Does ANYONE here want to defend Bachmann?

[Gina Marie]

Rep. Michele Bachmann Completely Baffles John Brennan With Classified Subject Questions During CIA Hearing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTGs60EDhW4

Representatives from the CIA, including newly-installed Director John Brennan, didn't quite know what to make of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) this week when they sat down to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee. Each topic she raised seemed to draw blank stares and more questions from the intelligence officials, who could not believe the congresswoman was broaching various classified subject in the open forum. First off, Bachmann brought up one of her favorite topics, the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in September 2012. She wanted to know about the White House's "armed drone strikes" in eastern Libya prior to those attacks last year.

"Armed drone strikes in Libya?" Brennan asked in seeming disbelief. "I am unknowing of such and would defer to the White House to address your question." When she pushed him on the issue, Brennan asserted that "the White House doesn't have a drone capability, responsibility" and said "I don't know what it is specifically you're referring to."

When she failed to get the answers she was looking for, Bachmann said, "well if we aren't going to talk about that, we aren't going to talk about that, but that's a question I'd like to know." She moved on, asking Brennan "what is our red line regarding the Iranian nuclear development program?""That clearly is a policy question," Brennan responded, explaining to Bachmann why he's not the right person to answer that question. From there, Bachmann went off on a tangent about the various times the United States and U.S. interests have been attacked over the last few decades, expressing her concern that an Iranian nuclear attack could also come as a surprise.

But the most bizarre moment came at the end of Bachmann's time when she asked about Iran's "heavy water reactor." The CIA men conferred amongst themselves for several seconds before politely informing Bachmann that it would be better to have that discussion in a "closed session."

It's not entirely clear whether Bachmann thought she would be able to extract classified information live on C-SPAN from Brennan and his CIA colleagues, or if she was just using her platform on the committee to air some of things on the international stage that have been 'bugging her'. Either way, it is most likely one of the strangest interactions between Congress and the CIA ever caught on camera.

You can't make this stuff up... the looks on Clapper and Brennans' faces are priceless!

[Katiebee]

Michelle is a poster child for incompetence in government.

She is the reason that the GOP is always railing about the dangers of Big Governemnt!

Uh, ummm.  Oh, she's a Republican.

Well, that just goes to show you, the Republicans KNOW FOR CERTAIN, that the people in government are incompetent.

[Janus]

She seemed to be asking questions as if she is a reporter. I might add that they were great questions. Unfortunately they should have been asked outside of public view.

[Lostforkate]

a combo of guts and foolishness

armed drones discussion needs to be brought to the surface, should be a war crime

[Katiebee]

I disagree. For God's sake the woman is on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. If she doesn't know the answer to those questions, or know who to ask for clarification, or which questions are on classified material, she shouldn't be on that committee. And she has been on that committee for several years.

This woman is stupid, incompetent, and careless.

I wouldn't put her in charge as a crossing guard at a school. If i had a child, I would not allow her to take care of the child.

Politifact rated her statements and only 27% of them are in the true, half-true, or mostly true rating. 78% are rate as untrue with 61% falling into false or pants on fire categories.

She isn't credible. She isn't an embarrassment, she is a disaster.

[Lostforkate]

Very well. It is one the most bizarre things I have ever witnessed. it would be tough even for perry mason to defend her.

[snowm]

So what, republicans have Bachmann, Democrats have Biden. The stupidity evens out in the end.

[Lois]

Actually Biden is a pretty smart guy.  He talks a lot though, and that provides more opportunity for mistakes when compared to others.

[Katiebee]

So what, republicans have Bachmann, Democrats have Biden. The stupidity evens out in the end.

Biden's score on Politifact:

True (includes True, Mostly True, and Half True) 68%

False (Includes mostly false, false, Pants on Fire) 34%

Mostly false 13%, Pants on Fire 5%.

Your statement is grossly incorrect. They do NOT cancel out. Biden is far more likely to make true statements than Bachmann. In fact his truth score is only 10 points lower than Bachmann's False statements.

There is no comparison. It's like comparing talc to oranges.

Don't become an apologist for gross incompetence and stupidity.

[snowm]

So what, republicans have Bachmann, Democrats have Biden. The stupidity evens out in the end.

Biden's score on Politifact:

True (includes True, Mostly True, and Half True) 68%

False (Includes mostly false, false, Pants on Fire) 34%

Mostly false 13%, Pants on Fire 5%.

Your statement is grossly incorrect. They do NOT cancel out. Biden is far more likely to make true statements than Bachmann. In fact his truth score is only 10 points lower than Bachmann's False statements.

