“What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty,” the potential GOP presidential candidate said. “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord. And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors the very first price that had to be paid to make this the most magnificent nation that has ever arisen in the annals of man in 5,000 years of recorded history.”
And it appears not to have just been a misstatement. She really didn’t know.
In fact, the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord that marked the first military engagements of the American Revolution took place in Massachusetts. But Bachmann did not correct her error when she referenced the battles again later in her speech.
Honestly, I very much hope that Bachmann decides to run. In these grim times, we can all use some comic relief.
…but the first Battle of the Revolutionary War was fought in New Hampshire…it’s just that the Lexington-Concord / Paul Revere had Longfellow as a PR Rep
…but I’m pretty sure that it was Lexington/Concord that caused King George III to declare that the colonies were officially in a state of rebellion and thus no longer under his protection. L/C is also what lit a fire under the Continental Congress.
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p>Bachmann, of course, made it sound like L/C were in NH, and I believe also implied that the Pilgrims’ Plymouth was in NH.
That did not lead to wider conflict. There was also the “Powder Alarm” in what’s now Somerville, which happened even earlier, in September 1774. Events like these were instrumental in starting the revolution because they caused the colonists to become better organized. It was the reason that the early warning system (Old North Church / Paul Revere et al) was in place and thousands of militia were ready to grab their guns and run out of the house in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t until Lexington / Concord that the shooting war started in earnest.
that so many of the professed “lovers of America” and “defenders of the Constitution” are so thoroughly ignorant of both American history and American constitutionalism. If they did, they might have a deeper appreciation of both America’s true greatness and well as its true faults, rather than the cartoonish version they adopt.
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p>I also like her comment about how she has an “extreme love for liberty.” What the heck does that even mean? She enjoys her extreme freedom to make crazy sh*t up?
…extreme love for liberty than Bachmann
Only liberal elitists care about stuff like history.
Remember when George H.W. Bush said December 7 was “a day that will live in infamy?” He got elected. And unlike Bachmann, he was alive when the event in question occurred.
He actually said “November 7th.” Good thing I’m not running for President.
Prompting a joke in which a debate that occurred on September 25 was said to be happening on Christmas.
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p>There was a theory, at the time, that Bush did it deliberately. To humanize him; to Reaganize him. The writer said, in effect, “Think how many people that speech went through.” It’s a good theory, but I also work in publications, so I know how easily something like that can slip through.
Yes, yes, yes, to borrow a term from Papa Bear, she is a pinhead. However, pinheads seems to be commanding quite a following lately.
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p>It seems that pointing out their stupidity hasn’t been enough to render them harmless.
Would it be more patronizing or less patronizing just to gently correct her, as one would a child, rather than mercilessly make fun of her like she’s a nationally known, and fairly poweful, American politician? Should we ignore the blatant lapses of logic and foolish statements that originate from representatives of the ascendant Tea Party, like the loyal subjects of the Naked Emperor? How should we engage with these people- “kill them with kindness”? Are Conservatives so gentle to those with whom they disagree?
Perhaps you’ve had this experience too. A friend of yours lives with a crazy person. Whenever your friend talks about his or her living situation, all you hear about is how crazy the person is — as if some kind of definitive, final proof would resolve matters. How many times do you have to say, “Okay, okay, he’s crazy. So what are you going to do?”
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p>Liberals are the same way with Bachman, Palin, and the Tea Party. “They’re stupid! They’re stupid! They’re stupid!” we tell people. We brandish facts. We turn up the snark. We pile up refutations — as if some kind of definitive, final proof would resolve matters.
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p>And, no, I don’t think the answer is to be “nice”.
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p>One thing’s clear, though: we do not understand their appeal. Until we do, there’s no way to undermine it.
But in the end, you gotta do what you gotta do. I try to ignore the Noise Machine, but sometimes I have to answer it for my own sanity. Or laugh at it. I try to think strategically, but that impulse, taken too far, lets them win. The ground game will determine the election.
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that would actually work for her probably isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed either.
Bachmann is an important leader of a movement that may turn out to be important, because it may split what we currently think of as the GOP.
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p>As such, we have to take her seriously.
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p>I strongly suspect someone has pulled a McCain here. They allowed her to take a leadership role (didn’t oppose her when she stepped up) because she has that one thing the Washington press corps can’t resist: she’s
good lookinggood copy. But they can’t really control what she says, so they’re operating at risk.<
p>If you’re John Boehner, you’re probably happy about Bachmann, because it reduces the seriousness of the Tea Party caucus. If you’re, say, Frank Guinta (R-NH) …. OK, bad example, he probably doesn’t really care.
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p>But at some point, the Tea Party is going to have either realign with the GOP, or against it. The notion that Bachmann is a major player in that decision has to be worrisome to the people who care about winning elections.
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p>And honestly, I’m not sure where that leaves us. Root for a split? I think we need to keep our own house in order first.
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My best friend suggested several months ago that the Michelle Bachmann phenomenon is a scheme by media strategists of Sarah Palin, intended to make Sarah Palin look smart.
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p>I thought he was joking.
She probably thinks that New England is a State by itself, the same way certain people think Africa is a country. So Lexington and Concord New England instead of Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
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p>Who can blame her…our New England States are all pretty small as States go. đŸ™‚