Sharron Angle, Michele Bachmann and the Real Enemies in Congress

Last updated on April 7th, 2012 at 11:38 pm

After Michele Bachmann’s original claim that there are enemies of America in the Congress was echoed by Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle it is become obvious that the real enemy of America are extremist candidates like Angle who can’t seem to keep their stories straight.

Lest we forget Michele Bachmann’s charge that we have enemies of the state in Congress, Bachmann later claimed her own legendary (and well recorded) conversation was an “urban legend” and it remains to be seen whether Nevada’s resident right-wing loon will, as she did with her revamped website, claim
“I never said that.”

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It turns out that back in 2009 (Bachmann’s episode came in 2008), when she was a senate candidate, Angle did an interview with a conservative radio personality, Bill Manders. As the Washington Post recounts the audio of the exchange, her words are as clear and unequivocal as Bachmann’s:

MANDERS: You know I talk often about this oath that they give and it is to defend the Constitution and all that. But one of the things that is very important to me in this oath that they give is that they will defend against foreign and domestic enemies.

ANGLE: Yes. Yes.

MANDERS: We have domestic enemies. We have home-born homegrown enemies in our system. And I for one think we have some of those enemies in the walls of the Senate and the Congress.

ANGLE: Yes. I think you’re right, Bill.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post states that Manders “confirmed the authenticity of the audio to me.” He notes also that Manders said that “he didn’t recall her contradicting this claim at any other point.”

Not yet, at any rate.

And as Greg Sargent comments, “And given some of her previous claims — particularly her assertion that people may soon resort to “Second Amendment remedies” if Congress continues along its current course — it’s perfectly legit to ask her if this is what she really believes.”

So let’s ask Ms. Angle flat out what she thinks about these issues.

1) Does the United States have enemies in Congress

And,

2) If so, may people soon resort to “Second Amendment remedies”?
In other words, Ms. Angle, are you advocating secession or armed insurrection?

Don’t be afraid to let America know what you think. And don’t tease America with you’re here and gone
again websites. If you mean it, stand up and say it and don’t, like Michele Bachmann, pretend recording devices had never been invented.

But Sharron Angle seems to be just a bit gun-shy at the moment, if you’ll pardon the Second Amendment pun. After all, she blew an 11-point lead over Harry Reid, then complained when she was caught changing her website and the Reid campaign re-posted it. It was taken down and then put back up.

And like Rand Paul and most other Tea Party candidates, she is her own worst enemy. As the New York Times reported on August 17, “Our focus groups that we’ve done, my staff tells me this — her statements, they can’t believe that anyone would say that,” Mr. Reid said. “That’s why most of our TV just has her talking.”

Perhaps the best part, for Democrats, is Angle’s cluelessness. When asked if she thought her campaign had done anything wrong, her answer was, “I don’t think so.”

It will be interesting to see whether she thinks she made any mistakes after Election Day. I somehow doubt that Angle’s verbal diarrhea has spent itself. There will no doubt be more moments of jaw-dropping stupidity coming our way.

It’s almost embarrassing at times to report on such stories. They take no effort at all. Like Reid said, all we have to do is let her talk. With that in mind, here is the longer version of her 2009 interview. “Let’s do everyone a favor: since Sharron Angle clearly has trouble keeping track of her words, let’s archive and remember them for her. We’ll be doing her a favor – and the country.”

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.