Bachmann calls Occupy Wall Street protesters "ignorant and disrespectful"
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Friday called the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been disrupting her campaign events "ignorant and disrespectful." Speaking with supporters at a Veterans Day parade, Bachmann also said of the activists, "Hopefully someday, they'll come to know the price that was paid for them."
Bachmann has been surprised at several events recently by groups of OWS protesters who have boisterously interrupted her stump speeches. The House member from Minnesota was discussing her proposed changes in military spending in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Thursday, when about 30 protesters stood up and began giving a speech of their own. They also started chanting, "We are the 99 percent," a movement slogan that refers to studies that show wealth in the United States is concentrated in the top 1 percent of the population. The demonstration continued for five minutes while a flustered Bachmann stood by.
Some of her supporters in the crowd yelled "Sit down!" to the protesters and chanted "Michele! Michele!" Bachmann left the podium with a police escort at Thursday's event but returned a few minutes later to finish her speech.
Bachmann said at Friday's parade, "If they understood the heavy price that was paid for that 1st Amendment right, they'd be much more respectful. Because I was surrounded by heroes yesterday on the USS Yorktown who paid a big price for them, and they're just ignorant, that's all. They're ignorant and they were disrespectful, but someday hopefully they'll come to know the price that was paid for them."
One of Bachmann's rivals for the nomination, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also attended the Columbia parade, and the two kept some distance during the procession. Perry's debate gaffe of Wednesday still dogged him. As he worked the crowd, a heckler yelled, "Which departments do you want to close down? Rick! Come on, you can do it!"
Perry continued to address his debate lapse in memory with humor. Veering in a group to shake hands, Perry said to a little boy, "Don't ever forget anything."
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A moron could have figured out how this would end and yet our mayor is too stupid to see it.
Now he's going to look like the biggest shmuck in the country. He already does but it will be even worse than when he threw away TWO elections from the people so he could run a third term.
You're a jackass Mayor Blowme.
You're a jackass Mayor Blowme.
Gee, project much? LoL.
Coming from the woman who tried to teach us that "the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation","The American Revolution began in New Hampshire", and who implied "God plagues us with the swine flu when Democrats held the office of the Presidency" (Gerald Ford would be suprised to hear that if he were still alive)... that's too funny.
She never stops trying to tear people down even at the risk of being highly ironic.
She is correct in stating that the "occupy people" seem to be rude. Recently, some have vandalized property in several cities. Some of the "occupy people" are all about someone else being on the hook to pay their student loans, and others are all about someone else being on the hook to pay their medical bills. The "occupy people" have the gall to talk about GREED. These people are some of the most self centered and greedy people I have heard of.
Many of them are socialists, a philosophically flawed and silly system that is doomed to fail because it ignores human nature. Socialism has failed all over the world, because it is unrealistic. They want a heavy handed federal government to confiscate wealth from one group of working Americans, and give the money to them - for doing nothing. They seem to think that a heavy handed government would never come after them one day for something. These are not smart people. They are childishly self centered and greedy, and they are childishly naive.
The Tea Party people sought legal permits to protest, and they paid the fees for the permits. After protesting, they cleaned up after themselves and went home (allowing the citizens of the community to have access to their parks - which their taxes paid for).
The "Occupy People" are squatters, who obtained no permits, they have trashed parks and streets, and they have not allowed the citizens of the communities access to their own parks and streets.
Now, which group should be the model for our children? Which group honors their fellow citizen?
That's not to claim that the Occupy protesters are better; it's that they aren't any worse. This delusion that America is split between a neat, orderly, employed, responsible side (that conveniently happens to be all conservative) and a messy, riotous, unemployed, irresponsible side (all non-conservatives; in modern conservative-speak, that means "liberal" since y'all have a bipolar view of politics as a throwback to the Cold War) is just that: a delusion.
People are angry right now. A big chunk of them came together to form the Tea Party groups that began as anti-bailout and were rapidly folded into the Republican Party as anti-Democratic activists. Another big chunk is occupying parks across the country. You can disagree with their messages and even their methods; that's what discourse is all about.
But this idea that they're dishonorable or less American that you? Get real. The Tea Party folks are reactionaries who, if they found themselves in 1775, would be telling the Founding Fathers to sit down, shut up, and obey the King.
The OWS nihilist hooligans have taken their cue from Princess Pelosi and Hussein Obama, both of whom have praised them. Bachmann has been the most courageous and honorable among in the political class for labeling the OWS crowd for what it is: an organized mob of Communists and other radicals who want something for nothing.
If you actually knew anything about the Constitution or the history of the American Republic, you'd be better for the effort. Read some non-propaganda books on the subject.