attendance at Bachmann constituent service meetings. I believe in them, their fact checkers, and their editors!
And the fact that they misspelled Rep. Bachmann's name in the quoted paragraph above doesn't diminish my blind faith in the least!
