Monday, January 02, 2012

God's short coattails

Just a couple of grafs from Andy Mannnix's story (at City Pages) on Meteor Michele and the Smoking Crater:
"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians," Bachmann told a crowd in Sarasota, Florida, perhaps the worst place in America to make light of a hurricane. "We've had an earthquake, we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people, because the American people are roaring right now."

The implication was that the Lord was destroying Americans' homes up and down the East Coast because he was pissed about healthcare reform and the stimulus package. Bachmann's campaign later brushed off the quip as a joke, but it was at best ill-timed, coming just six months after the Japanese earthquakes that had left more than 15,000 dead.

"It shows sort of the twisted thinking that goes on in her mind," says Karl Bremer, co-author of the book The Madness of Michele Bachmann. "To me, it's like Pat Robertson blaming Katrina on the gay pride parade that weekend."
Andy is being charitable when he calls it "ill-timed." In bad taste, or poisonous are just a couple of the other terms that come to mind.

In addition to being a good telling of the arc of Bachmann's candidacy, it has a great Avidor graphic, too.

Update: In Bachmann's Bible, there is apparently a passage where God says, "When I give you lemons, make lemonade!" She's repeating line about God creating visiting Hurricane Irene on the U.S. as an example of her great sense of humor, rendering her the clear choice in the caucuses.

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