The LuLac Edition #1658, June 27th, 2011

PHOTO INDEX: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MICHELE BACHMAN ON "FACE THE NATION".

BACHMAN’S BAD DAY

GOP Presidential candidate Michele Bachman had a challenging day yesterday on National TV. On CBS’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer told her point blank a few times that she had not answered his questions. But he was very polite and was quite gracious with the Congress woman allowing her to spout her canned response. As a viewer you knew the game she was playing but you were also relieved that Schieffer called her on it. If you are a Bachman fan you are going to stand by her belief systems anyway. If you are a following of politics like I am, you marveled at her skill and the fact that she was so dazzling in her unflappability. For what it was, I thought Bachman’s appearance on “Face The Nation” was quite good. It showed two things, that Bachman could answer and not answer intelligent questions from the big boys and remain cordial even when the moderator (who was also cordial) was essentially saying she was full of crap.
However on Fox TV, Chris Wallace’s line of questioning was curious.He didn’t go after Bachman on the issues like Schieffer did but instead asked her if she “was a flake?” My first thought would be this, would he ask Newt Gingrich is he was a “flake”? Herman Cain? Tim Pawlenty? Oh scratch that one, Pawlenty’s is pretty flakeless in his category. Bachman has compared the Obama government to a bunch of gangster, how about that question?
But “are you a flake?” As a Democrat I think Bachman’s positions on Health Care and the economy are way off base but this woman is an elected Congress woman that can volley with the best of them. I might categorize her positions as dangerous but certainly not “flakey”. I was offended by the tabloid like assertion and especially the bluntness. If he had said, “There are those who say you are a flake” that would have been much more palatable.
Bachman seemed offended by the line of questioning. "I think that would be insulting to say something like that because I'm a serious person," she explained. She then went on to tout all the ways in which she was, indeed, serious.
"I'm 55 years old. I've been married 33 years," she said. "I'm not only a lawyer, I have a post-doctorate degree in federal tax law from William and Mary. I've worked in serious scholarship … my husband and I have raised five kids, we've raised 23 foster children. We've applied ourselves to education reform. We started a charter school for at-risk kids. I've also been a state senator and member of the United States Congress for five years."
So there, she told him. The blow back on this thing was so huge that Wallace wound up apologizing and said “I messed up”. More than likely this incident will get more press than the CBS interview where she was actually called out by Bob Scheffer. And this “flake gate” will give her added exposure. So even though it was a rough day at the outset for Bachman, she easily skated CBS’ line of questioning and did herself proud as a dissembling pol. On Fox, she even did better, she put “The Fair and Balanced” network in the position of first being a bully and then having to apologize for the “mess up”. All in all, it wasn’t a bad day for the duly elected Congresswoman from Minnesota. Even though that’s not the way it seemed when viewers were seeing her on “Face the Nation” and “Fox News Sunday”.

A MALE CLUB?

Several emailers wanted to know if there were any women candidates who threw their hat into the ring to replace A.J. Munchak as Lackawanna County Commissioner. I asked Lackawanna County party chair Lance Stange who advised me that Elisabeth Bonczar from Abingtons was one of the applicants vying for the position. Three males were picked, Bill Jones, Bruce Smallcombe and Steven Scarpetti. I understand that the GOP is trying to just get a viable replacement and they can’t do anything about the fact that only one woman applied. But again it should be pointed out that no woman has ever be nominated, elected or appointed a Lackawanna County Commissioner in its entire history. Just saying.

BLAGO CONVICTED

Former Apprentice TV contestant and Governor of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been convicted of 17 of the 20 charges against him, including all 11 charges related to his attempt to sell or trade President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. Jurors deadlocked on one charge of attempted extortion in an alleged shakedown involving funding for a school in the district of then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel. The jury found him not guilty of soliciting bribes in the alleged shakedown of a road-building executive. The panel deadlocked on a charge of attempted extortion on that same case.