A  real   foolish  politician

 Michelle Bachmann is an American Replubican member of the United States House of Represnetatives representing Missesota's 6th Congressional District,  a post she has held since 2007. She has been extremely active in legislation both in her state and in the US Congress that has been passed and not passed and it would appear that she is a very intelligent woman. But alas, even intelligent people make foolish statements and Michelle Bachmann is not the exception.

I had an opportunity to read Frank Bruni’s blog recently in which he wrote about Michelle Bachmann in the New York Times. I have used the information he wrote about this politician along with other sources as the basis for my own article on this woman.   

 According to Blum, Bachmann presents herself as a godly woman, humbly devoted to her Christian faith. Bachmann was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the congregation for over two years. More recently however,, according to her friends, the Bachmanns began attending Eagle Brook Church, an Evendelical church  closer to their home.

 Bachmann is an evangelical, and has spoken rhapsodically about the experience of being born again. She has been quoted as saying, “I absolutely understood sin, and I wanted no part of it.” Then she plunged into politics where sin can be found everywhere in those professions.

Bachmann’s concept of Christian love brims with hate, and she has a deep satchel of stones to throw as a means of expressing her hatred of others. For example, she has said that gay men and lesbians are dysfunctional products of abuse and agents of “sexual anarchy,” and when the singer and songwriter Melissa Etheridge was battling breast cancer years ago, Bachmann helpfully chimed in, “This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.”

Who was her messiah that taught her that? Surely it wasn’t Jesus Christ. He forgave the sinner and dared any of the stone throwers who believed that they were without sin to throw the first stone. Is Bachmann in the forefront of a war against homosexuality and wages her battles with use of inappropriate language and publicly presents her illogical conclusions she arrives at?

Why would this woman expect anyone to accept her descriptions of herself as being a religious follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ and to add insult to injury, have us believe that she is a deeply religious woman?  She is putting too much credence to her particular, peculiar and highly selective definition of piety. Her drivel about homosexuality offends the many admirable people of faith whose understanding and practice of religion aren’t like hers which is confrontational and small-minded.

I think many people place her in the ‘religious right,’ that links her with others of her kind who believe in a certain set of religious beliefs based on condemnation of others and do so with profound  devotion in their beliefs.

They loudly condemn gay marriages despite the fact that both the Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism in the United Sates have recognized gay marriages and embraced it. Further, the Episcopal Church in the United States has developed a special blessing for gay couples. Leaders of these two denominations would tell you not that they’re flouting Judeo-Christian tradition but that they’re doing full justice to their faiths, which obviously hinges on more than reflexive fidelity to chosen passages from ancient writings. Their approval hinges on the fact that human beliefs have been changing in this era and that the love of one person with another, even when that love is between same-sex couples notwithstanding of ancient religious teachings, is the pinnacle of human relationships. Bachmann is simply not with it. She would prefer to cast the first stone at anyone who doesn’t share her own twisted beliefs.

In any democracy, and one in particular such as the United States that protects religious freedom, it’s risky defining who are the real Christians in society—particularly when religion is being politicized. Michele Bachmann’s views of same-sex marriages is totally wrong, and not because she has a different view of Christianity than fair-minded religious people. She's wrong because she’s exploiting her particular conservative and literalist version of religion to undermine democratic principles and upend the constitutionally-mandated separation of church and state.

Cory Booker, the Newark mayor, has made a study of the Bible, as well as other sacred texts, and given considerable thought to faith.On his Facebook page a few months ago, he mused thusly,

“Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people. Before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all His children.”

I am afraid Bachman would have difficulty in showing him or anyone else for that matter as to how she lovingly treats people and therefore loves all God’s children. 

There is nothing more that will garner the public’s interest in a politician then the comments the politician makes when publicly talking about a government conspiracy. She has drawn attention in the letter that she and four other Republican lawmakers sent to the federal intelligence and security agencies. In the latter, these boobs expressed fears that the Muslim Brotherhood might be infiltrating the government.  They mentioned that Huma Abedin who is an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as being a mole for the Muslim Brotherhood because she was born of Muslim parents.

Was her accusation that done solely for the purpose of getting more votes for her next election? Does trying to get votes call for smearing people on the basis of flimsy conspiracy theories? That’s what Bachmann recently did to Huma Abedin.

Huma Mahmood Abedin was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1976 and she is the American deputy chief of staff and aide to US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the Arab world's most influential and one of the largest Islamic movements, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and Sunnah  as the sole reference point for ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community and state.

Clinton said in a speech, "I only have one daughter. But if I had a second daughter, it would be Huma.” Others have given their support also to this woman. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) vigorously defended Huma Abedin, who is Muslim-American, against allegations by Bachmann. He said in a speech on the Senate floor, “These allegations about Huma and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant.”

How could anyone with a sound mind believe that a young American woman who began her political career as an aide in the White House and then rose to the heights of being a top official in the American State Department possibly be a spy for the Muslim Brotherhood?

The accusations stem from a report by the Center for Security Policy. The organization is run by Frank Gaffney,  who has been crusading against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia law for years.

McCain said in part; “The letter alleges that three members of Huma’s family are connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations. Never mind that one of those individuals, Huma’s father, passed away two decades ago. The letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government. These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit.” unquote

Bachmann’s allegations, and the apparent split among some in the Republican leadership over whether to denounce them, underscore a return in recent years to scapegoating “outsiders,” according to the Jewish leaders who slammed Bachmann for launching what they called a “witch hunt.”

When you think about it, making an accusation like Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann did about Clinton’s aide being a mole for the Muslim Brotherhood is about as dumb as calling a newborn American citizen whose grandparents emigrated from Germany—a Nazi sympathizer.  

This stupid woman actually endorses scaring young  women away from immunizations that could spare them their children serious illness? Bachmann did that during her memorable presidential campaign, when she blithely drew an unsubstantiated link  between a vaccine for the human papillomavirus and mental retardation. I am sure that I don’t have to convince my readers the importance of immunization against disease.

This woman also gratuitously made divisive condemnations of Barack Obama as being “anti-American,” one of many incendiary phrases in her attacks against him in 2008. She has drawn attention for the letter that she and four other Republican lawmakers sent to federal intelligence and security agencies. It expressed fears that the Muslim Brotherhood might be infiltrating the government, and that is when they included Huma Abedin’s name in the letter.

Bachmann took heat on Capitol Hill from Republican leaders for alleging the State Department is infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic organization active in the Arab world.

Bachmann's letters to fellow members of Congress cited a third-party report claiming that Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff at the State Department has ties to Muslim Brotherhood.

Senator John McCain of Arizona and House Speaker John Boehner both denounced the allegations and defended Abedin's loyalty to the U.S.

Schultz said that Bachmann's Democratic opponent, hotel developer Jim Graves, will likely use the controversies against Bachmann on the campaign trail. And Graves already wrote an op-ed piece in the Huffington Post calling out Bachmann for her latest flap.

Most decent people are able to distinguish, rightly, between Muslim extremists and other followers of Islam. Perhaps we should start noting the difference between Christians of real compassion and those who are fundamentalists who are so willing to condemn those who don’t share their beliefs. .

If Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann thinks that she is on to something that is harmful to the reputation of the United States by accusing others of wrongdoings, she can find such a person in her own office. She need only look in her mirror and ask this rhetorical question—“Who is the worst of them all?” The glass in the mirror will immediately crack and then the splinters of glass will fall to the floor without the mirror having said a word in reply.