Michele Bachmann thinks America blew it by extending a safety net to millions of Americans under President Johnson’s “Great Society.” Her solution? Model the economy after communist China.
“The ‘Great Society’ has not worked and it’s put us into the modern welfare state,” she said. “If you look at China, they don’t have food stamps. If you look at China, they’re in a very different situation. They save for their own retirement security…They don’t have the modern welfare state and China’s growing. And so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us with the Great Society and they’d be gone.”
Aside from the basic absurdity of crediting a country that’s still officially communist with avoiding the pitfalls of the welfare state, it’s worth noting that Bachmann’s broad condemnation of LBJ’s legislative record is in open conflict with her own political positions. She has repeatedly positioned herself as a staunch defender of Medicare, the centerpiece of the Great Society programs, and has slammed President Obama for using funds from the Medicare Advantage program to help finance the Affordable Care Act. Her critique of saving for “retirement security” also runs up against her stated support for Social Security.
“Social Security and Medicare provide a safety net to millions of Americans,” an issues page on her website reads. “This is a system that many Americans have paid into their whole life. America needs to keep its promise to senior citizens.”
It continues:
Unfortunately, many Americans have been unduly frightened by scare talk about alleged attempts to potentially eliminate these programs. Michele understands the concerns of seniors who have been frightened into thinking that their Social Security could be taken away. As President, she will ensure that any reform to Social Security or Medicare will only affect those 55 and younger, and she will work to find a way to ease the next generation into a program that is solvent, fiscally responsible, and empowering to the individual. Michele has also pledged to protect Medicare by repealing Obamacare.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
Just sit back, close your eyes, concentrate, and imagine this woman as President of the United States of America........
I was just thinking it was funny how no republicans have commented on this article, and then i remembered... no republican read the article once they saw the headline! No education = no remarks from them of this stupidity...
Really? Why does she and her husband accept Medicaid?
The fact that this woman was ever taken seriously by the media is a sad commentary on the state of the media that is driven by competition for ratings. Any absurd or ludicrous utterance gets the prime time soundbite that will tittilate an uninformed, indifferent audience. Serious news is a thing of the past.
"The fact that this woman was ever taken seriously by the media is a sad commentary on the state of the media that is driven by competition for ratings". Welcome to the 'freak show' http://books.google.com/books?id=fXm-apQ8wCsC&...
Quote: "The freak show is about the fundamental changes in media and politics that have converged to tear down the old restraints in campaigns and public debate".
One of those constraints was about being above the bullshit and reporting NEWS. Jobs, climate, corruption, war, etc. NEWS.
Bachmann is stunningly ignorant. How can a person with so little intelligence serve in the House, let alone run for President? I am constantly amazed. Know nothings and do nothings is a good phrase for all these people. running.
alluhman She speaks the language her constituents and those reporting on her understand.
This lady is just beyond any redemption.
Really, the United States should be more like communist, less socialist, like China. Where does this person get these ideas. She obviously doesn't understand governing or political systems. It seems she has never studied history. She would better serve herself by not speaking about things she doesn't know about. this is another perfect example why people and the media should just ignore her until her term in congress is over. Really how embarrassing is this for Minnesota and it's residents.
I recently spent 3 months in China. The beggers and the people going through the trash looking for recyclables were all elderly. Getting rid of Social Security is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.
Bachman has taken over for Palin as the dumbest human of all time...
i assume you you are lots smarter than sarah palin, whice state were you govenor off?
This woman is an idiot
Wait a second... does this mean Michelle supports family planning and abortion (ala 1 child policy and unintended aftermath?)
#bachmannabortion
I suggest airforce one drop Bachmann and that useless husband of hers into one of China's ghost megacities where they can live in one of the many millions of empty apartment buildings (no one can afford) and shop in an empty ghost mall. Never to be seen or heard from again.
A girl can dream can't she?
I hope Bachmann goes far in the GOP Goat Rodeo because she's a laugh a minute. Millions upon millions of Chinese earn around $4000 a year as wage slaves in horrible factories and they live in shanty towns, in shacks, some nine to a room because they can't afford even a small half decent apartment. Even very educated people in China live in appalling conditions, relative to the United States.
Michelle doesn't hold back, she comes right out and shits on the American Dream (that has been dead for many Americans for at least the last 40 years). But while others in her party at least pretend to value a better society, Michelle advocates for the worst possible one. A totalitarian state that has virtually no regulation, an underground counterfeit economy, and immense horrific poverty. For America. That's an amazing platform. You would have to be mentally retarded and in a complete stupor - no make that a coma - to vote for her.
Um... I live in China, we have pension funds here, housing funds and the vast majority of benefits are paid for by the employer. Mandatory benefits add an addition 50% to the payroll and we still have large companies which provide meals and housing for free to employees. Businesses are easier to tax than individuals, so that's who is targeted. Bachmann is delusional.
Oh damn it. I'm in a place I never thought I'd find myself... agreeing with Michele Bachmann.
Of course, China is no more socialist than the US is. But I'm guessing she didn't mean it that way. I don't think she was offering anything approaching a serious political analysis of the Chinese system of government.
But still, it's a first for me.
Hie the hence, Bachmann - to China Land
Must be a slow news day....
I think Michele should be less medicated.
I was thinking she needed to UP her meds.
el-kabong You are so right - and no one hardly picks up on this - the migraines and the narcotic pain meds that gets her thru each day - she is delusional, my opinion, Marcus B is a closet gay man and I so wonder where are the 23 foster kids she claim to have raised of course with payments from the government per child she is at best a nut case.
