Bachmann Flubs Fifth Grade American History

[forty6]

Source: Think Progress.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made a high profile trip to New Hampshire today as part of a potential 2012 presidential run, but the tea party favorite, who often refers to the early days of the Republic in speeches and media appearances, embarrassingly mangled basic American history, incorrectly stating that the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, to have occurred in New Hampshire, instead of Massachusetts:

“What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty,” the potential GOP presidential candidate said. “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord. And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors the very first price that had to be paid to make this the most magnificent nation that has ever arisen in the annals of man in 5,000 years of recorded history.”

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/12/bachmann-flubs-american-history/

---

Of course, to Bachmann, there's only 6000 years of the history of man... since God did his thing and created us all as we are now.

[tallahasseedem]

1. Holy crap!

She's writing our campaign ads in 2012!

[virgogal]

38. Even Bobby Thomson would be offended. His feat was the

shot heard round the world.

:-)

[niyad]

2. it is bad enough that she is this stupid--but what bothers me most are the people who voted for her

[glinda]

5. The newly built mega-churches and businesses. CofC big supporter.

[peacetalksforall]

6. I don't think her followers know or understand her wild ride of attention for which

she is noq qualified. They adore her rhetoric and don't know she was coached in how to push the hate, fear, and selfish buttons.

[Cirque du So-What]

10. Her adoring fans don't know noner that shit either

They're PROUD of her not knowing all those stoopid, useless facts.

[SemperEadem]

21. exactly--and it's those people who feel they have more of a right

to vote than do college students, or those who don't own land.

To me, a willfully ignorant voter who is proud of its ignorance is the most dangerous voter.

They will always vote against their own economic interests and that is a danger to everyone.

[AlbertCat]

46. the people who voted for her

They think Bunker Hill is hot dog chili.

[deanable]

56. You are forgetting something

When stupid people get elected, its because stupid people vote for them.

[wordpix]

76. "friends don't let stupid friends vote for stupid people"

something like that :evilgrin:

[Enthusiast]

78. Me too.

The level of support she has illustrates the effectiveness of far right wing propaganda. Her supporters are gullible dummies, even worse than Bachmann herself, as incredible as that might sound.

[City Lights]

3. Oh brother. What an embarrassment.

:dunce:

[forty6]

9. I bet the people of NH were NOT impressed, THEY know where

Lexington and Concord are, and where Plymouth rock is!

Stuff like that does NOT impress...it's like going to Iowa and telling them you are proud of the brave Iowans at the Alamo.

[ellenfl]

13. are you sure? they ARE republicans.

:evilgrin:

ellen fl

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. Regressives. The new term for Repubs is..Regressives.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x624982

:evilgrin:

[BREMPRO]

39. every dem, Independant AND republicans know this history in NH- It's common knowledge.

Her lack of command of colonial history in shockingly ignorant and I'm sure there were gasps in the audience. She's cooked in New England anyway. Maybe she can rule her own fantasy land in the heartland, but not here.

[ellenfl]

45. it's common knowledge if american history were still taught in school . . . eom

[BillyJack]

52. LOL

[givemebackmycountry]

44. Hey!

I'm in FLORIDA and EVERYONE knows The Alamo is in FLORIDA.

Jeeze, what are ya stupid?

:rofl:

[No Elephants]

85. Like saying the Alamo is in Iowa, or Iowa is our nation's capitol.

[DeSwiss]

4. K&R

[Zorro]

7. The Queen of Babble On strikes again

[SemperEadem]

22. she's no queen--she's the wench of babble

[madmax]

8. Hold on Michelle,

allow me to get you a bigger shovel. :evilgrin:

[Blacksheep214]

11. At least N.H. had the witch trials!

:banghead:

C'mon Fox. Back her up!

[polmaven]

51. Exactly!

Salem New Hampshire - is most definitely where the witch trials took place....Or was it Salem Oregon?11?!//? it is all so confusing!

[SoapBox]

12. Wile E. "Bachmann" Coyote....SUPPPPPER Genius!

...oh man, what a maroon.

