Bachmann Attack: The Left Fishing for "Dirt"

I truly do hope that Republican GOP candidate Michele Bachmann has a spine of titanium, because now the attack dogs of the MSM and radical left are on the hunt for "dirt" on everything Bachmann.  Let's not forget how viciously Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were savaged in the press during the 2008 election, evidence of how sexist our nation remains ... or, at least the press and the Left.  ("Tolerance" my ass!)

Last night I was disgusted to read this bit of tripe on MSNBC.com (the "Lean Left" network):

Bachmann's husband got $137,000 in Medicaid funds

While Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., has forcefully denounced the Medicaid program for swelling the "welfare rolls," the mental health clinic run by her husband has been collecting annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000 for the treatment of patients since 2005, according to new figures obtained by NBC News.

The previously unreported payments are on top of the $24,000 in federal and state funds that Bachmann & Associates, the clinic founded by Marcus Bachmann, a clinical therapist, received in recent years under a state grant to train its employees, state records show. The figures were provided to NBC News in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The clinic, based in Lake Elmo, Minn., describes itself on its website as offering "quality Christian counseling" for a large number of mental health problems ranging from "anger management" to addictions and eating disorders.

The $161,000 in payments from the Minnesota Department of Human Services to her husband's clinic appear to contradict some of Michelle Bachmann's public accounts this week when she was first asked about the extent to which her family has benefited from government aid. Contacted this afternoon, Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for Bachmann, said the congresswoman was doing campaign events and was not immediately available for comment.

MSNBC's "national investigative reporter" Michael Isikoff then delves into a trail of Medicaid payments to the Bachmanns' clinic and questions whether the payments for employee training went to the clinic or to its employees.  But, here are some points that pop up:

1)  Never is there an accusation of wrongdoing in applying for or in the receipt of the money -- no  corruption stories;

2)  Do the math: the "money trail" involved $137,000 paid out over six years is less than $23,000 a year -- which seems like a pittance.

Helloooo?!?  Why is this a story, folks?  It's a feeble attempt to sully Bachmann's name at a time when she's barely out of the gate in her shot at the presidency.  The MSM is frantically attacking every single GOP candidate with anything and everything in a fear-driven frenetic attempt to protect The Golden Child and assure The One's re-election.

Meanwhile, the media are churning out stories to make Bachmann look like "a flake" with her gaffes, completely overlooking and censuring any reports of Dear Leader's, because he must be protected at all costs.  This from Jason Mattera of Human Events (emphasis added):

Michele Bachmann said Duke was born in Waterloo instead of Winterset.  So what?

Barack Obama once said he would campaign in all 57 states, which, on a sliding scale of silly to serious gaffes, has to rank up there in the latter category ...

While the media are trying to paint Rep. Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.) as a blunder-prone candidate—or “flake,” as Chris Wallace unjustifiably called her on “Fox News Sunday”—Barack Obama and many of his Democrat colleagues have played “Can You Top This?” with their own misstatements and slipups, and yet they do not receive even a scintilla of the scrutiny that Bachmann does. 

Within the last three years, the media’s self-appointed smartest President in modern history has insulted the Special Olympics, mixed up the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, falsely claimed that his American Uncle liberated Auschwitz, signed the Westminster Abbey guest book with the date 24 May 2008 when the date was really 24 May 2011, mispronounced “corpsman” when speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, and perhaps most egregiously, God’s gift to the presidency couldn’t even distinguish between living and dead Medal of Honor recipients.

And that’s just off the top of my head.

Gaffes hit us all.  But the frequency and folly of Obama’s are particularly troubling considering that he has an army of researchers, writers, handlers and teleprompters at his disposal.

That makes Obama’s gaffes a special kind of stupid.

Then there are the policy statements that are so far removed from reality.

When have you heard Michele Bachmann tout a “Recovery Summer” like Joe Biden did while the labor force shrinks and the economy limps along?  Or can you recall Bachmann blaming the persistent unemployment on modern technology, including those pesky ATM fees, as our genius President did?  When has Bachmann ever advocated codifying a new health-care law and then, and only then, finding out what was actually in that new health-care law, as Nancy Pelosi admitted to the press?

You haven’t.

Bachmann’s sin is that she has an “R” next to her name. ...

And here's where Mattera gets in a really good uppercut to the MSM's jaw:

Rather than promise to grill Michele Bachmann’s foster kids or highlight the number of times she used the word “Iowa” in a speech in … Iowa, journalists could turn their sharp pens and cantankerous voices to the growing number of businesses suspiciously exempted from ObamaCare, the expanding number of surveys reporting that employers are dropping coverage because of the President’s health-care law, and the Democrats’ inability to offer any proposals to reform our Medicare system.

Yesterday, Andrea Tantaros of FoxNews had some insightful comments regarding the lesson she imagines Bachmann has learned from observing Sarah Palin.  Here are some of the meatier points (emphasis added):

There is a saying that a fool learns from his own mistakes, but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. When it comes to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, there is no truer statement ...

Palin was the first female Republican candidate to be nominated to the GOP presidential ticket, and with that came much scrutiny ...

With Palin, the left-leaning press asked “gotcha” questions, unlikely to be asked of a man. The then-Alaska governor was asked everything from obscure foreign policy questions to simple, almost insulting ones like “what papers do you read?” And they were all crafted, by design to confuse her.

She was lambasted for her hairstyle (beehive), sexualized for her figure (when she posed for Runner’s World magazine), ridiculed for her diction and down home style (Newsweek: “She’s one of the folks – and that’s the problem”). 

Her marriage was dissected with reporters asking if Todd was too involved in her career, despite other marriages in politics like the Clintons union being viewed as acceptable.

...

While Democrats could ask the media to lay off their kids, the press viciously analyzed and editorialized hers ...

Tantaros then proceeds to list Bachmann's approach thus far to the ensuing press tsunami:

Judging from Bachmann’s performance over the last few months, she had the luxury of observing from the sidelines, and learning from her errors.

Bachmann has message discipline. She’ll throw out red meat to her base but subtly and smartly so as not to be labeled a nut. 

She is deeply entrenched in the issues of the day from foreign policy to the budget and boasts an impressive resume that she has no problem touting, unlike Palin, who relied on McCain advisors to assist in her branding ...


Rather than spar with those who buy ink by the barrel, a la Palin, Bachmann realizes that this can drag a candidate down and get them off track. 

Instead, Bachmann blows of their nonsense and inherently biased questions with ease and coolly coasts back on message. 

When "Fox News Sunday’s" Chris Wallace asked her if she was a "flake" she brushed it off and got back to highlighting her credentials. When she confused actor John Wayne with serial killer John Wayne Gasey (both from Iowa) in her official presidential announcement remarks she admitted she made a mistake and moved on rather than staying around to spar with the press.

Bachmann, it appears, acutely understands that she will be held to a different standard than the guys, just as Palin was. She demonstrated this during the first debate in New Hampshire. While the boys rolled their eyes and smirked at each other, she took shots at the president – not her GOP rivals – doing it all the while with a smile.

Lessons have been learned. She won’t give the press the fight that they want. She won’t let her gaffes (and all politicians make them) define her. And she will not resign from office to pursue her passions.

Go, Michele!!  Let's hope Bachmann can continue diverting the press back on track to the real issues, rather than allowing it to pull her down in the the muck of sexism and sexualization.  And, in the process, maybe she will help wake up this nation to the MSM's tawdry, manipulative and intolerant schemes.