She is not far off from talking to herself while walking in circles.
Aggressively stupid. Dangerous.
Commie Dearest Nah, she's far too irrelevant to be dangerous. Cain, on the other hand...
sullivanstCommie Dearest Or the Newtster, who is actually going to top the polls today according to TPM.
Wow....just....just....wow....
Hey hey, let's go communist dictatorship!! Great call, Michelle. You stupid......
Other things that we have that China doesn't:
Freedom of the press
Safe working conditions
Religion
Multi-child families
Backyards
You really want me to continue Michele?
That's how it works with these folks. Obama is socialist, but China is not. It's not a reality based belief system.
One Child per Family = A lot of Abortions
I am a 27 years old lady,mature and beautiful. and now i am seeking a good man who can give me real love, so i got a username michellesb on --- Agédαté.℃⊙M---, a nice and free place for younger women and older men,or older women and younger men, to interact with each other.Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.
lanb007 Maybe you want to stop spamming every thread on here.
America should be less Socialist like China???????????????
It's their Socialist System that runs the Country
China is COMMUNIST!!! There are more Socialists in one region of China alone, than the entire population of the USA.
But, what do you expect?? This is the person who thought the American Revolution started in Concord...NEW HAMPSHIRE!! And when corrected that she was in Concord, NH...not Concord, Mass...and the "Concord" that was the cradle of the Revolution was in Mass...she continued as if she was right!!!!
Another day, another MORONIC statement from Bachmann.
All this from a woman who criticizes Welfare, yet accepted $70,000/a year in Welfare Checks per Foster Child...that's 20something kids at 70K per, from the Minnesota State Dept. of Human Services. Wants to end Subsidies for Farmers, but accepted over $251,973.00 in Farm Subsidies for her Farm between 1995 and 2006.
Wants to end Medicare and Medicaid...but accepted $137,000 in Medicaid reimbursements for her husband Marcus' Gay Therapy Clinic. She also accepted a $417,000 federally subsidized loan from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help purchase a luxury house, a 5,200-square-foot home on a golf course. This while she was trying to dismantle the two big Mortgage Giants.
Michele Bachmann's 15 Minutes are up!!...Bye! Bye! Michele!!!
Richard Schatten It just kills me the media doesn't hammer her at every turn with these facts.
MyPetGloatRichard Schatten I'm perfectly happy for them to spend their time covering more relevant news than Bachmann, like, say, the Kardashian divorce.
Other things Bachmann beleives about China:
The Yellow River is called that because there are no toilets in China.
Dim sum is what lightbulbs do during a brown-out.
Lao Ze Sho is the Mandarin name of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."
Bachmann represents a very special type of idiocy.... All encompassing .... All consuming .... All the time....
Get her hooked up with the Guv. Of Arizonie and it would be an un-stoppable race to the nearest padded room.
aaaaaaaand....We should also use more knives & forks like they do!!?
<hic>
sorry, one too many Gai-Jin&Tonics
Its OK, we dont have to worry about Bachman anymore. She will never be elected to anything again.
By the way, in present-day China, state enterprises account for over a third of total industrial output, including a monopoly on energy and steel. Even agriculture has a large state role, with the government controlling much of the agricultural land in arid or cold regions where output is more uncertain. One "farm" (the XPCC) in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region is the size of West Virginia (scattered in multiple plots, including the entire land area of five counties) and has two and a half million people on it, including the headquarters city of Shihezi (pop. around 400,000) and the province's leading university.
This is officially the absolute dumbest slate of candidates to ever step up to debate podiums. And these people are running for *President.*
Worse than that, they have supporters. Why Because the rest of us coninue to treat the Republican Party as a legitimate political party, comprised of citizens uniting around common goals, with the aims of changing and institutuing public policy.
The Republicnan "Party" is a collection of front-men and stooges for tru plutocrats, who are attempting to use elections to steal the joint assets of the American people and divert tax reevenues into their own pockets. Their aim as far as public policy goes is to eliminate any "public" venue, and privatize it all. The only people that support them are fools, Libertarian loons, and people who think that they will profit.
Why do we even pay attention to these clowns? Because their puppetmasters have so many billions?
Typical right-wing self-hatred. America needs a solid thrashing because it is inferior to those virtuous Chinese. The classic example of right-wing self-hatred, of course, is that the White Party hates Europe...
Way to antagonize your fundie base, Bachmann. One of their prime issues is repression of religion by the Chinese government.. But like the song goes, when you ain't got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.
If she's so impressed with China, then why doesn't she and her ridiculous fake husband Marcus move there. And take the rest of these Republican't clowns and baggers with her. I.e., please secede!
"Today I met with Taiwan’s Representative to the United States, Jason Yuan. As a member of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, I am confident that we will continue building on our successful international partnership."
-- Michelle Bachmann, in a caption quote under her photo with Jason Yuan, dated Oct. 25, on her official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RepMicheleBachmann
A Chinese company is currently fabricating the steel slabs that will be the basis of the rebuilt Oakland-Bay Bridge. The work is being under contract for two American companies, Ambridge and Flour. The typical steelworker on this project works a 16 hour day, usually seven days a week for which he is paid $0.75/hour. But he gets certain non-socialist benefits, for example, a $5/week dorm room consisting of a bed, chair and desk and meals in the company cafeteria for $1/day
Or maybe Michelle would rather see us revert to an agrarian economy and become serf for the corporate farmers who collect something like 80% of the subsidies.
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