Not a few Republican Congressmen chose to appear in front of a few thousand Michele Bachmann fans on the Capitol steps rather than do their jobs inside the Capital voting on matters of Homeland Security. BTW, some of the fine Tea Baggers these Republican Congressman were addressing now sport signs depicting the Holocaust imprinted with the Obama logo. Nice...
Responding to some of the Tea Bagger requests to have at him, Representative Barney Frank said:
"Some of the people (at the rally) that wanted to engage me in conversation appeared to have been the losers in the 'Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest?'." Rep Barney Frank
It was not that long ago that when Frank was confronted by one Bachmann's storm troopers at a town hall meeting comparing the President to a NAZI, he refused to engage her by saying it was like "arguing with a dinning room table." Friday he compared the Bachmann rally to being trapped inside a furniture store.
I noticed this morning Newscat commented on the similarity between today's Michele Bachmann and Anita Bryant from the olden days. As serendipity would have it, just last night I was working on my Seventies Website and wrote about Bryant's more than 15 minutes of fame in 1977. Beware both my Sixties and Seventies pages are as apolitical as I can manage.
Anita Bryant - the spokesman for Florida Orange Juice at the time - began a campaign against Homosexuals called "The Save Our Children Crusade".
Her success in repealing a gay non discrimination law in Miami,
Florida led to her national acclaim. But much to the pain of the Florida Citrus Growers, a backlash occurred with a national boycott of orange juice. Bryant is credited with being the impetus that got Harvey Milk - the first openly gay politician - elected as a San Francisco County Commissioner. The Reverend Jerry Falwell came to her side just as Dr. James Dobson founded Focus on the Family. She is often given credit for beginning what was soon to be called the Moral Majority and later the Religious Right. Bryant rode her intolerance high for a few years but by 1979 her life began a downward spiral that never ended. The Castro on Anita Bryant
What is most interesting in the Anita Bryant story is that her fame lasted less than two years and by 1979 her life began a 30 year downward spiral of political, professional and personal failure. More on Anita Bryant at Wiki
Take note Ms Bachmann! The people of Minnesota threw out Jesse Ventura for being far less of a nutcake.
BTW, Ventura's demise was from a quote even I knew would be the end of him as Governor of Norway. "Religion is for the weak and stupid." No no no Jesse, "Religion is for the weak OR stupid"
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