Michele Bachmann also drives through red lights when she's out late a night and no one Else is around!
Posted on 10/19/2010 6:51:19 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Despite vocal criticism of the federal stimulus package and a re-election campaign that trades heavily on her opposition to it, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann sought stimulus funding on at least seven occasions last year.
The requests, which came in August and September of 2009, were released Sunday by the investigative journalism site Center for Public Integrity.
They include a request for funding for a $150 million expansion of the Northstar commuter rail line to St. Cloud — something Bachmann had declined to back just months earlier.
The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan Washington-based group, said Bachmann was among almost 2,000 GOP and Democratic stimulus opponents who wrote behind-the-scenes
letters requesting funds for projects.
Bachmann defended her request for money from the $787 billion stimulus package, even though in her latest ads she refers to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as "the failed (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi trillion-dollar stimulus."
In a statement, she continued to attack the package, which she voted against, saying it has been misspent.
"It is my obligation as a member of Congress to ensure stimulus dollars are spent on the most worthy projects," Bachmann said in a statement. "I did just that when I supported applications for the (stimulus) grant program."
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
I heard about this.
So what?
The bill passed, don’t cry over spilled milk. She might as well get some of the money for her constituents.
If it’s true, I don’t have a problem with this. Someone can be opposed to the stimulus, and then fight for their district once the stimulus is a done deal.
SO? I think she should have asked for, maybe demanded MORE!
Why let the ratz get all the loot? The more that can be taken from them, the more they lose voter support.
I have also heard rumors that many congress critters, and citizens as well, that were opposed to the Bush tax cuts received benefits from them without complaint!
Others have even voted to raise taxes and then went out of their way to take advantage of loopholes to avoid paying them!
Scandalous behaviors!
Michele Bachmann also drives through red lights when she's out late a night and no one Else is around!
So what?
The government is handing out billions of dollars -- you aren't helping your district if you stick your nose in the air and say "Others may take it, but I'm too good for that."
Bingo.
There are three ideas that sum up the Tea Party movement over all.
1. We are taxed too much
2. Our tax money is spent unwisely
3. Our lawmakers do not listen to us
Michelle Bachmann voted against spending this money (1. We are taxed too much), but when the money was spent, she wanted it spent wisely (2. Our tax money is spent unwisely). When asked about it, she responded with an honest answer and didn't try to deny that she sent the requests in (3. Our lawmakers do not listen to us).
Why The GOP Will Never Cut The Size Of Government
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2010/10/17/why-the-gop-will-never-cut-the-size-of-government/
Good summary
No worries, Michele. They’re just digging and are hitting stones. Nothing there.
The RATS have nothing to run on, so they slime their opponents.
Reps routinely engage in secondary actions that seem to belie their votes. Ron Paul has been writing earmarks for his district into budgets and legislation for as long as he has been in Congress—then, he votes against them (knowing they will pass anyway). Bachmann can be accused of “going along to get along” on this one.
No one is pure. The most you can ever hope for is that a candidate for office meet an 85 percent test. Bachmann is way past that in my book but no one is 100 percent, not her, Sarah, DeMint, no one. The first time Reagan did something I was opposed to I figured it out (after a gut-wrenching day or two!).
The ability to assimilate this fact about Bachmann and still be generally in favor of her and vote for her is a sign of the ability to psychologically “reconcile.” Which is a sign of stable mental health. Think of it as being able to “take the good with the bad” and make “trade offs.” It’s what your average liberal simply cannot do.
Hey I don’t have a problem with it. But we all know the RAT media will push this hard these last two weeks. They’re getting desperate...
Yes this is so obviously the answer. It is appalling to me that the press is taking a position that it is hypocritical to request funding for your constituents from a bill you opposed. The logical conclusion of this thinking is if you pass a bill only the districts of the congressman who voted for it get the money. Essentially rewarding the profligate and punishing the responsible. Of course that is what the D’s and the press want.
Precisely correct, especially since if she does NOT get the money, it will mean that her constituents would be giving money to the fed with nothing in return. Once the bill is passed, she MUST try to get some of it back, since the cash is coming from her taxpaying voters.
Imagine that the Gov’t is flying over your city, dumping $100 bills from an airplane. Is it stupid, wasteful idea? Absolutely. Would I oppose it? Absolutely. But assuming I can’t stop it, I would also step outside to see if I could pick up a some of the money also.
Stimulus is exactly the same. Bachman couldn’t stop it, so what’s she to do? Let Pelosi simply divide-up the money among loyal Democrats only?
yeah...you are not conservative..
Very lame “October surprise”. Give it up, political and media elites. Your time has come to an end.
That does not make her a hypocritical socialist...asking for tax payer funded boondoggles with borrowed money does...
She does NOT have the Constitutional authority to ask for money from all citizens to return to a select few citizens ...she broke her oath she should be gone...
mark Bachman off my list...
That’s not how it works. The feds took by force X amount of dollars from the people of Minn. There was no option to not participate. She must now try to get that money back, don’t you think?
Think about this: the Obama Administration is seizing your children's money. You can't stop them.
Do you let them keep it and send it to your enemies, or do you try to get it back and direct it to your children's interest?
If I can't stop the theft, at least I can redirect the result...
yes, I heard B.H.O. was going to try and tie conservatives in with the stimulus...trying to make them be “hypocrites” for taking the money yet opposing the stimulus.
Of course, B.H.O. also believed the economy was going to be kicking ass by now, and he’d be able to crush Republicans in the process...didn’t quite work out that way, did it?
Essentially, what happened was Obama said “We’re gonna piss away our great-grandchildren’s money no matter what you say. If you want some of it, come get it.”