Bugs takes on the SUPPPPPER Genius here:

http://www.spike.com/video-clips/1v3u0a/wile-e-coyote-genius

[L. Coyote]

63. Careful with the Coyote associations there.

:rofl:

[benld74]

14. I'm THE Wisconsin Congresswoman and I'm not smarter than a 5th grader

[spooky3]

16. Bachmann is from MN.

[DissedByBush]

18. Ouch, that hurt, but

I am hesitant to gloat over mistakes like this.

I used to laugh hilariously during the Quayle years, but learned eventually that everybody does it.

So I can't be too harsh, or a conservative will throw it right back.

Like Obama's 57 states or Secretary of State Clinton flubbing the names of a couple EU diplomats, including Javier Solana ("Solano").

[SemperEadem]

24. I will gloat because she and her stupid movement

pride themselves basing their whole reason for being on what the founding fathers of this country intended.

If she can't figure out basic American history and demonstrate her understanding of what has been documented for clearly 2 1/2 centuries, then that totally destroys the foundation upon which this whole farce of the tea booger movement and her "presidential campaign" is based.

[No Elephants]

82. Not comparable AT ALL

I don't believe for a second that Obama was ever confused about how many states the U.S. has. First, apart from spending 4 years in Indonesia, he grew up in Hawaii. And, even in Indonesia, he was with his mom. He's heard all his life about our 50th and, so far, our last state.

Second, he was a U.S. Senator when he said 57 states. I'm guessing he knew very well we had 100 Senators, 2 from each state.

Third, when he said it, he was CEO of one of the best planned campaigns in history, talking how many red states and blue states 24/7. However, he was also exhausted.

That may have been the only time the word "misspoke" was spot on re: a politician. His mind knew it almost as well as his own name. His mouth said it wrong, though. A simple slip of the tongue made by a tired, stressed man reeiving death threats daily for the first time in his life, nothing more.

As for Hillary, are you kidding? With all the people she encounters, it's a wonder she was only off by one letter. Whether a Latin sounding name of an individual ends in "a" or "o" is a significant error in the big piture of her job? Are you kidding?

And that is one individual's name, not Plymouth Rock, where our nation's first surviving settlors arrived, as we mention at least once every single year, or Lexington and Concord where the first shot in our war of independence was fired, also mentioned every year. Or "potato," a word (unlike Solana) that everyone born here grew up with and sees everywhere all the time --books, magazines, newspapers, supermarkets, even toy stores.

Not as though anyone gave Bachman or Quayle a pop quiz, either. This was a trip and speech she chose, prepared for and gave. As for Quayle, he sat in a classroom and butt in unasked to "correct" a kid who had spelled "potato" perfectly.

Clearly, Obama had a slip of the tongue as to an important fact of American history, even though he knew it, and Hillary made a minor mistake in one individual's name. On the other hand, Bachmann clearly believed Pilgrims landed in NH and our Revolution began there, also very important facts about our nation.

Obama misspoke an important fact of American history while speaking off the cuff AND knowing better. Bachman was giving a prepared speech and clearly did not know any better than what came out of her mouth.

Equally clearly, Quayle not only did not know how to spell an everyday word, but also did not know enough to keep his mouth shut in someone else's classroom.

Sorry, you're trying to conpare oranges and potatoes. Very false equivalencies.

[SteveG]

25. but does she know that?

nt

[polmaven]

53. Does SHE know that?

:shrug:

[on point]

15. Facts and Reality are sooo Elitist!! Who needs them when I can make up my own nonsense??

[Plucketeer]

17. Bachmann

Dunce of the Month Club. charter member! :dunce:

[renegade000]

19. Those important events in US History

couldn't have possibly happened in Taxachusetts! :crazy:

[forty6]

32. Next thing you know, she will be telling us that the ORIGINAL Tea Party was in

New Hampshire!

New Hampshire was originally part of the VERMONT colony........ look it up

Oh that Bernie Sanders represented those modern Teabaggers NOW!!!!!!!!!

