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Bachmann signs "values" pledge to oppose same-sex marriage, Sharia law, pornography
CBS News ^ | July 8, 2011 | Stephanie Condon

Posted on 07/08/2011 1:27:34 PM PDT by ejdrapes

Bachmann signs "values" pledge to oppose same-sex marriage, Sharia law, pornography
By Stephanie Condon

Social conservative presidential candidate Michele Bachmann ups the ante in Iowa by signing a "values" pledge that other Republican presidential candidates may not support

Socially-conservative GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has become the first candidate to sign a conservative Christian group's pledge to oppose same-sex marriage and uphold "core values."

Bachmann's commitment to the pledge ups the ante in Iowa, where the other Republican candidates may now be pressed harder to prove their social conservative credentials. The support of groups like Family Leader, which created the pledge, could be significant in the state, where 60 percent of the Republican electorate in 2008 identified as "born-again Christian."

The candidates are being asked to say whether they'll sign the pledge by Aug. 1, and Bob Vander Plaats, the influential conservative who heads Family Leader, says he won't endorse any presidential candidate that does not sign it. Vander Plaats said Thursday he expects the responses to be made public ahead of the Ames Straw Poll on Aug. 13, the Des Moines Register reports.

The pledge, entitled "The Marriage Vow -- A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family," consists of 14 points, including "earnest, bona fide legal advocacy" for the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The pledge is also a commitment to personal fidelity to one's spouse, and to the protection of women and children from "types of coercion or stolen innocence" such as pornography. It also includes a rejection of "Sharia Islam," which it describes as an "anti-woman" form of "totalitarian control."

In addition, candidates are asked to recognize that "robust childrearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S. demographic, economic, strategic and actuarial health and security." The pledge describes homosexuality as a choice and not genetic -- an issue Bachmann dodged on CBS' "Face the Nation."

A spokesman for Bachmann said the congresswoman signed the pledge because she "has a strong marriage and faith," the Register reports. Opposition to same-sex marriage has played a large part in Bachmann's political career, though she has been relatively quiet on the issue since starting her presidential campaign.

The pledge could prove embarrasing other candidates, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been married three times and admitted to an extramarital affair.

The preamble to the pledge states, "We acknowledge and regret the widespread hypocrisy of many who defend marriage yet turn a blind eye toward the epidemic of infidelity and the anemic condition of marriages in their own communities."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2012electionbias; bachmann; censorship; fascism; homosexualagenda; michele; pornography; pravdamedia; seebsnews; theocrat; totalitarian; yellowjournalism
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To: ejdrapes

At least it gives my militant lesbian cousin in Minnesota something to rage about and that’s always good entertainment.


21 posted on 07/08/2011 2:15:07 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: cripplecreek

She should add opposition to Marxism to that pledge.

And while Barack has claimed that he is not a Marxist, he should be pushed on the matter to (A) define the chief principle of Marxism, and (B) explain how his goal of redistributing wealth is somehow different.


22 posted on 07/08/2011 2:15:53 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Ask Barack Obama this election if he believes Jesus Christ rose from the dead and walked among men.)
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To: MrB

The big idea is to try and convince a Christian that by not caring about the values, a politician can exemplify them better. I mean, think of it this way, liberals at least have the sense to try appealing to those who posess values, right? That’s what the AGW issue has largely become: politicians and some interested members of religious affiliations using the idea that God set us up as stewards, to promote supporting Global Warming, which is an exaggeration at best, a twisted dogma at the worst.


23 posted on 07/08/2011 2:20:56 PM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: Morpheus2009

I’m currently reading “You can still trust the communists to be communists”,

and you can see how their methods fit right in with the AGW issue, and how they’ll use Christian dupes to advance their cause by couching it in terms congruent with Christian values.

No one would gain any power if they stood up and said “I’m a Communist, and I want to enact policies that will destroy the capitalist free market in America”.
But, if you couch it in terms of “saving the erf”, you can accomplish the same goals AND be seen as a good person AND gain power by getting the votes of those who think saving the erf is something that needs to be done.


24 posted on 07/08/2011 2:27:40 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: blackdog

Mail.


25 posted on 07/08/2011 2:40:03 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (JMO but I reserve the right to be wrong...)
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To: ejdrapes

I’m usually ambivalent about politicians being asked to sign pledges but this one seems reasonable for a conservative and something Most conservatives can agree with. I think Michelle Bachmann did the right thing. It may or may not help her but it can’t won’t hurt her with conservatives or Iowa voters.


26 posted on 07/08/2011 2:42:24 PM PDT by Jim Scott
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To: Jim Robinson

We could use a no nonsense one-termer.. one determined to move some piles of BS this country has been sold of late out of the WH.

If ya can’t make a gubamint run on 3 trillion, for criminy, what good are ya?

We face more than a few elections to cleanse the Congressional colon of all the pork, largesse, waste and fat.. and stimulus.. raising the debt limit only invites more spending.


