The presidential campaign of Michele Bachmann has raised the question of what is relevant for scrutiny for the media. At issue is the business run by Bachmann and her husband, Marcus: Bachmann and Associates. It is a Christian counseling service and Bachmann has previously referenced the business as her credential as a “small business job creator.” However, reports have emerged of how the clinic offers to “cure” homosexuals and reporters have questioned the veracity of past statements about the clinic. Bachmann, however, insists she wants to talk about job creation and the stories are not relevant to what matters in the campaign.
The article below details the allegations from people who were “treated” at the clinic for homosexuality.
Marcus Bachmann has publicly advocated the use of the Bible to convert homosexuals: “I think you clearly say ‘what is the understanding of God’s word on homosexuality.’ We have to understand barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined and just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean we’re supposed to go down that road.” Yet he later denied that the clinic was engaged in reparative therapy. However, a gay rights group called “Truth Wins Out” released a video from a hidden camera this week showing such therapy being discussed at the clinic.
I previously wrote how politicians cannot have it both ways on religion. Both Democrats and Republicans (including President Obama) have used their faith as a campaign issue. In this case, Bachmann has touted this clinic as a credential and the controversy ties directly to her past and controversial views regarding homosexuality. If she wishes to lead this nation, these are relevant questions. An estimated 3.5 percent of Americans are gay. That constitutes roughly nine million of citizens.
Dr. Bachmann is shown with Michele Bachmann on his lap on the clinic’s site,though she is not listed separately as a partner. The site states “Dr. Bachmann received his Masters degree in education/counseling from Regent University located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He received his Doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Union Graduate Institute located in Cincinnati, Ohio.”
I do not believe it is fair to attribute the quote above from Marcus to Bachmann. However, this “small business” is going to be justifiably a big issue if it boasts conversion as a treatment.
Source: CNN
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bachmann-signs-socially-conservative-pledge-on-homosexuality-marriage/2011/07/08/gIQAxyK43H_story.html She signed the pledge.
I’ve said this more than once now,due to the subject and I’m going to say it again”.The one that protest the loudest are the ones you better keep and eye on”And they got Government funding from what I have heard,to do some of this “spoken word”miracle work.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/14/3rd-straight-iowa-poll-has-bachmann-at-top/
If Bachmann can actually believe she is a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, she can believe anything. Bachmann is running for the VP slot. She just doesn’t know it yet. The GOP is not about to put this wacko out in front and witness an Obama landslide.
Swm:
“. It also suggests that more African-American children are born out of wedlock now than they were under slavery.”
And she also feels that children of slaves was a “two parent” situation,with both parents raising a child,pre sale of course of those parents.This lady is unreal,but at least you know what she’s about.
Of course it’s relevant. However, there is a much deeper question to consider. I believe we are being treated to bread and circuses regarding the presidential campaign. Although her odious beliefs and this even more odious way of treating other people should be discussed openly and excoriated, we should not let this distract us from what the current govt. is doing.
Torture, the killing of civilians, support of dictators who murder and torture, harming the poor, sick and elderly, expanding wars of empire and the surveillance state are also odious. These things also need to be opposed by our citizens, right now. They are deserving of excoriation and need to be acted against. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can protest the cruelty of possible candidates and we can take action against current cruelty and wrong doing by this administration.
If only her clinic knew how to “cure” the size of the government … they seem to have a one size fits all philosophy.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/07/michele-bachmanns-church-says-the-pope-is-the-antichrist/241909/
http://www.thenation.com/blog/162023/why-wont-michele-bachmann-talk-about-her-taxpayer-funded-anti-gay-therapy-clinics
I wonder if her church knows she’s competition for the Pope?
I have trouble listening to her speak. It’s as if she’s reading Revelations to a group of kindergartners. Her husband’s fixation on gay sex is not that of a straight person, and one who asks us to ignore the paucity of burned towns, murders, maimings, the raping of children and women, and general pillaging by the gay barbarian community.
My conservative friends cannot get their way with rationality, so we have to endure ever escalating rhetoric, ticking off the milestones such as unconstitutional pledges taken before and after the oath of office which are no more than permission slips for continued discrimination.
Regrettably, people empowered by this sort of thing never back down. They can’t without damaging themselves in any number of ways, and their minds just won’t let them reform. It means this isn’t just going to go away on its own.
I long for the days when these people just stayed home on election day because they had just enough wisdom left to know most of the country does not care about their backwards beliefs.
Gene – her church openly states that the Pope is the anti-christ so I doubt she is running for the job. (It also makes me wonder how she manages to pull in the vast majority of the Catholic voters in her heavily Catholic district).
How to tell Batshit Bachmann from The Snowbilly Grifter:
Bachman is not stupid but she is insane
Palin is not insane but she is stupid
Frank, She pulls them in on the abortion issue. Her democratic opponents have been pro-choice. There are many conservative Catholics in the St. Cloud area.
Frank,
A succinct summation of the Bachmann/Palin Divide. I like it.
Not jerking your hand away from the hot burner also takes discipline. Just because you CAN over-ride your basic wiring doesn’t mean the result’s going to be good.
Do not tell me that in the Bible it also tells, about rape, incest, murder….Oh my….What shall we tell Alice…..
Jon Stewart Mocks Marcus Bachmann, Gets Help From Jerry Seinfeld With ‘Comedy Repression Therapy’ (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/jon-stewart-marcus-bachmann-jerry-seinfeld_n_898051.html
Conservative Groups Rally Behind Bachmann’s Ex-Gay Clinics
By Igor Volsky on Jul 14, 2011 at 11:13 am
Think Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/07/14/269277/conservative-groups-rally-behind-bachmanns-ex-gay-clinics/
Mrs M:
“– FOX NEWS: “This undercover video is just a hit piece. They’re in there trying to get him to say something or to say or to screw him.” [The Five, 7/12/2011]”
LOL!!!
