Good Tuesday morning,
When a bill strengthening the independence of the inspectors general offices of the executive branch flew through the House last week by a vote of 404-11, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN, was one of the 11 “nay” votes.
She later inserted into the Congressional Record a brief statement indicating that she had meant to vote “aye.”
Her brief statement, which you’ll find at the bottom of page H11203 of the Congressional Record, reads:
Mrs. Bachmann: Mr. Speaker, on rollcall vote 937, I was recorded as “nay.” It was my intention to have voted “yea.” I would like the RECORD to reflect my support of H.R. 928.
The bill, which was clearly motivated by a concern that inspector generalships have been politicized to avoid finding things embarrassing to the Bush administration, strengthens the offices in several ways. It provides that the IGs serve seven-year terms, can be removed only for cause, and their budget requests must be forwarded to Congress with or without the White House’s stamp of approval.
I inquired by email of Bachmann’s spokester whether Rep. Bachmann was saying she had accidentally pushed the wrong button on the voting machine or claiming machine error or what? I haven’t heard back but will update you if I do hear. It’s not unprecedented for members discover they didn’t vote the way they intended and to place their regrets into the Congressional Record. So perhaps this is just that.
But perhaps not. The plot thickens slightly when we learn that the Bush White House strongly opposes the 
bill, and has threatened to veto it. Bachmann is considered to be a pretty rabid fan of the president. Has she ever voted in favor of anything that Bush was threatening to veto?
The plot thickens slightly further when you look at who else voted “Nay.” All 11 were Republicans. House Repub Leader John Boehner voted no, but obviously, since only 10 others joined him, it wasn’t a vote the party leadership was pushing.
The others who’ unlike Bachmann, voted against the bill on purpose, are drawn heavily from the right wing of the GOP. Congress expert Sarah Binder of George Washington University steered me to a site that tracks all votes and uses some fancy algorithm to sort the entire House from most liberal (Pete Stark of California) to most conservative (Ron Paul of Texas).
The upshot is that the 11 no votes on the inspectors general bill draws heavily, almost entirely from the most conservative members of the House. Bachmann, who is rated the 31st most conservative by this algorithm, falls smack in the middle of the group of those who voted nay.
In short, Bachmann was voting with her president, her party’s leader and a small group of the most like-minded of Republicans.
So what think? Did her finger slip or is that consarned machine more conservative and pro-Bush than Bachmann?
Cross-posted at Minnesota Monitor.
Eric, you know as well as anybody that if Michele Bachmann responds to you at all, it is likely to be with a lie. Aren’t you still waiting for the Nonrepresentative’s promised explanation of her secret plan for Bachmannistan in the Middle East?
I think you can fairly say that Michele Bachmann was against this bill before she was for it. No “flip-flopping” among right-wingers, nosirreee.
I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place.
Even your emotions have an echo
In so much space
The vote itself was inconsequential; Bachmann must have known that it would pass overwhelmingly. What would cause her to change her mind? How did the political calculus shift so abruptly after the vote? Spot, for one, doesn’t think she merely “misvoted.”
[…] woman is a non-stop embarrassment. Eric Black has the goods: When a bill strengthening the independence of the inspectors general offices of the […]
Eric Black on Michele Bachmann’s Goof…
Eric Black notices a goof from Michele Bachmann in the congressional record….
This leads us to the conclusion that Michelle is either ultra-conservative or is ultra-conservative and too dumb to push the correct voting button. Either way, this is hardly news.
The most amazing thing about this story is that there are 30 people in Congress who are more conservative than Michelle Bachmann.
Before she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives Bachmann exclaimed something similar to isn’t she [Laura Bush] just a cupcake!
Now that she has been elected, she changed her vote from a nay to a aye. The vote was(404-11);and now it is(405-10).
I don’t know if I can figure out if a cupcake, Laura Bush, voting, and then correcting that wrong vote, really have all that much to do with a lady representing part of Minnesota, anymore than I can figure out if a wide-stance has much of anything to do with a gentleman dumping or passing stuff, in a stall in an airport lavatory, in Bloomington, Minnesota, on his way to Idaho.
Upon reflection, some things just seem to be a little out of the ordinary.
It just seems a little out of the ordinary.
I think el presidente hits on an important point: the 6th District would be better represented by a cupcake.
Think of the benefits that pastry-based representation could have for the country:
1- By throwing itself (or being thrown) at the voting machine, Rep. Cupcake has an above average shot at being bipartisan. Isn’t this what people want in these troubled times?
2- Sprinkles on Rep. Bachmann are kind of creepy; sprinkles on Rep. Cupcake are delicious. (This works for the majority of Americans; I can’t speak for the Northern Alliance; they may enjoy thinking about Bachmann sprinkles.)
3- By virtue of their inability to speak, cupcakes are inherently less likely to say something stupid about Iran, Iraq, gay marriage, and so on and so forth. Rep. Cupcake would be a model of dignity compared to Ms. Bachmann.
4- When Rep. Cupcake rubs itself up against Mr. Bush, it will be embarrassing for the President, not the state of Minnesota.
5- Because they are typically created in a baker’s dozen, cupcakes promote family values…moist and mouth-watering family values.
I’m sure there are many other good reasons why a cupcake would be a better representative than Ms. Bachmann.
[…] Eric Black pointed to a site earlier today that measures, “Non-Parametric Unfolding of Binary Choice Data.” […]