On the Scott Hennen show last night, Michele Bachmann seemed to indicate she wasn’t too upset about another Republican’s off-note comment about her having “sex appeal.”
Hennen: Vin Weber, a fellow Minnesotan said the other day that you were going to be hard to beat in Iowa period. And said you have hometown appeal, ideological appeal, and I hate to say it but a little sex appeal. Did that offend you?
Bachmann: Well listen I’m 55 years old, I’ve given birth to five kids and I’ve raised 23 foster kids so that sounds like good news to me!
Hennen: (laughs) I didn’t think was that offensive either, sometimes I think we get little too sensitive. Do you think the people on the Pawlenty side are a little worried about you right now?
Bachmann: I have no idea, but I will tell you this, I’ve been all over the states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and everywhere I go across the states, people are thrilled with the message that we are giving because they are saying Michelle you get it, you understand us, you understand that we need jobs, you understand how to turn the economy around as a former federal tax lawyer. Keep saying it, we’re with you. We’re behind you all the way. We’ve got tremendous momentum. I’m just thrilled when I go into all of these towns. Like for instance, we were in Le Mars, Iowa at Blue Bunny Ice Cream. That was a small, little business started by a family. Now they have over a billion dollars in sales, a tremendous ice cream company. We want more Blue Bunny Ice Creams all over the United States. We want more of these family industries to be able to be successful. Thats what I want to do. I want more of what works.
IMO, this is an telling little microcom of why Bachmann has surged and Pawlenty is still stuck at the gate. It shows a significant difference in political talent.
Pawlenty/his team rushed to apologize like a bunch of hypersensitive poll-driven beta males. What he should have done was come out with a gentle, funny statement. "I think the world can see that Mr. Bachmann has done well for himself. And I think as the American people get to know my lovely, brilliant wife, they will feel the same way." That would have been alpha without seeming predatory, and awwwww, he said such a nice thing about his wife.
Mrs. Bachmann handled it exactly as you would expect a pretty woman to handle it, with the same grace and humor that she has probably been handling it since she was a cheerleader.
To me, this episode coupled with his inability to find a velvet-fist way to hit Romney at the debate without seeming mean-spirited suggests a general lack of political imagination, which isn't surprising on such an overprogrammed campaign.
Good for her. I think Bachmann is smart, tough and experienced. I also think she's cute. Anyone who thinks a man does not or should not notice a woman's attractiveness is either from another planet or has taken too many women's studies courses at Harvard.
I think it's sad that so many conservatives jumped on Weber, repeating the same tired baloney we have heard from uptight liberals for 40 years about sexism. We'll be sure sexism is dead when the attractiveness of a woman candidate for president can be noted in the same way that JFK's classic good looks or Bill Clinton's bad boy sex appeal or, yes, Obama's appeal to women have been talked about casually.
I was looking at Andrew Sullivan's website, usually I don't put much stock in what he has to say, but he may have something that could potentially be damaging to Bachmann. External Link
Her husband may be into "treating" gays with what people call reparative therapy (sometimes called conversion therapy or ex-gay therapy) in an attempt to make them not gay, a treatment that the American Psychological Association repudiated by a vote of 125 to 4 and which has basically been rejected by every major three letter medical organization in America as a quack treatment that is not just ineffective but potentially psychologically harmful to the patients involved and can make them suicidal. He denies that he is using reparative therapy, but some of the evidence seems to say otherwise. If this is the case then her husband is a quack as far as I'm concerned, and she needs to clarify her stance on these matters.There are times when the establishment has it wrong, but on this one I think they are right, as hard as that might be for some of us to admit. We are not going to win a majority of the votes in 2012 if we are running the candidate of psudo-medicine.
IMO, this is an telling little microcom of why Bachmann has surged and Pawlenty is still stuck at the gate. It shows a significant difference in political talent.
Pawlenty/his team rushed to apologize like a bunch of hypersensitive poll-driven beta males. What he should have done was come out with a gentle, funny statement. "I think the world can see that Mr. Bachmann has done well for himself. And I think as the American people get to know my lovely, brilliant wife, they will feel the same way." That would have been alpha without seeming predatory, and awwwww, he said such a nice thing about his wife.
Mrs. Bachmann handled it exactly as you would expect a pretty woman to handle it, with the same grace and humor that she has probably been handling it since she was a cheerleader.
To me, this episode coupled with his inability to find a velvet-fist way to hit Romney at the debate without seeming mean-spirited suggests a general lack of political imagination, which isn't surprising on such an overprogrammed campaign.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood for her. I think Bachmann is smart, tough and experienced. I also think she's cute. Anyone who thinks a man does not or should not notice a woman's attractiveness is either from another planet or has taken too many women's studies courses at Harvard.
I think it's sad that so many conservatives jumped on Weber, repeating the same tired baloney we have heard from uptight liberals for 40 years about sexism. We'll be sure sexism is dead when the attractiveness of a woman candidate for president can be noted in the same way that JFK's classic good looks or Bill Clinton's bad boy sex appeal or, yes, Obama's appeal to women have been talked about casually.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSpot on.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI was looking at Andrew Sullivan's website, usually I don't put much stock in what he has to say, but he may have something that could potentially be damaging to Bachmann. External Link
Her husband may be into "treating" gays with what people call reparative therapy (sometimes called conversion therapy or ex-gay therapy) in an attempt to make them not gay, a treatment that the American Psychological Association repudiated by a vote of 125 to 4 and which has basically been rejected by every major three letter medical organization in America as a quack treatment that is not just ineffective but potentially psychologically harmful to the patients involved and can make them suicidal. He denies that he is using reparative therapy, but some of the evidence seems to say otherwise. If this is the case then her husband is a quack as far as I'm concerned, and she needs to clarify her stance on these matters.There are times when the establishment has it wrong, but on this one I think they are right, as hard as that might be for some of us to admit. We are not going to win a majority of the votes in 2012 if we are running the candidate of psudo-medicine.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse