Posted on 08/09/2011 5:31:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Profiles of Michele Bachmann have been plentiful since the congresswoman became a legitimate contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And now, in the latest issue of The New Yorker, Ryan Lizza delivers a "terrific" and "disturbing" look at Bachmann's worldview, intellectual influences, and life history. Granted unprecedented access to Bachmann and her campaign, Lizza explores the roots of Bachmann's beliefs. Here, six of The New Yorker's best revelations:
1. Bachmann's beliefs were shaped by an evangelical filmmaker
Bachmann calls the film series How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer — who was very influential in the 1970s and '80s — "life-altering," Lizza writes. The films trace the influence of Christianity on Western culture, beginning with ancient Rome and spanning through modern abortion battles. Essentially, Lizza writes, the movies "condemn the influence of the Italian Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Darwin, secular humanism, and postmodernism" because those movements removed God from the center of life.
2. And a controversial professor influenced her politics
While at Oral Roberts University, Bachmann worked as a research assistant for a fundamentalist law professor named John Eidsmoe as he wrote his 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution. Eidsmoe preached that "when Biblical law conflicted with American law," people should "work through legal and political means to get it changed." Over the years, Eidsmoe has fallen out of favor for appearing at a convention held by the white-pride Council of Conservative Citizens, and for supporting Alabama's Secession Day. Bachmann hasn't distanced herself from him, however, telling an Iowa audience last spring that Eidsmoe is still one of her greatest influences.
3. She's endorsed some strange Civil War theories
During her state Senate campaign several years ago, Bachmann recommended on her website a biography of Robert E. Lee written by Steven Wilkins, who claims that African slaves brought to America were "lucky," treated with respect, and fortunate to experience the "sanctifying effects of Christianity. This proves, says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway, that Bachmann's historical "mistakes" on the issue of slavery — she was pilloried for saying the Founders worked hard to end slavery — "aren't evidence of ignorance," but instead "evidence of a worldview that is very different from what most Americans encounter in their daily lives."
4. She's revised her personal history while campaigning
Lizza also explains how Bachmann "touched up her image for a national campaign," says Noreen Malone at New York. His profile notes that while the official biography for her first congressional campaign in 2006 said that she "grew up in a broken home in Anoka, Minnesota," she now makes a point of telling supporters that she grew up in Iowa. (Bachmann was indeed born in Iowa, which hosts critical first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses). And while Bachmann says her experience as a former IRS tax litigation attorney makes her a tax-policy expert, former colleagues tell Lizza that she spent much of her time at the IRS on maternity leave.
5. Bachmann flies on a "Barbie jet"
The Tea Party darling dubbed her campaign plane the "Barbie jet," Lizza writes, describing a jovial atmosphere in which Bachmann seems genuinely in awe of the aircraft's extravagance. There is one steadfast rule, however: Journalists are not allowed to photograph Bachmann in her casual clothing. At one point, Bachmann faces the press while holding a newspaper with the headline "ROMNEY, BACHMANN LEAD REPUBLICAN PACK," which Lizza calls "the perfect shot." Once the press saw that Bachmann was wearing her cargo pants, however, "nobody took a picture."
6. Her husband is a "silver fox"
Bachmann's husband, Marcus, shows up in the profile in some "amusing conversations," says Malone. During one, he relays to Lizza that Newsweek had referred to him as a "silver fox," and was worried that it implied that he was homosexual. When Lizza explained that it was just a reference to his gray hair, Marcus Bachmann replied, "O.K., I can handle that." There's also a scene in which he attempts to psycho-analyze Lizza, and refers to himself as the most "high-maintenance" traveler on his wife's campaign jet.
Read the entire New Yorker Profile of Michele Bachmann here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all
TITLE : Leap of Faith: The making of a Republican front-runner.
by Ryan Lizza
NOTE: Hugh Hewitt interviewed Ryan Lizza on his show today regarding this article.
“...condemn the influence of the Italian Renaissance...”
HOW WE SHOULD THEN LIVE does not condemn all the art of the Renaissance. The New Yorker is showing its snooty side with this approach to Bachmann.
So who exactly was quoted as characterizing it as “terrific”? The synposis made it sound like a highly
critical hit job.
I should add that Ryan Lizza was one of the earliest writers to report about Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s using him to his advantage.
See here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza
It’s a fact that Bachmann has a lot in her history that’s quite a bit more staunchly and leaning toward RIGIDLY social
Conservative than all the other announced candidates-—the MSM, as you can see, is working overtime to exploit all these things in the most damning way possible. She’s getting the Palin treatment, and will continue getting it, but the facts are that Palin , whether she runs or not, is a lot, well, “hipper” than Bachmann, and has a lot less to exploit, since she’s already been drained by the MSM of what was exploitable.I don’t think there’s too much more they can do to Palin that wouldn’t make them look like the bullies they are, and they’ve already found out that the more they attack her the stronger she gets. America has LOVED seeing that process in action. Sara should run, but her position becomes increasingly awkward, vis-a-vis Bachmann.
I was shown the Francis Schaeffer how then should we live series every year for years in lutheran grade school and high school.
The only thing radical about the man was his selection of outfits based around corduroy knickers.
RE: how then should we live series
I believe the title is HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE.
Hewitt can’t stand Bachmann now that she’s shunned his show. According to Hewitt if you don’t do his show that means you’re shunning ‘conservative media’. But he’s a Romneybot so I’m glad she’s staying away.
Another example of an embellished personal narrative that changes according to the circumstances.
Silly people don’t think it’s noticed, again and again and again. LOL
The various weird things about Bachmann make Bachmann seem weird.
Yet she is pretty and says tea party things.
I like her, but
“6. Her husband is a “silver fox”
Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, shows up in the profile in some “amusing conversations,” says Malone. During one, he relays to Lizza that Newsweek had referred to him as a “silver fox,” and was worried that it implied that he was homosexual. When Lizza explained that it was just a reference to his gray hair, Marcus Bachmann replied, “O.K., I can handle that.” There’s also a scene in which he attempts to psycho-analyze Lizza, and refers to himself as the most “high-maintenance” traveler on his wife’s campaign jet.”
That’s not near normal at all. And none of that other stuff is good at all. And there’s really nothing at all good on her resume.
A little over 2 terms as a US Rep.
State Senator for 6 years.
And IRS. I guess that’s good that she worked for the IRS.
And babysitting for 7 years or so. $47 per day from the state per kid.
I’d happily vote for her, because, as William Buckley has said
“I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”
Bachmann is the prettiest girl in that phone book currently running, currently saying tea party things. I’d happily vote for her. I like her. But, boy she would just be creamed, worse than ever before.
What is this referring to?
It is amazing.
“RIGIDLY social conservative . . .”
In my experience, flexible social conservatives are usually liberals trying to sound moderate.
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