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May 25, 2013
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 Meet Michele BachmannPosted on Jun 21, 2011
What is the most frequent question I’ve been asked recently?
What is it with Michele Bachmann’s 23 foster children?
Well, calling her congressional and campaign offices, I didn’t get very far. They don’t talk about it and say they really don’t know anything about it. Not surprising on a couple of counts: It is pretty personal business, and Rep. Bachmann is a very demanding boss who has had six changes at chief of staff in just the last four years.
The questions are a compliment to the congresswoman from Minnesota as they are being asked only because she did so well in the first Republican presidential debate last week. There were none of the gaffes that made her famous, like the Founding Fathers devoting their lives to ending slavery when actually many of them, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were slave owners.
In the debate against her male opponents, however, she stood out because she seemed to be the one most comfortable in her own skin. This is a big thing when you’re running against folks like Mitt Romney who shed their skins like rattlesnakes. Bachmann was candid, she laughed and all in all came across as the one you’d like to spend a weekend with if she didn’t talk so much and tend toward saying stupid things. Also, of course, she is one good-looking 55-year-old woman, especially considering all those foster children and five (home-schooled) of her own.
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The best information I could get about the foster children was from the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The state has an active and aggressive temporary out-of-home care for children program, serving more than 7,000 kids, troubled in one way or another, in foster homes. The idea is to get them in and out as quickly as possible and back to their own families, many of which are also troubled. The goal of the program is described by the agency:
"Foster parents come from all walks of life. They may be single or married, with or without children, renters or homeowners. What they share is a concern for children and a commitment to helping them through tough times. They provide critical care and nurturing to children in crisis."
Marcus and Michele Bachmann were licensed as foster parents to serve as many as three children at a time from August of 1992 to February of 2000. The children, all girls, I am told, stayed in the Bachmann house for anywhere from a week to as long as three years. Foster parents are paid between $20.69 to $96.13 per day, depending on the age and special problems of a child, according to a ranking official with the department.
All of this is only part of a portrait of a truly intriguing person who burst on the national scene with all the speed and surprise of Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann, in fact, seems a more complicated person than Palin. She is prone to the same kind of gaffes as the former Alaska governor, least of all because she has a better grasp, slippery but better, of national issues than Palin.
She also has a few skeletons in her closet, which will soon be dancing across your television screens. She is not only homophobic, but says gays are the children of Satan. A couple of the people who have financed her political career have run into problems with the law—Ponzi schemes and fake veterans’ organizations have helped her along the way.
Still, Bachmann has proved to be a durable politician, even if some of her views seem wacky, and we are going to hear a lot more from her. Some of it will be accurate.
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By RF Schatten, June 26, 2011 at 7:38 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
In a Remark: By Bill, June 22 at 6:11 am
Report thisThe comment of how much Michele Bachmann gets for a Foster Child.
The Salary for a Foster Parent by Minnesota Department of Human in “Stillwater”, Minnesota is: $70,000 per/yr…for one child!!!...add the other 22 children, and this women, has her own Foster Business!!! all paid for by the State, and You!!!!!! The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time; the last child arrived in 1998…how she managed 20 more, with license for 3? I guess it’s who you know!! The Bachmann home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. She also owns a Dairy Farm, for which she has gotten over $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006. No wonder! “Politico” calls her the “Welfare Queen”!! All from an Anti-Socialist, who opposes the Welfare System in this country (as long as it’s not her…naturally. God told her to do all this).
By reynolds, June 25, 2011 at 10:00 pm Link to this comment
meat michelle bachman
Report thisBy berniem, June 25, 2011 at 5:45 pm Link to this comment
Just a thought; I wonder if any follow-ups of the 23 foster kids were ever done? It would be interesting to learn how they turned out.
Report thisBy DHFabian, June 25, 2011 at 2:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
People in general are surprisingly misinformed. No, there is no “big money” in foster care. The money provided is for the child’s basic needs. If a foster child is poorly dressed and hungry, the odds are very good that someone - a teacher, neighbor, etc. - will report the home to the foster care agency. Purple wolf, by “white trash,” I assume you mean poor fellow Americans. To qualify as a foster parent, you have to meet numerous conditions, including income requirements. Your post reminds me of those written by people who claimed to know welfare recipients who received piles of money and “lived the good life.” That simply didn’t happen. Except for a brief time in the 1970s, welfare benefits remained far below the poverty line. When we still had welfare, it was almost impossible to receive benefits while also having a good-paying job (one of the favorite rumors at the time - by those who claimed to know people who did just that). When you apply for a job, you are required to provide information on the application form that is, indeed, verified before you are hired. Info is checked with Social Security, etc. If caught having unreported income, the best case scenario is that you would have to pay back every penny received in benefits. Prison time was also likely.
What mystifies me about Bachmann having so many foster children is that while she could financially provide, who actually raised the children while Bachmann was pursuing a political/publicity campaign? How often did she even see those children, teaching them, guiding them, being there for them, the way foster parents need to do?
Report thisBy prisnersdilema, June 25, 2011 at 11:05 am Link to this comment
Beautiful, but dumb, the perfect date. Except she’s a Christian and probably repressed
Report thisas hell. Sex is for procreation only, no doubt that is the origin of her beef with gays.
Hence her views of Gays being Satan’s children are sure to be based on reaction
formation. Probably never let herself feel attracted to another woman, but rather ran to a
minister at the first deep breath. Thats where her husband comes in, who better to hold
onto the keys of heaven, than a Christian counselor. You can bet that those foster kids
heard enough about baby Jesus to last a few lifetimes. Saving yourself, through saving
others, can become a thankless job, especially without a little release now and again.
Doing the impossible is much easier when your unconscious.
By Paul J. Theis, June 25, 2011 at 3:08 am Link to this comment
There is something very disturbing about the fact that she is so “comfortable in her own skin” despite her many mis-statements and untruths. In fact, isn’t that the most interesting thing about her?
Report thisBy JDmysticDJ, June 25, 2011 at 12:37 am Link to this comment
“It doesn’t speak well for a nation when the candidate with the testosterone and backbone representing either political party is a girl.”
I think it would be more correct to say was a girl.
Side effects of testosterone therapy for women:
Increased acne and facial hair.
Mood Changes.
Voice alteration.
Enlarged Clitoris.
The above quotation is unforgivably sexist, but hey! Have you checked out the former international gymnastic champion hottie who is in the Russian Parliament? There’s a nice picture of her half naked, wrapped in a tiger striped blanket. Canada, France, Italy, Argentina all have their hotties.
I feel a little sorry for Sarah, it looks like she’ll be runner- up in the Republican beauty pageant; maybe she’ll win Ms. Congeniality.
There’s a list of the ten sexiest female politicians in the world, it includes Sarah and Hillary Clinton, so maybe that will be some consolation for Sarah. It’s an interesting list; eight of the ten actually do qualify as being hotties.
All this sexism in politics is really disgusting, sex appeal has no business in American politics; what’s important is patriotism. I think Michelle Bachmann should be investigated by the media to see if she’s pro-American or anti-American…er…wait…that rings a bell…oh yeah… Michelle wanted the media to investigate the Congress to see if Congress people were pro-American or anti-American.
Report thisBy magus12, June 24, 2011 at 7:40 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Lew Ciefer
Haven’t we had just about enough of testosterone the last…geez, I don’t know, at least 10 years? When oh when do we move from the crotch and go north towards, say, neurotransmitters? Geez, Louise.
Report thisBy magus12, June 24, 2011 at 7:34 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
ardee
I think you nailed it. Who in their right mind would take on the same troubles Obama took on, only worse because we’re in more war zones and the other show of “too big to fail” has yet to drop? Not enough money in the Stimulus bill and all the money from TARP going directly into the pockets of the thieves who caused the worldwide financial collapse. So…wonder if it will get better or worse come 2014-2015 when the power mad are making up their minds whether what the zeitgeist then is just another poisoned chalice.
Report thisBy Tobysgirl, June 24, 2011 at 6:11 am Link to this comment
Not thinking (if you want to call it that) like a man, I think this woman is horrifying looking. Her nastiness is plain to see in her face, just as Ronald Reagan’s was. But I guess there’s lots of guys out there looking for a dominatrix!
Report thisBy THX 1133 is not in the movie..., June 24, 2011 at 12:59 am Link to this comment
thethirdman, June 22 at 12:27 pm
Report thisI hope she wins. We need someone to push this hunker
off the cliff so that we
can start from scratch again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You make a point; but just maintaining the present
course will get the same result, plus or minus, an
insignificant difference in time span.
Quoting TAO Walker; “America is so over…”
By berniem, June 23, 2011 at 4:34 pm Link to this comment
Just got the latest copy of Rolling Stone featuring a lengthy article by Matt Taibbi about Bachmann. He makes a very cogent point that we laugh at her at our own peril. The woman may not be certifiably mad but is surely pathologically dogmatic and a fanatic ideologue. The scariest part of all this is that there is a sizeable portion of the voting public that is every bit as off kilter as she. Don’t forget the lunacy that was the ‘10 election!
Report thisBy TDoff, June 23, 2011 at 1:16 pm Link to this comment
We can hope that as historians write of this period in US politics, Michele is given her due, and acknowledged for being the source of the bat shit popularized in the term most often applied to her, ‘BatShit-Crazy’.
