Michele Bachmann’s No Good Very Very Bad Week
Michele Bachmann, head of the Congressional Tea Party caucus and a former presidential candidate who withdrew from the race in January, has had a devastating week.
Michele Bachmann, who represents a conservative district in Minnesota, is being blamed on Twitter, along with Rush Limbaugh, for contributing to an environment of hate that some say led to yesterday’s tragic shooting which left six dead, plus the shooter, at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
“Twitter users have already begun to imply that public figures like Michele Bachmann and Rush Limbaugh are somehow responsible,” The Blaze reports:
Bachmann seemed to be the recipient of most of the allegations, presumably because of her calls to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood and its influence within the United States government.
If that seems a stretch, last night the Minnesota Star Tribune published an open letter signed by ten leaders of various faiths, that accuse Bachmann of “discriminatory and unsubstantiated accusations about Muslims.”
Writing that, “Bachmann’s fear-mongering hurts our country,” the group states:
We want to send a clear message to Congresswoman Bachmann that her efforts to demonize American Muslims are not welcomed by the Minnesota faith community. The safety and security of our country necessitates that we work together and not sow the seeds of division.
We the undersigned faith leaders stand in solidarity with our fellow American Muslims. Any attack on them is an attack on all of us.
…
Minnesota is known for its strong track record of interfaith work. Our interfaith alliances run deep and encompass a wide network of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Baha’i groups. We are proud of the trust and goodwill that our synergistic efforts have engendered over the years.
As interfaith leaders, we are appalled by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s discriminatory and unsubstantiated accusations. We strongly repudiate her past and current efforts to malign by association honorable American Muslims and respectable Muslim organizations that are serving our nation with great distinction. We deplore her finger-pointing and name-calling against the American Muslim community.
Despite the interfaith group’s position, Congresswoman Bachmann just announced she has joined a “citizens advisory board” on the Thomas More Law Center, a far right Christian legal defense group that claims to be “Christianity’s answer to the ACLU.” The Thomas More Law Center recently defended what the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as the “anti-Muslim Koran-burning publicity hound Terry Jones.”
The Detroit Free Press reports:
“I am pleased to join forces with the Thomas More Law Center,” Bachmann said Thursday. “They are in the courts aggressively fighting the internal threat to America posed by radical Islam.”
Richard Thompson, the center’s president and chief counsel, said that Bachmann “puts country before politics.”
“She understands the threat of radical Islam,” Thompson said. “We share her concerns regarding the stealth jihad that’s being perpetrated against the United States.”
Thompson was referring to what he and some other conservatives say are quiet ways in which some Islamic organizations are trying to take control in the West. Last month, Bachmann sent an open letter asking whether officials in the U.S. government — including Huma Abedin, a Muslim born in Kalamazoo who is a close aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — have ties to Islamic extremist groups.
Bachmann’s letter, signed by several other Republicans, was criticized by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others who praised Abedin. Bachmann defended the letter, saying there are legitimate concerns about Abedin’s family ties.
Established in 1998 by Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, a conservative Catholic, the Thomas More Law Center has filed suits in a number of cases involving the rights of conservative Christians. It supported the right of a school in Pennsylvania to teach creationism, fought gay rights ordinances and opposes the contraception mandate announced by the Obama administration this year.
No word on what her compensation will be.
But Bachmann, despite pulling in $1 million in donations in the month of July, thanks in large part to her defamatory and scurrilous accusations against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s top aide, Huma Abedin, is having serious financial difficulties.
Noting that “Bachmann’s campaign debt stand [sic] out, however, because the three-term congresswoman from Stillwater has been among the harshest critics on Capitol Hill of deficit spending and the nation’s debt under President Barack Obama,” SCtimes, a Gannett newspaper, reports that “Bachmann’s presidential campaign finance report for the second quarter showed a total debt of $935,000 but only $199,000 in available cash.”
Those figures presumably do not include Bachmann’s July haul, which begs the question, Did Michele Bachmann level charges against Huma Abedin and others in an attempt to gain attention — and cash?
Regardless, Bachmann may need that cash.
Via the Kansas City Star:
An Iowa campaign aide for former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann sued the Minnesota congresswoman and her senior campaign aides on Monday, alleging an official stole a private email list and that she was blamed for its use.
The lawsuit filed by Barb Heki claims that Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, took the list from Heki’s private computer to promote Bachmann’s candidacy among Christian home-school advocates before the Iowa caucuses. Heki was hired to coordinate home-school supporters for Bachmann’s Iowa campaign.

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