Pants on FIre

I agree with this post by kos.  Republicans today just are not ready for youtube.  Bachman's comments on Hardball were so despicable that I actually wrote her office an email I was so pissed about it.  It was clear from her conversation that not only was she questioning the patriotism of Barack Obama, but many in Congress today.  Her words echoed McCarthyism and it's shameless that she believes she can just deny them without many knowing full well that she's lying.  

Her statement today:

Despite the way the blogs and the Democratic Party are spinning it, I never called all liberals anti-American, I never questioned Barack Obama’s patriotism, and I never asked for some House Un-American Activities Committee witch hunt into my colleagues in Congress.

What I did was ask legitimate questions that Minnesotans have been asking me: What does Barack Obama mean by change?

Here interview with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: So you think Barack Obama may have anti-American views?

BACHMANN: Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views.

[...]

MATTHEWS: How many Congresspeople, members of Congress, are in that anti-American crowd you describe? How many Congresspeople that you serve with?

BACHMANN: Right now —

MATTHEWS: How many are anti-American in the Congress right now that you serve with?

BACHMANN: You’d have to ask them, Chris. I’m focusing on Barack Obama and the people that he’s been associated with and I’m very worried about their anti-American nature.

MATTHEWS: But do you suspect there are a lot of people you serve with — well, he’s the United States senator from Illinois, he’s one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in Congress of the United States do you believe are ant-American? Is he alone or are there others? How many do you suspect of your colleagues of being anti-American.

BACHMANN: What I would say what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would be — would love to see an expose like that.

This divisiveness, claiming that the other party is un-American has been tried before in our history and it fails.  Republicans have been lucky to be able to keep the noise machine loud enough in recent years to alter that effect, but I don't believe it'll work this time.  Knowing that you can watch for yourself is a game changer.  Knowing that the last 8 years haven't been good for anyone is a game changer.  Stop labeling people as a way to gain support.  Start actually giving the voters an answer to their concern.  

Obama's policies may not be the best in every arena, but let's be honest, what he'll be able to accomplish will be policy that most Americans agree with.  And were John McCain to have started 6 months ago pushing real policy differences in his campaign, this would be a different race, but right now McCain looks like a race baiting lunatic with a poorly trained monkey as a running mate.  Barack Obama has proved time and time again that these attacks on his character are just lies.  And Bachman's comments about "anti-American" sentiment fall in the same circular file.  Lying politicians are expected, but grinding a point we know is false is another thing altogether.