[donquijoterocket]

43. She'll

really feel as foolish as it's possible for such a dunce to feel when she realizes- or is told Vermont,the progenitor of New Hampshire has legalized gay marriage and might very well be on the way to a single payer health care system or that New Hampshire itself has legalized marriage equality.
I've seen commentary about the wingularity- a region of ignorance so dense that not a particle of logic and reality can escape.BS crazy Shelley might very well be the massive core of that region.Thing is I doubt seriously if many of her bagger supporters will realize the fact of her massive ignorance and incompetence. It's a badge of honor with them.She was unlikely to pull much support in Mass.anyway and now even any slight chance has evaporated. Of course the wingers will do their best to explain this away and to try to relate it to President Obama's misspeak about 57 states.

[Sonoman]

20. I dare ANYONE to diagram that last sentence.

I was just emerging from The Hangover of the Year when I read that.

My head is splitting, again.

Sonoman

[forty6]

33. English teachers from around the world will hold a worldwide conference to see if they can....

do that for you!

LOL

[elleng]

23. History AND GEOGRAPHY!!! FAIL!

[Taverner]

26. I think she's purposefully making herself ignorant based on her own delusions of grandeur.

Just sayin

[zbdent]

28. what's scary is this ...

her errors will become the new "accepted standard".

Not that Lexington & Concord and Plymouth Rock will have to move to New Hampshire, but the idea that you don't have to know all that "buk larnin' stuff" like all the "intulekchuls".

Remember ... all the hoopla about the "great conservative" who won the White House in 2000, after years of people saying "You gotta run the Government like a business!", they elected a guy who ran every business venture he was in charge of into bankruptcy ... including the U.S. economy.

[forty6]

34. Sorry to disagree... New Hampshire natives KNOW about colonial..

history, and the part New Hampshire played in it.

Portsmouth, NH, is FULL of revolutionary history..sea captain's houses, lots of farmers from up-country served in Washington's army, too.

They ALSO know about the treaties worked out in New Hampshire, at Bretton Woods.....(Google it), and the plight of northern farmers in the French and Indian wars, well before 1775... the conflict over the northern borders with what is now Canada.....how loyalists fled there....there is a rich NH history of colonial and revolutionary times, not to compare with Paul Revere or William Dawes, or Concord and Lexington, nor Plymouth rock, Provincetown, all of Cape Cod, but there is rich colonial and revolutionary history of NH out there....pity she can't afford to hire an historian to fill her in on the legacy NH gives to all of the USA.

[AlbertCat]

49. New Hampshire natives KNOW about colonial history, and the part New Hampshire played in it.

Like Southerners know about their local Civil War history, I assume. (That's not snark, BTW)

Imagine if Michell came down to GA and declared the Civil War started there. What would happen to all those GOP Teabagger rebel rednecks? Do they still go with her? Their heads would explode.

[cynthia]

88. New Englanders know their colonial history

There is no way a single native New Englander will let her slide. Colonial history knowledge must be in the water. I grew up there and I can attest there is a marked difference in the culture of history knowledge in the New England states as compared to the Midwest. They will see her for the ignorant pretty face that she is - NOT fit to be president, or even congresswoman! If her district was populated by people from New England, she wouldn't be in office!

Just sayin..

[BobbyBoring]

29. What scares me is her eyes

Paul Ryan has that same bat shit crazy look

[Zambero]

60. I noticed the same thing about Ryan!

They both appear to be under deep hypnosis: You are getting very, very sleepy. You are feeling very, very conservative. As you fall into a trance, the facts as you knew them will mean nothing. You will believe what I tell you and nothing else. When you awaken you will be oblivious to reality...

[FeelingBlue]

65. Try looking

at Scott Walker's eyes. Same story, different face.:shrug:

[PfcHammer]

30. Harrible knowledge of history.

:shakeshead:

[forty6]

31. Thanks to some moderator web site folk here who promoted MY thread to the ...

FRoNT PAGE !!!!! Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

Never had THAT happen before.......

Hope this cooks Michele for good, people in NH are very unlikely to vote for her.....having lived in NH and Mass most of my life....and Maine and California....spent some time in Iowa, DC, FL..........you don't come to a state without appreciating and respecting their history accurately....