27 posted on 07/08/2011 2:42:35 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: a fool in paradise
Sharia Law prohibits same sex marriage.

O o . There goes the angry yout' vote..


28 posted on 07/08/2011 2:44:35 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: blackdog

Marriage is already deeply entwined in the law, and should be, due to the inherent tendency of the arrangement to produce new taxpayers.

Sharia does often entail contract law, but the bare terms of a contract appear against a backdrop of what is called gap filler law, not directly in the contract but an influence on how the contract should be interpreted. It is that back door which could allow development of a body of law that is alien to our traditional legal principles.

As for pornography, it is an assumption too far to say that the protection sought for women and children is necessarily violative of the first amendment. Many women and children every year are drawn into lives no reasonable person would choose, coerced by drugs or poverty or threat of force to serve as sexual entertainment for debased persons. This often ties directly into criminal activity that is so profitable that local law enforcement fails in their duty to protect. This is the foul root from which much pornography stems, and it is not the proper subject of free speech protection, though the end product is considered so.

Bottom line, a pledge can be a good thing in such areas, if there is not an over-commitment to a specific legal strategy, unless that strategy, like DOMA, is a proven and constitutional strategy.


29 posted on 07/08/2011 3:05:25 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: cripplecreek
I don’t like these pledges.

I don't either, but they always paint an interesting from the candidates who refuse to sign them. Especially the ones who depict traditional, time-honored, sane values as "controversial."

30 posted on 07/08/2011 3:17:51 PM PDT by fwdude (Prosser wins, Goonions lose.)
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To: Springfield Reformer
But you see, my wife of 29 years really likes her porn.

It's why they placed the word personal in front of liberty.

If something is illegal, okeedokee.

31 posted on 07/08/2011 3:27:05 PM PDT by blackdog (The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop)
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To: cripplecreek
At least it gives my militant lesbian cousin in Minnesota something to rage about and that’s always good entertainment.

Give us a detailed account of the head explosion if Bachmann is elected president. That ought to be good.

32 posted on 07/08/2011 3:34:01 PM PDT by fwdude (Prosser wins, Goonions lose.)
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To: fwdude

Her last rant about “rethuglicans” included some fantasy about homosexuals being hunted with dogs, forcible conversion, forced marriage to filthy Christian men, and internment camps.

She’s a Minnesota state employee so she’s got plenty of spare time on her hands these days. LOL


33 posted on 07/08/2011 3:42:59 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: ejdrapes

Placemark.


34 posted on 07/08/2011 3:46:27 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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To: ejdrapes

But this is a sticking point with me, FI presidential candidates are going to sign pledges, and influential conservatives are going to create them. Could they at least take some care with the wording so that they don;t make it so very easy for the left to take things out of context and make us look ignorant?

for example the Pledge requires “a rejection of Sharia Islam”

There is no such thing. There is Sunni Islam, Shi’ite’ Sufist, Salaafist, Wahhibist etc, but No Sharia. Sharia is the term they use for their religious laws. Using the term “Sharia Islam” makes about as much sense as “Kosher Judiasm” or “Canon Law Catholic”. A quibble perhaps but why give the other side the ammunition?

Same thing with the bit that talks about how There were more intact African-American families during Slavery than now. Why is that in there? Never mind the dubious historical accuracy, the fact is, that sort of thing is red meat to the opposition. I guarantee you, even now they are twisting this into “Michele Bachmann signed a document saying black kids were better off as slaves”

Yes that’s a total distortion of what she actually signed, but the first casualty of a political race is nuance, and She should know that.


35 posted on 07/08/2011 3:56:38 PM PDT by Quis Custodiet (.)
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To: blackdog

>”If you don’t like Sharia Laws, don’t enter into a contract on those terms’’< Holy S**t! That is staggeringly stupid! Sharia law? Where do you live?


36 posted on 07/08/2011 4:26:21 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: Quis Custodiet

That’s what shallow pandering get you...


37 posted on 07/08/2011 4:42:32 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (JMO but I reserve the right to be wrong...)
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To: Quis Custodiet

It’s really worse than that, although you’re headed in the right direction. There is a fellow who was a mentor to Bachmann who has made statements like “for a while it was humane to keep slaves because life was so hard for them otherwise.” I forget the fellow’s name, but if Bachmann gets the nomination, that fellow and this pledge will be combined to do a reverse Jeremiah Wright to her, paint her, not just as a flake, but as a scary dominionist theocrat, with credentials to prove it. It’s a trap.


38 posted on 07/08/2011 4:57:31 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: RatRipper

Boy you hit that dead-on. Just let the libs try and overplay their hand... Most people - and I live in a liberal state - do not think the way they, the true extremists, do.


39 posted on 07/08/2011 5:03:04 PM PDT by Lexinom
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To: MrB

And in formal logic that’s the fallacy of pretended neutrality. You’re right.


40 posted on 07/08/2011 5:04:16 PM PDT by Lexinom
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