And the gloves come off. In recent comments concerning abortion, Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann strongly criticized current GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, chiding him for not being sufficiently pro-life. In a statement, she made no bones as to how she feels about Romney’s decision to not sign the Susan B. Anthony List’s anti-abortion pledge:
“The excuses for not signing clearly continue the doubts about his leadership and commitment to ending the practice of abortion – particularly for a candidate who ran as pro-choice for the Senate and Governorship of Massachusetts. Any Presidential candidate seeking our party’s nomination should sign the SBA Pledge and vow to protect life from conception to natural death.”
Bachmann, now second in the polls following what some have called a winning debate performance, has Romney fixed in her sights as he is now the one obstacle that stands between her and the nomination, at least according to current polling.
What is interesting, is that as Bachmann trails Romney by a sharp 14% percentage points, the margin that she has to make up to claim the lead is almost equal to her current level of support: 19%. But more importantly, by attacking Romney as she is, and assuming that she continues, the House firebrand is making it increasingly less likely that she will be considered for the VP slot if Romney wins the primary.
That aside, a Romney-Bachmann ticket would make a certain level of sense, as Bachmann would round out Mitt to the Tea Party social conservatives Christian that find him repellent. In fact, the Tea Party finds Romney’s current positions on issues such as global warming to be untenable, his past on issues such as heath care to be unthinkable, and his religion to be, on the whole, false. Bachmann has the correct views to match Tea Party orthodoxy, and could thus assuage Romney’s critics and perhaps bring them into the fold, if under protest.
But that seems unlikely. Bachmann is not merely attacking Romney out of a need to score political points, but also out of a deep-seated difference of opinion. Why would she serve under a President, theoretically, that she found to be ideologically incorrect? This puts her recent criticism of Romney into perspective: she is not gunning for second place.
But if Romney does secure the Republican nod, and not Bachmann, as the polls (early as it is) decisively suggest, then she will find herself in a tough spot. Michele obviously wants to be active in the 2012 Presidential campaign, but if she fails to secure the nomination, she won’t have a dog in the fight. She certainly will not be joining Romney as we have noted, and will thus not be a part of the Republican team; with little other choice than Obama she will almost have nothing to do.
With that picture in mind, I want to raise an idea: Bachmann, a noted fundraiser and organizer, could certainly mount an independent campaign under the Tea Party banner and make a real go of it. She would lose to Obama as she would be splitting his competition, but the concept certainly doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch. Bachmann mustered her own response to the State of the Union and chairs the Tea Party Caucus, two actions that clearly demonstrate her independence from Republican leaders and orthodoxy.
Mitt is the comparatively moderate GOP candidate, and he is running a campaign that will not force him to walk too far back to the center when the time comes for the general election if he does win the primary process. Bachmann on the other hand views such temperance has heresy. The two cannot exist together in harmony; they cannot play for the same team.
And so if Mitt wins the nomination, he might unwittingly split the party, and thus lose the election handily to a (somewhat) unified Democratic party. Then again, Bachmann’s numbers against Obama in a one to one fight are hardly encouraging.
If it’s Mitt, can the Republican party constrain the Tea Party from striking out on their own away from a President that they despise, and an ex-Governor that they abhor?
Related posts:
Another possibility is that she has calculated that any Republican candidate will lose to Obama in 2012, and so she is setting Mitt up to take the fall. Then she’ll say, “That namby-pamby RINO approach doesn’t work. Now, let’s do it MY way!”
The irony being that current polls show Mittens losing the least to Obama–versus Bachmann representing LBJ/Goldwater type numbers. But in true teabagger fashion, I’m sure she’ll take a page from the Palin/O’Donnel book and try and tell her victorious opponent just how they should do things. That said, Mittens is such a flip flopper that he might actually listen to her.
As my BFF pointed out last night, I’ll never bag on Bob Dole as a presidential candidate again.
Does anyone know if Bachman gets any federal funding for the care of any of the foster children she has had in her home?
I read that foster parents like her,in Minn, are paid $30 per day,per child. And,I would assume that you know there was a big uproar over the fact she collects a LOT of money in farm subsidies,for land she owns! This,from another one of those”I Hate Big Govt!”folks! Grifters,every last one!
If you want to read an interesting article on Shelly Belly go over to the Daily Beast. They have a 4 page article on her and it will give you allot of information about her. Everyone should check her out. When she says she raised 23 foster children, she makes it sound like she raised them from childhood to adulthood. Well come to find out they only allow 3 children at a time. She may had them from a week at a time or 6 months at a time. Another republican stretching the truth.
Since I don’t like either of them or what they each represent, my hope is that they will cancel each other out and pave the way for President Obama’s reelection. The GOP has been appealing to rank stupidity and ignorance for a long time, and nothing would please me more than for them to reap what they have sown.
Couldn’t agree more–and for a party who follows lockstep with one another on issues, they sure have no respect for each other personally.
In fact, they are Lockstep In Lunacy.
Whew. That was convoluted, and caused my head to hurt. But then it seems that the whole Republican field thingy is convoluted and nonsensical. I sure wish we could just be done with it and get on with Obama carrying on for a second term. The next year and a half are just going to be painful at best.
Did we notice
“and vow to protect life from conception to natural death.””
Any administration of hers could certainly be said to be avoiding that little issue. She should be first and formeost for medicare, SS and medicade.
I dont think Bachmann did the response to the SOTU address for the tea party, I think she did it for herself under the name of the tea party.
The tea party will totally screw the GOP in 2012 due to their zeal to give the government to freedom works and the Koch brothers.
Nice post.
This subject is definitely worth the discussion here. The only caveat I offer is that Perry and Palin must be included. Neither of those two is going to just sit quietly on the sidelines.
Liberals fear that Romney will be able to make a strong case against re-electing President Obama!
Not as long as we keep hammering him on RomneyCare which has a mandate and is immensely successful in MA! You know, that little thingy that conservatives swear they don’t like even though the idea originated on the right, and that conservatives approved of in the 1990s when President Clinton tried to enact healthcare reform?
In fact, Romney’s between a rock and a hard place since he is regarded by many Republicans as a RINO. He is constantly dogged about his health care reform as Massachusetts governor, and there is the fact that while he was in that office, his state ranked 47th in terms of job creation. Not to mention that he is a flip flopper who goes with whatever seems politically expedient at any given time.
Can this country afford to let someone like michele bachmann lead this country? Is anyone actually willing to follow a person who doesn’t even know basic US history.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/7c4cddf473/great-moments-in-american-history
On…”If it’s Mitt, can the Republican party constrain the Tea Party from striking out on their own away from a President that they despise, and an ex-Governor that they abhor?”…just where are you coming from? Obama-nation’s team? Anyone who has the audacity to think that Tea Partiers abhor Romney hasn’t looked at the polls. It’s obvious most Americans are looking to find a more moderate thinking president and right now it appears Romney has the upper hand.