If I went to DC and said that THEY were the site of the Continental Congress....or to California and talked about the Alamo....no native would respect me!

[onehandle]

35. Bachmann needs a cheat sheet to wipe her ass. nt

[wordpix]

77. I think she wrote it on her hand---no wait, that was Sarah Dumb & Dumber

[rurallib]

36. And I bet you guys never heard of Ethan Allen and the

Massachusetts Bay Company.
Look if Michelle says it's true, then it's true. And history better start fixing itself.

[forty6]

37. LOL......Ethan Allen was a furniture maker, right? They moved to

the South, in the 1920's, and to China in the 1990's!

[Duck]

40. History?

So after House lied to the religious fanatics so that he could do the medical procedure to save their son, despite their belief that God would heal him if that was his will...

Wilson "You could have reasoned with them instead of tricking them?"

House "If you could REASON with them.........they wouldn't BE religious fanatics"

Same with the Repugnant ones. If you look closely, you will see that they enjoy watching our frustration when they state the lies. To those without honor, it is only a game. Don't hope for them to change, they won't. Don't hope for them to see the truth, they could care less. Understand this...they have always existed, and always will.

"Crime when it succeeds is called virtue." - Lucius Seneca..Roman Statesman, 5 BC to 65 AD

[Botany]

41. Boston New Hampshire?

:rofl:

[PatrynXX]

42. See now she should know that..

oh but I'm sure they made fun of Christina A..

[spartan61]

47. Yes, DUers, Michele Bachmann, is as

stupid as she looks.

[RBInMaine]

48. "And this is also where Abe Lincoln crossed the Delaware." Bachman AKA Fucking Idiot

[Lone_Star_Dem]

50. She's the prefect IQ and education for a Teabagger leader!

Keep on clutching that teabag in your hot little paw, Michele. Remind the public exactly who and what you are. :rofl:

[Roci]

54. To any Minnesota Resident..a plea..

I'd like to hear from folk in this gal's district. Maybe one of them can explain to me why some folks in Minnesota (One of the nicer, more "common sense" states in the American Union) can tell me why and how someone this loony was ever elected to public office. If this gal is the "best and brightest" in her district, I worry for Minnesota.

[CatholicEdHead]

55. Not from her district

But it is very gerrymandered. There are blue areas around St Cloud & Collegeville/St Joseph (St Cloud State & St Johns/St Bens) that are college towns. But her district carries much of the Republican northern Twin Cities suburbs which are quite red. I have also heard of many new mega churches that have been created over the past decade to turn peoples' minds off.

[CoffinEd]

57. And she was re-elected, right? n/t

[L. Coyote]

64. They created a special district for her. First, the surveyed MN for low intelligence

and right-wing extremism, .....

[CoffinEd]

67. I see...

Thanks for the info. ;-)

[SomeGuyInEagan]

86. Yes, but not at 50+% until the 2010 election ...

Previous elections had her in the mid-40s in a three-way race.

The previous poster is correct in that it is a gerrymandered district, created after the 2000 census, I believe. It is very wide, east-to-west, circles around the Twin Cities on the north and contains mostly rural and suburban areas. St. Cloud, I believe, is the largest "metro" in the district and has a long history of racial problems. And, as previously posted, you will find a lot of mega-churches out there.

In short, it is a lot of people voting against their own self-interests (like many places in America), with a history of racism in some of the areas, lied to and exploited by mega-churches, business interests and those who have money in the district who benefit financially by this arrangement ... like many places in America.

[Historic NY]

58. Bet she couldn't even pass a citizenship test.

[Zambero]

59. Apparently, stupid sells in wingnut circles

Despite a long and an unbroken streak of idiotic remarks, she remains a right wing hero. If Bachman was to suddenly reverse course and deal with factual information, her "loyal base" might well abandon her.

[applegrove]

61. She is like Palin in that when she makes a mistake she can then commiserate with her

ignorant teabag followers and they can bond over the meanies who point out she(they) are wrong. Does she do it purposefully? Is it so that her followers will have a different creation myth than other Americans...keeping them locked into her world well into the future? Is it all these reasons? Cause I find with the neocons/repukes/teabag leaders that they usually have more than one reason for doing things.

