Blackburn Won?t Endorse Bachmann?s ?Gangster Government? Rhetoric
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 19th, 2010 4:40 am by HL
Blackburn Won?t Endorse Bachmann?s ?Gangster Government? Rhetoric
On Thursday, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) referred to the government as a “gangster government,” telling a group of conservative activists, “We’re on to them. We’re on to this gangster government. And we are not going to let them have their way.” The following day, President Clinton — who has drawn parallels between the Oklahoma City […]
On Thursday, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) referred to the government as a “gangster government,” telling a group of conservative activists, “We’re on to them. We’re on to this gangster government. And we are not going to let them have their way.” The following day, President Clinton — who has drawn parallels between the Oklahoma City bombing incident in 1995 and the current atmosphere of right-wing, anti-government hatred — took aim at Bachmann’s comments. “They are not gangsters. They were elected. They are not doing anything they were not elected to do.”
Clinton said people involved with “hatriot” groups like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters may take the wrong lessons from irresponsible rhetoric. “Ninety-nine percent of them will never do anything they shouldn’t do, but there are people who advocate violence and anticipate violence,” he warned. Fortunately, some of Bachmann’s conservative colleagues are heeding Clinton’s warning. This morning, during an appearance on Meet The Press, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — also a strong supporter of the Tea Parties — refused to endorse Bachmann’s “gangster government” rhetoric:
GREGORY: Do those kinds of words, April 19th is coming up, which is the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing, when an anti-government person who was obviously a sociopath attacked the federal government. When you describe a “gangster government,” do you think that is over the line and inappropriate in our political discourse?
BLACKBURN: It would not have been a choice in words that I made. And what we have to realize is that any time you have large public gatherings, whether it is a group from the left, or a group from the right, you’re going to have lots of individuals with different opinions who show up.
Watch it:
This wasn’t the first time Bachmann has described the government as “gangster.” In June of 2009, Bachman took to the floor of the House and declared, “We have gangster government when the federal government has set up a new cartel and private businesses now have to go begging with their hand out to their local — hopefully well-politically connected — congressman or their senator so they can buy a peace offering for that local business.” In May of 2009, Bachmann compared Washington, D.C. to “enemy lines” and urged her supporters to become “armed and dangerous” and fight a “revolution” against cap and trade legislation.
Clinton: If Obama Offers Peace Plan, ?I Will Support It?
Discussing the Middle East peace process on ABC’s This Week, host Jake Tapper asked former President Bill Clinton whether he thought it was “time for President Obama to put a peace plan on the table,” as has been reported the administration is considering. Clinton responded that, while he was “reluctant to give him public advice,” […]
Discussing the Middle East peace process on ABC’s This Week, host Jake Tapper asked former President Bill Clinton whether he thought it was “time for President Obama to put a peace plan on the table,” as has been reported the administration is considering. Clinton responded that, while he was “reluctant to give him public advice,” if President Obama “decides to do it I will support it”:
CLINTON: Let me answer you this way, because I don’t want to do anything to foreclose their options. The argument against doing that is that the current Israeli government, with its current coalition, would almost certainly reject it. And the argument is that this makes us look weak. But I think they [the Israelis] may decide it’s more important to have clarity. And to do something that may be an action-forcing event that would bring them back to the table, if he [President Obama] decides to do it I will support it. And I think that if he decides to do it he should acknowledge that they may come up with a deal that’s slightly different from the one he proposes. But we need to do something to deprive both sides of any excuse not to engage in serious negotiations.
Watch it:
President Clinton also described how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in addition to driving extremism in the Middle East, tends to crowd out other, more positive developments in the region. “Half of the energy coming out of all this organization and money-raising for terror comes out of the allegations around the unresolved Palestinian issue,” Clinton said. “If there were a Palestinian state working in partnership with the policies Mr. [Salaam] Fayyad is following in the West Bank, it would be a whole different world”:
CLINTON: All the Arabs would identify with Israel, they’d have a political and economic partnership, the whole economic basis of the Middle East would shift from oil to ideas. Look at what the Saudi Arabians are doing, they’re building six new towns. The UAE wins the international competition for the clean energy agency, and they’re gonna build a carbon-neutral city. In the UAE. And nobody thinks about this — Dubai is the only country with huge amounts of imported workers that’s actually passed legislation to give these immigrant workers a better deal in the Middle East, they have women in the government, they have a joint public-private decision making process — nobody knows anything about. Why? Because of the Palestinian-Israeli thing.
How could the Syrians stay out there alone, cooperating with the Iranians and letting Hezbollah people travel through Syria, and doing all the things they do? If there were a peace for the Palestinians, they would have to come along with the rest of the Arab states, and there would be a peace between Israel and Syria. This is a huge deal. So the fact that the president is putting new energy into this and taking personal responsibility for it, and trying to get them back to the table, that’s the most important thing.