Report thisBy THX 1133 is not in the movie..., June 22, 2011 at 9:00 pm Link to this comment
The woman is bat shit crazy! EOM.
Report thisBy Blackspeare, June 22, 2011 at 6:14 pm Link to this comment
Get a grip people, Bachman is running for VP.
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, June 22, 2011 at 5:10 pm Link to this comment
Shes a looker, too bad she has to open her mouth and ruin it for me.
Report thisBy anaman51, June 22, 2011 at 4:58 pm Link to this comment
If you hold a conch shell to your ear, you can hear the wind blowing through Michele Bachmann’s head. She’s just exactly smart enough to be dangerous. As such, I happily welcome her into the growing cluster of equally dangerous greed-mongers currently vying for the Republican Presidential nomination.
The only worse offering I can think of at the moment is the Governor of Utah. I have lived in Salt Lake, and in Idaho, a heavily Mormon-influenced area, and I can tell you without equivocation that you do not want this representative of narrow-mindedness and the Mormon church’s anti-everything mentality running your life.
Report thisBy reynolds, June 22, 2011 at 3:37 pm Link to this comment
she’s the american type, more confident than able, a
Report thisbit of a whack job.
By purplewolf, June 22, 2011 at 2:41 pm Link to this comment
Frankenchrist: Yes, all repukelicans are as stupid or worse than Michelle.
No Michelle, gay people are not the children of Satan, they were born of heterosexual parents. Anyone who claims this of gay people proves they are unfit to be a foster parent. You never know what preference the children you foster are beforehand.
Foster care pays big bucks. I know of some families who have lots of foster children. The state has built them huge, expensive and beautiful homes on acreage,Olympic size pool, patio, outdoor furniture, paid for clothing, food, medical,toys,activities and even transportation and other running expenses on top of the wage per child per day. This was probably a big part of why this fruitcake of a person fostered so many children. But how much time did she actually spend with these children ? Some were there a week. Almost as much time as Sarah Palin has spent with Trigg, her Downs Syndrome child she claims she had.If Palin thought about it, she too will jump on the foster care children for pay. Such grifters these women are.
Most foster parents spend almost 24/7 with their foster children. Michelle Bachmann’s career certainly must take a lot of her time away from these children, so in the eyes of Social Services,another agency she wants to destroy, she is being negligent to their needs as she is not there much of the time. Take away the money for all of these foster kids and let’s see how long she continues to have foster kids without the
incentives.
As long as these rotten politicians can milk the system for their own corporate welfare it is okay, but when it comes to those who really need the help, they throw us to the dogs.
Report thisBy clearwaters, June 22, 2011 at 2:33 pm Link to this comment
thethirdman & Big B:
Report thisThe tears are a given, so thanks for the laughs.
By TDoff, June 22, 2011 at 2:20 pm Link to this comment
Jeez, Richard Reeves, I would have thought the most frequent question you were asked is ‘WTF are you doing wasting time thinking and writing about Michele Bachmann?’
Why not cogitate and philosophize on Mike Luckovich’s political concept that the sure way to reduce the size of government would be to elect Newt president, so everyone in the government would quit?
Report thisBy Big B, June 22, 2011 at 1:25 pm Link to this comment
Here in PA the foster care system pays by the child as well. That’s why the homes these wayward children are sent too are often worse from wence they came. It’s a good way for industrious white trash to cash in on the system, without actually working.
But I digress. thethirdman hit this one out of the park. Since the true Prez Barry raised his ugly neo-liberal head, I have been saying that the only way to elicit real change in america is to bring it to it’s knees as quickly as possible. Four more years of Barry might do it, but four years of Bachman, or Perry would steer this wounded hulk right into the fucking iceberg. And maybe we would see a newer and better america emerge from the ashes.
Our demise is a forgone conclusion. Our only choice now is do we want our head chopped off, or death by a thousand cuts. I say warm up the chainsaw. Vote for this crazy bitch!
Report thisBy thethirdman, June 22, 2011 at 12:27 pm Link to this comment
I hope she wins. We need someone to push this hunker off the cliff so that we
can start from scratch again. For all of those who deride the GOP (and everyone
should) their lunacy is the key to our salvation. The last thing we need right
now is a wily fork-tongued scoundrel who keeps our current power structure
alive and well.
You want to end subsidies? Do it.
You want to destroy the FED? Do it.
You want to default on our national debt?
You want to destroy our shitty school system and teach 2000 year old
mythology?
Let the corporations have their way.
Further our division among classes, races, sexualities.