[L. Coyote]

62. "the most magnificent nation ...in 5,000 years of recorded history" built on continent-wide genocide

"the most magnificent nation that has ever arisen in the annals of man in 5,000 years of recorded history."

Where did this Congress critter go to history class. When did genocide get to be so wonderful?

On edit: Oh yeah, Michelle, it is the annals of humanity. I thought women knew that much! :rofl:

[wordpix]

66. she ties with Palin as being the stupidest woman in the US

[DirkGently]

68. Wow. That's impressive ignorance even for her.

[dflprincess]

69. I was amazed that even the local (Minneapolis) news pointed out this flub

usually they don't seem to bother.

I'm afraid poor old Michelle would be a tad shocked to find out that some of us on the left had ancestors who "paid with their blood" and, if they could see her, would probably wonder why they bothered if this is what the U.S. has become.

[Douglas Carpenter]

70. I doubt that Representative Bachmann's supporters care

High faluting book learning is for elitist

[progressoid]

71. She's not running in 2012.

She's just basking in the glow of teabagger spotlight (and collecting speaking fees). Just like Palin.

[fortyfeetunder]

72. Calling Jeff Foxworthy...

new potential contestant for "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader"?

[UrbScotty]

73. Realize that this may just help her chances

See: Dan 'Potatoe' Quayle and George W.

[Doctor_J]

74. Anyone who goes to see Bachmann speak doesn't care

that she's a thundering moron. they're there to watch her foam at the mouth and call the president a traitor and a foreigner. they got what they came for.

[tanyev]

75. Only elitist history fact Nazis who hate America would care about something like that.

[sofa king]

79. Jeez. Everyone knows the Patriots are from the state of New England.

[Scuba]

80. I'm amazed. I would have never imagined....

...that Michelle Bachmann graduated from 4th Grade.

[alp227]

81. so shouldn't conservatives, who LOVE LOVE LOVE American history, be outraged?

I mean given that Sarah Palin's approval ratings are sinking even among the right I guess that Bachmann may blow off the tolerance meter a bit.

[patrice]

83. Assumptions > "blood sacrifice" must be paid = SCARY frakking bitch!

[eringer]

84. This picture says it all

[yellowcanine]

87. Just a slip of the tongue. I am sure she meant to say Indonesia.

:evilgrin: :rofl:

[forty6]

92. Good one, Mr O'Reilly!!! LOL n/t

[midnight armadillo]

89. Concord, NH != Concord, MA

Heck, just look @ the zip codes... Concord MA 01775, Lincoln MA 01773, Sudbury MA 01776, Wayland MA 01778

hmmm...coincidence? Don't think so!

[Overseas]

90. Again. //nt

[goforit]

91. Shock and awe of a manchurian canidate using dumb statements

to distract us all.

[VaYallaDawg]

93. I keep hoping she'll come to VA and do something similar.

We have two wars here that she could trip up on. But the problem is, as so many others pointed out, the screwier her mistakes the more she endears herself to the TP wingnuts. At the same time, though, there's no question she is a problem for the regular GOP.

[No Elephants]

94. If only Jamestown had not been in Virginia!

[VaYallaDawg]

95. Jamestown??? In VA??? Surely you mean MD!!!

[SOS]

96. How is this possible?

These teabaggers claim to be "patriots" and yet she doesn't know that the Battle of Lexington and Concord
was in Massachusetts?
This level of stupidity is unfathomable.

Her speechwriter should really stop using this book as her primary historical reference:

[No Elephants]

97. In fairness, her knowledge of U.S. geography is as defective of her knowledge of U.S.history.

Scary thing is, this was the result of Bachman (and, no doubt, someone who works for her) PREPARING a speech for something as important as kicking off her Presidential primary campaign.

Imagine if she had to propel into ation with no time to prepare or was speaking extemporaneously, say, as POTUS to a semi- unfriendly head of state.

[Blue_Tires]

98. "extreme" love of liberty?

dog-whistling already....:puke: