By Gaetana Drake
Political commentator Joan Walsh has said “Michele Bachmann is Joe McCarthy in lipstick, and he was a dangerous American.”
As you all know by now, Michele Bachmann has requested an investigation into Huma Abedin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff. Because Ms. Abedin is a practicing Muslim, Ms. Bachmann seems to believe she is trying to destroy America from within. Ms. Bachmann suggests that Huma’s late father, her mother and her brother are connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.
Ms. Abedin was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. As a toddler her parents took her to Saudi Arabia to live. Her father and her mother both received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and Huma graduated from George Washington University. Her father founded an institute to promote religious understanding between East and West.
In 2010 Ms. Abedin was listed in Time’s “40 Under 40”, a list of a “new generation of civic leaders” and “rising stars of American politics.”
Politicians of both parties have come to the defense of Ms. Abedin. John McCain stated “these allegations about Huma and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant. The letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government. These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. And they need to stop now.” He also said, “Put simply, Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully. I am proud to know Huma and to call her my friend.” Speaker of the House John Boehner said, “I don’t know Huma, but from everything that I do know of her, she has a sterling character and I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”
This isn’t the first time Michele Bachmann has attacked a female politician. Every first lady supports a “cause”. Michelle Obama’s cause is childhood obesity. She has promoted healthy eating and exercise. She has campaigned to get more mothers to breast-feed their infants, since studies show that children who are breast-fed for the first four to six months have less chance of becoming obese than those who were fed formula. She has also tried to break down barriers to nursing in the workplace. Michele Bachmann (who, by the way breast-fed all five of her children), said “to think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You want to talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition.” She also suggested that Michelle Obama may one day run for office and her breast-feeding and healthy eating campaign was just a preview of the nanny state that she would try to push through if elected.
I’m not sure why Ms. Bachmann believes that promoting healthy eating, exercise and breast-feeding equates to a nanny state. Is there a government employee in your home watching what you eat? Monitoring how often you exercise? Making sure you breast-feed your baby? Laura Bush chose the cause of literacy while she was first lady. She went to schools and read to children. She encouraged parents to read to their children on a daily basis. Was that a “nanny state”? A more literate and healthier population can only be good for all of us.
Ms. Bachmann once said that Nancy Pelosi was “sticking the taxpayer” with her $100,000 bar tab for alcohol on the military jets that she had been flying on. Politifact took a close look at this and rated Bachmann’s interpretation of Pelosi’s expenses as “pants on fire”. We all know what that means – liar, liar, liar!
Someone once told me, “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.” I mentioned that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (the Oklahoma City bombers) were white Americans and not Muslims (the person I was talking to got a little flustered over that!)
So to answer my question at the beginning , is Michele Bachmann a dangerous American? I believe she is. She would have us believe that anyone of a different religion or different culture is anti-American and a threat to us all. She forgets that we are all descendants of immigrants. She forgets that America is the great melting pot and it’s our diversity that makes us so unique. It’s people like Michele Bachmann who are out to destroy America.
Eye On Modesto 