Do it all Michelle. Bring this shit show down. I don’t know what all of your
Report thisknee-jerk Republican bashers are railing against. You act as if “your” side is
the protector of virtue and enlightenment.
By Lew Ciefer, June 22, 2011 at 11:11 am Link to this comment
It doesn’t speak well for a nation when the candidate with the testosterone and backbone representing either political party is a girl.
Report thisBy DHFabian, June 22, 2011 at 10:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The best way to understand Michelle Bachmann is to Google a compilation of her quotes. Based on her own words, her mental competence must be called into question. I don’t say this simply because i disagree with her political ideas, but because her own words show her to be someone who has only the most tenuous hold on reality.
Report thisBy JackAttack, June 22, 2011 at 7:54 am Link to this comment
“Some of it will be accurate.” As my
mother used to say: “Even a blind
pig finds an acorn once in a while.”
That Richard Reeves, whom I
consider one of our last remaining
erudite public intellectuals, would
lend a modicum of credence to this
nutjob by writing about her in a
semiserious manner gives me great
pause, if not panic. But Mr. Reeves
knows the lay of the land as well as
anyone and I guess you have to
evaluate what’s put before you on
the political landscape. And that
landscape right now is littered with
so much disinformation and voodoo
economics any charlatan (especially
“one good looking 55 year old
woman”) can gain traction and
accelerate the debasement of our
political discourse.
There. Now I too have contributed to the legitimization of vacuous political discourse. Time to go wash up.
Report thisBy Bill, June 22, 2011 at 6:11 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I guess wanting to dismantle and do away with the EPA among other things, makes you an interesting person and a front weather.
And the foster kid think at the minimum of $20 per day equates to a tidy $167,900. per year. That nicely supplements her $250,000. per year ag welfare check.
And with her 24/7 political career trying to dismantle governance on the way to the right wing theocracy, I am sure she devotes tons of time shaping the lives of the foster kids and her own children.
Yeah a very intriguing front runner indeed.
This is a real bs puff piece.
Report thisBy Billy Pilgrim, June 22, 2011 at 5:43 am Link to this comment
If the economy continues to tank, and the Republicans
Report thisnominate a “moderate” candidate like Romney, Pawlenty,
or Huntsman, there will be enormous pressure to pick an
extreme, right wing Tea Party running mate. Bachman
would be an ideal pick. And if the Republicans win,
she would be in position to become President in 2020.
I’ll be 65 that year; time to start looking for ex-pat
retirement communities before I’m priced out of the
market.
By PRGP, June 22, 2011 at 5:33 am Link to this comment
How sad for America that a major political party has no one to run for president. From the jackass that is Sarah Palin to the eye-candy idiocy of Michelle Bachmann; from the empty suit pandering and religious delusion of Mitt Romney to the lying ignorance of Pawlenty and Gingrich, the repukes illustrate the paucity of integrity and true patriotism required of real leaders.
Report thisBy surfnow, June 22, 2011 at 4:43 am Link to this comment
She is completely ignorant of American history; and she knows nothing about basic economics and tax structures. She believes that basic safety nets such as social security and Medicare are evil socialism, and that public schools should be abolished. And yet spending trillions on defense and the all important War on Terror are the only priorities. She would even be more of a disaster than another Obama Administration- and that will be bad enough.
Report thisBy vote, June 21, 2011 at 11:08 pm Link to this comment
I don’t hate her or think she is part of a vast conspiracy. I don’t think she is stupid and I don’t care if she has misspoken or even been wrong about things that really have no consequences regarding todays world. I also disagree with most of her positions on issues and hope she doesn’t get elected president.
Report thisBy SteveL, June 21, 2011 at 8:42 pm Link to this comment
They say it took a damn good doctor to figure out when the Gipper got his Alzheimer’s. It will take even a better one to figure out when Bachmann gets dementia.
Report thisBy ribbie149, June 21, 2011 at 5:20 pm Link to this comment
That Bachmann could be seriously considered a viable
Report thisRepublican’t candidate for president is just an
indication of how bereft the Grand Oil Party is of
leadership. Newt Gingrich? Really….
By ardee, June 21, 2011 at 4:44 pm Link to this comment
The real GOP candidates of substance are most likely to sit back and wait for 2016.
Report thisBy FRANKENCHRIST, June 21, 2011 at 4:10 pm Link to this comment
Typical right-wing Christofascist brownshirt teabagger. She doesn’t believe in
evolution and want creationism taught to our children…like we are some theocratic
12th century nation of savages ruled by imams and mullahs. Are all Republicans as
stupid as her?
She doesn’t have a hope in hell of getting the nomination, either. I guess this is
Report thisjust some huge ego trip for her.