Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann remains the gift that keeps on giving for journalists, bloggers — and Democrats. Despite the (in)famous photo that showed her inhaling a corn dog, every time she opens her mouth she gives journalists and bloggers great quotes that often seem to come from here. And she talks in ways sure to offend key constituencies that the Republican Party needs to capture unless it wants itself to forever be the party that controls the House of Representatives but never the White House.
And her latest? Hillary Clinton won’t be elected President because voters aren’t ready to elect a woman (so exactly what was her own race to the White House about — an attempt to get a place on Fox News?). And Barack Obama was elected because voters felt guilty over slavery.
Although you won’t find it stated bluntly on most articles and blog posts on this, the reaction of most people who don’t live here will be: “Oh.”
Bachmann says a lot of people “aren’t ready” for a female president. “I think there was a cachet about having an African-American president because of guilt.” (Presumably she means because of slavery and the lengthy denial of civil rights to blacks.) “People don’t hold guilt for a woman,” she says, adding that while people vote for women for virtually every other office “I don’t think there is a pent-up desire” for a woman president.
She says while Obama was “new and different,” Hillary Clinton has been around a long time and is less likely to stir the juices as Obama did.
(Oh.)
SOME OTHER REACTION:
—Daily Kos:
So when Michele Bachmann ran for president, it was because she thought there was demand for her as an individual (except not that much demand, as it turned out), but the only reason for Hillary Clinton to run or have success would be that she’s a woman? And if all Clinton has in her favor is being a woman and that didn’t work for Bachmann, then Benghazi, which no one cares about, and Obamacare, which she was not directly involved with and which by 2016 will be providing affordable health care for an awful lot of people, mean Clinton has no hope whatsoever? Despite the strong poll numbers? But by contrast, of course, Barack Obama was only elected president because of the great cachet of being a black man in our society.
All you can really say is, this is how Michele Bachmann thinks. And no, it usually doesn’t make much sense.
Republicans aren’t even trying to hide their racism anymore. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said Barack Obama was only elected president because white people felt guilty about slavery.
…Republicans refuse to face reality. To Michele Bachmann, President Obama was only elected because his race made him a novelty. What the Obama won because he is black crowd can’t answer is the fact that President Obama also won reelection. If Obama only won in 2008 because of his race, how did he win reelection?
It is interesting that Bachmann is using her disastrous 2012 presidential campaign to project the belief that America is not ready for a female president. Bachmann’s defeat in the 2012 Republican primary was due to the fact that she was a lousy candidate, not her gender.
Personally, I voted for President Barack Obama (twice) because he was a qualified candidate; because I was voting positively for someone other than a white man to inhabit the White House; because I support a number of his policies; and because he was neither John McCain nor Mitt Romney.
That’s not a comprehensive list, but I can assure you that “guilt” is not on the list.
Bachmann sees no pent-up desire for woman president. Actually, there just wasn't any for President Bachmann. http://t.co/2PNrlNSfs4
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) February 21, 2014
Poor Michelle. Wishing she was black. washingtonpost: Bachmann: "Guilt" helped Obama win presidency http://t.co/fHOsHM7gGO”
— girl_ninja (@girl_ninja) February 21, 2014
#Headdesk —–> Michele Bachmann: U.S. not ready for female president http://t.co/28v5uYVMSe
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) February 20, 2014
Seriously @MicheleBachmann just to hurt @HillaryClinton you'd tell girls "US not ready for a woman"? Some role model. http://t.co/BFVMOQDb2J
— Ken Meyer (@Kenameyer) February 20, 2014
For more blog reaction GO HERE.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.