The Double-Double standard on Dealing with Misstatements by Candidates

Could one imagine Chris Wallace asking Obama about being a flake or George Stephanopoulos asking Obama about misstatements that he had made? Probably not. How about Stephanopoulos strenuously claiming that Obama was making misstatements when he hadn't? Sure, not. But that is what happens continually with Republicans, particularly Republican women Palin and Bachmann. Take Stephanopoulos's attacks on Bachmann regarding: "Founding Fathers 'worked tirelessly' to end slavery." The Weekly Standard gets this right.

[Princeton Professor] McPherson in the "Battle Cry of Freedom" summarizes Lincoln's argument:

The founding fathers, said Lincoln, had opposed slavery. They adopted a Declaration of Independence that pronounced all men created equal. They enacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banning slavery from the vast Northwest Territory. To be sure, many of the founders owned slaves. But they asserted their hostility to slavery in principle while tolerating it temporarily (as they hoped) in practice. That was why they did not mention the words "slave" or "slavery" in the Constitution, but referred only to "persons held to service." "Thus, the thing is hid away, in the constitution," said Lincoln, "just as an afflicted man hides away a wen or a cancer, which he dares not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death; with the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin at the end of a given time." The first step was to prevent the spread of this cancer, which the fathers took with the Northwest Ordinance, the prohibition of the African slave trade in 1807, and the Missouri Compromise restriction of 1820. The second was to begin a process of gradual emancipation, which the generation of the fathers had accomplished in the states north of Maryland.

Here's what Lincoln said of the Founding Fathers in his 1854 Peoria speech:

The argument of "Necessity" was the only argument they ever admitted in favor of slavery; and so far, and so far only as it carried them, did they ever go. They found the institution existing among us, which they could not help; and they cast blame upon the British King for having permitted its introduction. BEFORE the constitution, they prohibited its introduction into the north-western Territory---the only country we owned, then free from it. AT the framing and adoption of the constitution, they forbore to so much as mention the word "slave" or "slavery" in the whole instrument. In the provision for the recovery of fugitives, the slave is spoken of as a "PERSON HELD TO SERVICE OR LABOR." In that prohibiting the abolition of the African slave trade for twenty years, that trade is spoken of as "The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States NOW EXISTING, shall think proper to admit," &c. These are the only provisions alluding to slavery. Thus, the thing is hid away, in the constitution, just as an afflicted man hides away a wen or a cancer, which he dares not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death; with the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin at the end of a given time. Less than this our fathers COULD not do; and NOW [MORE?] they WOULD not do. Necessity drove them so far, and farther, they would not go. But this is not all. The earliest Congress, under the constitution, took the same view of slavery. They hedged and hemmed it in to the narrowest limits of necessity.

In 1794, they prohibited an out-going slave-trade---that is, the taking of slaves FROM the United States to sell.

How about Obama's claim that his Uncle helped liberate Auschwitz?

Obama getting geography completely mixed up. Doesn't seem to realize that his home state of Illinois is closer to Kentucky than Arkansas is.

As for Obama's parents getting together in part because of the march in Selma, Alabama, Bloody Sunday happened on March 7, 1965. Obama was born August 4, 1961.

57 States

Obama forgets soldier's heroic death

Far from calling attention to an Obama mistake, George Stephanopoulos very quietly corrects alerts Obama to a mistake that he made in an interview where Obama accidentally refers to "my muslim faith."

Obama says his Health Care Plan will bring more "Inefficiencies to the health care system"

In an interview with WTMJ, Channel 4 Milwaukee on Feb. 16, 2011, Obama insisted that Abe Lincoln built the "intercontinental railroad" during the Civil War.

Obama seems to have mischaracterized important information about his mother.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama often discussed his mother's struggle with cancer. Ann Dunham spent the months before her death in 1995, Obama said, fighting with insurance companies that sought to deny her the coverage she needed to pay for treatment.
"I remember in the last month of her life, she wasn't thinking about how to get well, she wasn't thinking about coming to terms with her own mortality, she was thinking about whether or not insurance was going to cover the medical bills and whether our family would be bankrupt as a consequence," Obama said in September 2007.
"She was in her hospital room looking at insurance forms because the insurance company said that maybe she had a pre-existing condition and maybe they wouldn't have to reimburse her for her medical bills," Obama added in January 2008.
"The insurance companies were saying, 'Maybe there's a pre-existing condition and we don't have to pay your medical bills,' " Obama said in a debate with Republican opponent Sen. John McCain in October 2008.
It was a simple and powerful story, one Obama would tell many more times as president during the national health care debate. . . .
The news is in "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother," a generally admiring new biography written by former New York Times reporter Janny Scott. . . .
But Scott, who had access to Dunham's correspondence from the time, reveals that Dunham unquestionably had health coverage. "Ann's compensation for her job in Jakarta had included health insurance, which covered most of the costs of her medical treatment," Scott writes. "Once she was back in Hawaii, the hospital billed her insurance company directly, leaving Ann to pay only the deductible and any uncovered expenses, which, she said, came to several hundred dollars a month." . . .
Scott writes that Dunham, who wanted to be compensated for those costs as well as for her living expenses, "filed a separate claim under her employer's disability insurance policy." It was that claim, with the insurance company CIGNA, that was denied in August 1995 because, CIGNA investigators said, Dunham's condition was known before she was covered by the policy.
Dunham protested the decision and, Scott writes, "informed CIGNA that she was turning over the case to 'my son and attorney, Barack Obama.' " CIGNA did not budge. . . .