So, everyone tried to get it—and all Michelle has to say is, “Yeah, I got some of it—better it go toward a commuter rail in Minnesota than that stupid “Pig Odor” study Tom Harkin used stimulus money on! And by the way—if I’d HAD my way, we wouldn’t be spending it AT ALL!”
So-called journalists who help Obama in this charade are stooges.
How about asking for the money that her "select few citizens" had taken from them? Should Bachmann just roll over and give it to Nancy Pelosi's citizens (and non-citizens)?
Then don't condemn the program and criticize those who supported it if you've got your nose in the trough along side them.
The GOP seized my children’s money from 1995-2006 and with stuff like this from one of its 10 most conservative members it is clear they are going to be socialists again.
As to your question...I would try and get MY CHILDREN’s money back as a private citizen...as a member of Congress I would NOT HAVE THE authority to seize money from all citizen’s and redistribute it to a narrow set of “Children” and by children we men Bachman’s special interests who she needs to pacify for more power for ourselves( re-election).
She broke her oath in an eye catchingly hypocritical way...she should be gone.
If Obama robbed a bank and said he was going to give it to members of Congress . Should Bachman have taken the money “for her district” since Obama has already robbed the bank. Obama is guilty of theft and so is Bachman. Only one is a hypocrite.
This is not in the least hypocritical. She tried to prevent it. But, once it was passed, it was going to suck money out of the taxpayers of Minnesota no matter what she did. It is her duty to try to get some of it back.
What is the definition of spending tax money wisely? And why does a $150 million expansion of a commuter rail line in her district qualify?
I’m opposed to Sosh Security in it’s current form, but if it’s there when I retire (doubtful), I’m going to get my little stipend.
In the mean time, I support those who favor privatization.
So Bachmann criticized the program as a giant boondoggle and a waste of govenrment money and campaigned on that position while at the same time grabbing all that wasted boondoggle money she could get her hands on. And you don't find that even a leeetle bit hypocritical?
You are short sighted.
It’s almost like they don’t want the voters to discover that to avoid taking ANY stimulus money, a congress critter would be sentencing their constituents to being the victim of robbery, without recovering any of the stolen money - even though it’s available.
Interesting thread and responses...
Were we not cheering the few Governors that attempted to refuse stimulus funds for their state?
So which is it FReepers? Is Michele caught in the web for the federal stimulus?
Not in the slightest. Just pragmatic. Making the best of a bad situation, while trying to make sure the bad situation never happens again. It isn’t as if she could protect the taxpayers of Minnesota by refusing to take any stimulus money. She would just be hurting them.
I know a guy who was laid off for over a year due to staffing cut backs but refused to apply for unemployment because he didn't believe in it. I thought he was an idiot for doing so, but also respected him because there was no hypocrisy in his position. He lived his beliefs and refused to compromise and accept something he truly believed was wrong. If you truly believe Social Security is wrong then turn it down. If Bachmann truly believed the stimulus is wrong then she shouldn't have participated in it. Anything else is hypocritical.
Exactly! It is her constituents money being spent too! They might as well get some of it back.
She is saying one thing and doing another. That is the textbook definition of a hypocrite.
consider the source...
“HuffPo Investigative Fund Partners Up With The Center For Public Integrity”
I guess it is water under the bridge at the moment.
So shouldn't we be asking if the money she grabbed went to boondoggles in her state or did the stimulus funds generate the intended results. Jobs, wealth, income?
On the one hand, I would have liked it if all conservatives had refused to accept or request any stimulus money.
On the other, since their constituents are going to be stuck paying down the debt like everyone else, they may as well get some value for their money.
I think she stepped in it on this one, though. It might be different were it a project really needed.
Anyone who has followed Northstar knows it’s a boondoggle Willie Green would be proud of.
The Northstar line must be critical to our national defense.
The Northstar line must be critical to our national defense.
Sounds like cutting off your nose and the noses of your children to spite your faces, but so be it.
Rep. Michele Bachmann wrote letters in support of these projects receiving stimulus funds. None was funded.
# Northstar Phase II
# St. Croix River bridge crossing
# I-94 westbound lane addition and eastbound reconstruction, between Albertville and Rogers
# Road improvements in Sartell
# University Drive bridge/corridor expansion, St. Cloud
# Minnesota 15 and 33rd Street South interchange right of way and construction, St. Cloud and Waite Park
# Albany Mutual Telephone to provide broadband access for the cities of Avon and Holdingford
NONE WERE FUNDED! Interesting...a Republican requests funds stimulus funds and NONE were funded by the democrats?
See there are a lot of interesting ways this can be played.
The Center for Public Integrity is a U.S.-based non-profit investigative journalism group that was founded by Charles Lewis.
From l977 to l988 he did investigative reporting at ABC News and CBS News 60 Minutes.
******
PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS is the largest funding source for the Tides Center, having given the latter nearly $109 million between 1990 and 2002. Other PCT grantees include:
the Center for Public Integrity
In addition to earmarking enormous sums of money to fund the projects and activities of the aforementioned organizations, PCT also proposes its own policy solutions in a number of areas:
Global Warming
Wilderness Protection
Protecting Ocean Life
Death Penalty Reform
PCT is a member organization of the International Human Rights
******
Huffington Post Investigative Fund Merges With Center for Public Integrity
When we spoke to Arianna Huffington earlier this summer, she expressed regret that her nonprofit, open-source Huffington Post Investigative Fund was not having much luck getting its work picked up by media outlets
Huffington announced today that the Fund was going to separate itself further from the website by joining forces with the Center for Public Integrity. Ryan Tate at Gawker notes that, because the Fund seemed only to supply the for-profit HuffPo with stories, it was having trouble earning tax-exempt status for itself. This separation could help with that — though it looks like the Fund will still have most of its stories published on HuffPo as a matter of course.
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