Rick Perry has some scary ministers supporting him too. If he gets in, I am not sure he will be able to upend Bachmann. They could end up splitting the right wing christian vote and allowing Romney to win.
They just ran this unaired ad from 1994 by Ted Kennedey against Romney:
“By ALEXANDER BURNS | 7/14/11 4:37 AM EDT
A company that laid off hundreds of employees. A federal “bailout” to rescue a failing bank. Mitt Romney, at the center of it all.
It’s a story line from a tough Democratic ad that was teed up for use against Romney in his 1994 Senate campaign in Massachusetts. The spot, which was provided exclusively to POLITICO, never actually aired. But it’s all but certain that some version of its allegations will surface in the GOP primary or the general election, if Romney makes it that far.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58952.html#ixzz1S7RKY6dO
They have, by my count, 19 therapists. Each making at least $50k in salary and another 15-20% in benefits including the employers portion of SS and other payroll taxes.
That is a minimum of 1,150,000 in payroll every year. I guess they must do other counseling as well. How much do trained therapists bill in the private sector?
How many crazy sons of bitches are in Minnesota? I know there are not enough gays who want conversion to support that clinic. How much does it cost to go straight? Do insurance companies pay for that?
If they do that raises an interesting question.
To Marcus Bachmann homosexuals are “barbarian’s” and need “to be disciplined”. Not need ‘self discipline’, they need to BE disciplined. Freudian much? LOL.
Frank
Palin/Bachmann
insanely stupid
coming soon to bumpers everywhere
http://gawker.com/5821083/jon-stewart-questions-marcus-bachmanns-sexuality
OK I’m gay so I’ll say it “Michelle Bachman’s husband is a huge swishy homo!!!! This is hilarious. Their so delusional they think no one notices. You just think man that guy’s gay. So he teaches people how not to be gay? How does that work? I always wondered who picked out her cloths. You never see a woman that stupid who’s that well dressed.
Say what you will, I think Michele Bachmann has a lot of shoots-paw.
As long as it is her own paw, I have no objections.
You can’t expect too much fluency in Yiddish pronunciation in a state where the head rabbi is named Olaf Larson.
Also, born-again Christians can’t produce enough phlegm to properly say “chutzpah.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304223804576448260568989824.html Evangelicals urge Rick Perry to get in the fray, and he is more likely than not going to.
From the link supplied by Swarthmore mom:
Mr. Perry says the event has nothing to do with his possible 2012 presidential ambitions. “It’s not about me…it’s about Him,” he told a radio interviewer Thursday, describing the Aug. 6th prayer marathon as a time to “ask for God’s guidance” for the country. But the event is burnishing Mr. Perry’s image among prominent religious conservatives.
“To have an elected official of his stature say, ‘I think we should get together to fast and pray,’ that may be unprecedented, at least in modern times,” said Mr. Perkins.
Mr. Perry, who once sold Bibles door-to-door… (end excerpt)
““To have an elected official of his stature say, ‘I think we should get together to fast and pray,’ that may be unprecedented, at least in modern times,” said Mr. Perkins.”
There are a lot of people who are this very moment fasting and praying for real,some have no choice.
eniobob,
Maybe the Governor meant “prey.” Homophones can be tricky.
Rick Perry-
When it’s time to start the fasting, send somebody out to look for the old folks. You might try Denny’s first.
Elaine M. “eniobob, Maybe the Governor meant “prey.” Homophones can be tricky.”
—
LOL, Note to self, never get into an argument with someone well-spoken enough to make that kind of joke, never.
Bachmann benefitted from federal home loan program
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bachmann-benefitted-from-federal-home-loan-program/2011/07/19/gIQAI12raI_story.html
Excerpt:
Like many members of Congress, Rep. Michele Bachmann has been a fierce critic of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, blaming the government-backed loan programs for excesses that helped create the financial meltdown in 2008.
And like millions of other home purchasers, Bachmann took out a home loan in 2008 that offered lower costs to the borrower through one of the federally subsidized programs, according to mortgage experts who reviewed her loan documents.
Just a few weeks before Bachmann called for dismantling the programs during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, she and her husband signed for a $417,000 home loan to help finance their move to a 5,200-square-foot golf-course home, public records show. Experts who examined the loan documents for The Washington Post say that they are confident the loan was backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Seeing problems with the programs — especially the high costs to taxpayers — hasn’t stopped a concerned public or other members of Congress from taking advantage of the lower interest rates that come due to government backing.
Bachmann has been the most outspoken critic of the loan programs and other government subsidies among Republican presidential candidates. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty also has called for dismantling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Experts who reviewed his mortgage documents said that there was no way to tell whether his home loan from 1994 had government backing.
Bachmann’s mortgage was part of a package of debt that she and her husband, Marcus, assumed to buy their home, public records show. They also have other loans, including a home equity line of credit, a business mortgage and another business loan for their Christian counseling clinics, bringing their liabilities to more than $1 million, according to the most recently available public records.
The Bachmanns’ assets, according to her latest financial disclosure statement, range between $862,018 and $2 million.
Their total income has not been disclosed, but Bachmann gets a $174,000 salary as a member of Congress. There is no evidence that they cannot support their current debt.
In her public life, Bachmann has criticized government subsidies and said that federally backed home lending programs place an undue burden on taxpayers.