There is no comparison. It's like comparing talc to oranges.

Don't become an apologist for gross incompetence and stupidity.

I do not just take into account politically centered comments documented on politifact as a sign of competence. Nor do I buy the, well he talks a lot so statistically he is bound to slip up more...does politifact have the gem of Biden telling the wheelchair bound guy to stand up and take a bow rated as pants on fire? No, seriously doubt that was included...

You people need to not get your panties in a wad every time someone breaths a hint that perhaps there are some democrats that say things just as dumb as some republicans.

[RopeFiend]

armed drones discussion needs to be brought to the surface, should be a war crime

Pray tell, why should armed drones be a 'war crime'?  Do they violate any of the Geneva Convention articles?  Getting hit with a miniature air-to-surface missile is probably a lot less painful than being gut-shot with a .50cal rifle.  In comparison, a mini-missile is significantly more humane than a landmine is.

I fail to see where you're coming from with that stance.  War is about forcing the other side to cry "Uncle!" as quickly as possible with minimal civilian casualties.  A tele-operated drone gives a very high probability that you're hitting a military target and not a school yard.  Precision munitions are expensive, but they're worth it.

Armed drones are a direct outcome of a single incident in the Middle East where a drone operator saw Osama Bin Laden.  Since the drone was purely surveillance, by the time he got approval to crash the damned thing into Osama's car, they'd disappeared elsewhere.  Not many months later they started arming the drones.

These are *not* solely robotic platforms, they're guided by camera from a remote ground station: something that looks like a tractor-trailer rig containing a bunch of workstations.  I helped work on a tiny part of that, Way Back When.  It's a good technology, and far cheaper than keeping a fleet of manned jets in the air.

edit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire



That's 4 Hellfire missiles on the two outer pods, dunno what the two inner pods are carrying.  This variant of the Hellfire is laser-guided: it follows a reflected laser spot on the target, which can be either from a ground-pounder with a laser designator or from the Predator.  They're VERY accurate, but only as good as the intel that says "friend or foe".

[Katiebee]

So what, republicans have Bachmann, Democrats have Biden. The stupidity evens out in the end.

Biden's score on Politifact:

True (includes True, Mostly True, and Half True) 68%

False (Includes mostly false, false, Pants on Fire) 34%

Mostly false 13%, Pants on Fire 5%.

Your statement is grossly incorrect. They do NOT cancel out. Biden is far more likely to make true statements than Bachmann. In fact his truth score is only 10 points lower than Bachmann's False statements.

There is no comparison. It's like comparing talc to oranges.

Don't become an apologist for gross incompetence and stupidity.

I do not just take into account politically centered comments documented on politifact as a sign of competence. Nor do I buy the, well he talks a lot so statistically he is bound to slip up more...does politifact have the gem of Biden telling the wheelchair bound guy to stand up and take a bow rated as pants on fire? No, seriously doubt that was included...

You people need to not get your panties in a wad every time someone breaths a hint that perhaps there are some democrats that say things just as dumb as some republicans.

I think you need to stop defending right wing assholes whose entire description of the Constitution can be summed up as, God passed the Constitution to Moses from the burning bush.

Your defense of Bachmann is pathetically ill-informed about just exactly how authoritarian and poorly thought out her comments are. When you're own staff stops defending your statements, you should probably stop opening your mouth and speaking.

The C-Span clip is only the tip of the iceberg for Bachmann.  Those types of comments and the reaction of Brennen and his associates should show that there is very little comparison between Biden and her. She is asking sophomoric questions. Questions that are not theirs to answer. She is fucking stupid. I'm NOT defending Biden, you are defending Bachmann.

So either pony up a defense of her or shut up.

[snowm]

So what, republicans have Bachmann, Democrats have Biden. The stupidity evens out in the end.

Biden's score on Politifact:

True (includes True, Mostly True, and Half True) 68%

False (Includes mostly false, false, Pants on Fire) 34%

Mostly false 13%, Pants on Fire 5%.

Your statement is grossly incorrect. They do NOT cancel out. Biden is far more likely to make true statements than Bachmann. In fact his truth score is only 10 points lower than Bachmann's False statements.

There is no comparison. It's like comparing talc to oranges.

Don't become an apologist for gross incompetence and stupidity.

I do not just take into account politically centered comments documented on politifact as a sign of competence. Nor do I buy the, well he talks a lot so statistically he is bound to slip up more...does politifact have the gem of Biden telling the wheelchair bound guy to stand up and take a bow rated as pants on fire? No, seriously doubt that was included...

You people need to not get your panties in a wad every time someone breaths a hint that perhaps there are some democrats that say things just as dumb as some republicans.

I think you need to stop defending right wing assholes whose entire description of the Constitution can be summed up as, God passed the Constitution to Moses from the burning bush.

Your defense of Bachmann is pathetically ill-informed about just exactly how authoritarian and poorly thought out her comments are. When you're own staff stops defending your statements, you should probably stop opening your mouth and speaking.

The C-Span clip is only the tip of the iceberg for Bachmann.  Those types of comments and the reaction of Brennen and his associates should show that there is very little comparison between Biden and her. She is asking sophomoric questions. Questions that are not theirs to answer. She is fucking stupid. I'm NOT defending Biden, you are defending Bachmann.

So either pony up a defense of her or shut up.

Who pissed in your cherrios this morning, christ relax. Funny how everyone lays down  before you because of your well thought out posts and abilities but a simple comment that you have taken and drawn your own conclusions about gets you out of sorts...

Where did I defend Bachmann now? If I recall correctly, I said her ignorance was cancelled out by the flubs and stupid comments from Biden. That is not defending her stupidity. It is simply saying hey, democrats say dumb things too but I am not going to dismiss an entire political party because of a single dumbass, nor am I going to start a thread everytime someone does. A politician saying something stupid is pretty old hat and I wouldn't expect it to be worth anyone's time anymore.

[Katiebee]

Your statement was in defense of her, by saying that her statements are cancelled by opposing party statements. The equivalent if saying the KKK positions are cancelled by the Black Panthers statements. They do nothing of the sort. Your position is that there is no responsibility for behavior. Tha it makes no difference. It makes a great deal of difference.

And thanks for the ad hominem attack.

[Janus]

Katiebee says: So either pony up a defense of her or shut up.

I will Pony up.......She is a fucking moron. She doesn't think about ramifications from her questions......However, She is a Legislator, she is a citizen....This is still a free country and somewhere out there, someone wanted to have these questions answered.....She has every right to ask them. Stupid or not.

Janus

[Katiebee]

In the proper channel and situation. She isn't brand new in her position it was inappropriate at the very least. And then why is she askin these question so late after the fact?

[MissBarbara]

This isn't really "defending" Michelle Bachmann, but I will give her credit for one thing: she knows exactly which buttons to push to appeal to her constituency, and she knows exactly how to push them.

There's something to that...

[tennysonp]

I won't defend Bachmann. Yes, she has the right to free speech.

Do I agree with her? Absolutely NOT.

I think she is "asking questions" because it seems to be the current way to assault someones character without having any basis in fact and avoiding getting sued for libel and/or slander (in SOME cases). OR

It is a way to throw up "issues that aren't issues" to be gobbled up and regurgitated by the faux yellow journalism fever that has infected most of the news outlets instead of dealing with things that matter and actually doing the job they were hired to do (for the people, of the people, and by the people - not for the rich, of the rich, and by the rich).


I could add a lot more as to why I probably could categorically opposed to just about every thing for which she stands (I said just about, to be fair.), but all of it has been said already.

I want MORE women in power, just not anyone like her - ever.

Button pushing isn't legislating, investigating, or even solving any problems. It is whipping people into a frenzy that doesn't do much of anything other than generate airtime quotes, which equals money.

[snowm]

Your statement was in defense of her, by saying that her statements are cancelled by opposing party statements. The equivalent if saying the KKK positions are cancelled by the Black Panthers statements. They do nothing of the sort. Your position is that there is no responsibility for behavior. Tha it makes no difference. It makes a great deal of difference.

And thanks for the ad hominem attack.

Again, read slow this time, I am not defending her words. I am simply stating who cares, both sides have bottom feeders, it is politics, let it go.

The constant parading on these boards of anytime a republican says something stupid is stale, boring, and old.

Worst of all, it takes away other people's ability to see those of you that do that as anything other than goose stepping democrat sheep incapable of thinking or speaking outside of your box. The great majority of you have demonstrated a lot of intelligence but this type of thing really takes away from it. The subsequent attacks, even more so.

Specifically to you KB, call it what you will but when you specifically respond to me and tell me to shut up, then yeah, I may respond in kind. Go figure, human nature.

[MissBarbara]

Button pushing isn't legislating, investigating, or even solving any problems. It is whipping people into a frenzy that doesn't do much of anything other than generate airtime quotes, which equals money.

I disagree, since button-pushing generates votes.