Obama seems to have made many inaccurate claims about family members.

I have a long list of Obama's misstatements available here.
So if people care about these misstatements, who is the flake?

Bachmann Announces Presidential Bid

My friend Jason Lewis does the intro for her, and he does a good job. The text of Bachmann's speech is available here.

Michele Bachmann Talks the Issues on Fox News Sunday

A transcript of the interview is available here. Wallace gave her a tough interview, but he typically gives everyone a tough interview so there was nothing wrong here. You also know that Bachmann is doing a good job when the interviewer has to concede: "and, obviously, I don't know the details nearly as well as you do about the clinic that's run by your husband . . . ."

WALLACE: All right. We're going to talk about the other candidates a little bit later.
But let me ask you about yourself. With the spotlight comes new scrutiny. The Los Angeles Times has a story out today that says for all your talk of being a fiscal hawk, that, in fact, you have gone after federal and government -- excuse me, state government money over the years, both personally and professionally. And let's it up on the screen.
A counseling clinic -- excuse me -- run by your husband got almost $30,000 in state federal funds. A farm, in which you are a partner, got almost $260,000 in federal subsidies. And over the years, you sought more than $60 million in the state earmarks and more than $3.7 million in federal earmarks.
Question -- that's a fiscal hawk?
BACHMANN: Well, let's go through them. First of all, the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees. The clinic did not get the money. And my husband and I did not get the money either. That's mental health training money that went to employees.
Number two, regarding the farm, the farm is my father-in-law's farm. It's not my husband and my farm. It's my father-in-law's farm. And my husband and I have never gotten a penny of money from the farm.
Regarding the earmarks, I believe the right place to build projects is in the states and the states have to build roads and bridges. And I don't apologize for building roads and bridges.
WALLACE: So, you're pro-earmark?
BACHMANN: No. During my first year -- during my first term in Congress, I signed a pledge that I will take no more earmarks and I've been faithful to that pledge.
WALLACE: In terms of the money -- and, obviously, I don't know the details nearly as well as you do about the clinic that's run by your husband. If you say money is going to employees, that -- I mean, if he runs the clinic, that would seem to be benefiting you guys.
BACHMANN: This --
WALLACE: And to the degree that you are a partner in a farm, federal subsidiaries would seem to benefit the farm.
BACHMANN: Actually, it did not. It actually took away from the clinic, because these were training hours where employees were not able to bring more income in. This is one-time training money that came in from the federal government. And it certainly didn't help our clinic. It was something that was additional training to help employees. . .

.

Let me add to this point. If this training money makes workers more productive, they are going to get higher wages. Taking away workers time from work, hurts her husband's business. It is hard to see how his business captures the costs of this training. All that seems pretty straightforward, but evidently, some Democrats, such as MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, think that providing training to employees is the same as giving the money to the company.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Michele Bachmann nails it on the Debt limit scare tactics

It would be great if there were some other politicians who would also say this.

On the eve of her entry into the 2012 GOP presidential race, Rep. Michele Bachmann said "scare tactics" are being used by those warning of an economic calamity unless Congress raises the government's borrowing limit by an August deadline.
The three-term congresswoman from Minnesota said the U.S. could avoid a default by paying only the interest on U.S. obligations while lawmakers work on a deal to cut spending dramatically as part of a new debt ceiling.

Such an approach has been derided as unworkable by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Bachmann, a tea party favorite, planned to kick off her campaign Monday in her Waterloo, Iowa, her birthplace. The Iowa Poll released Saturday night by The Des Moines Register showed her in a statistical tie with Republican rival Mitt Romney among likely caucus-goers. . . .

This is what I have been saying exactly.

Bachmann soars in polls

Bachmann ties with Romney in Iowa (22 to 23 percent), and it appears that she has much more room to have her numbers grow in future polls.

Bachmann moves up her announcement decision

Bachmann would be an awesome candidate. My own guess is that she is going to run. It would be tough losing her in the house, but she needs more of a national platform.

Rep. Michele Bachmann hasn't declared yet whether she's in it to win it, but the Minnesota Republican may be "moving up" her June deadline for announcing a presidential campaign decision, she said Tuesday.
Claiming an "outpouring of interest" for her to make a go for a 2012 GOP nomination, Bachmann told Fox News that her decision will be made in part on her ability to raise money, grassroots support and development of a winning strategy.
Bachmann, who last quarter raised more than $3 million for a political action committee, said she has collected more money than any other candidate, including former Minnesota governor and would-be frontrunner Mitt Romney, that can be used in a presidential bid.
Bachmann added that she has traveled numerous times to early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and has received tremendous support. . . .

This headline says everything about Mitch Daniels: "GOP elite see Mitch Daniels as 2012 savior"