Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) personifies just how haywire House conservatives have gone lately, particularly on energy issues.
She quickly made a name for herself after being elected to Congress in 2006. In fact, she gained some dubious notoriety even before being elected, announcing to a Brooklyn Park, Minnesota congregation in October 2006 that "God then called [her] to run for the United States Congress."
If possibly violating election laws weren’t enough, Bachmann really upped the ante once she got to D.C. Following the 2007 State of the Union speech, she got an autograph from President Bush as he was exiting the House Chamber and then infamously held onto his shoulder for over 30 seconds until she could lean back in for a kiss on the lips:
Bachmann began this week with their tactic du jour, a malicious attack upon Nancy Pelosi (e.g. Minority Leader Boehner recently said that the American people would “hang” Pelosi over offshore drilling). Bachmann put her own special twist on the attack by making reference to a recent comment by Pelosi that she is “trying to save the planet” and “will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy.” Bachmann’s unbelievable retort? We don’t need Nancy Pelosi, Jesus already saved the planet:
[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.
Bachmann followed this up later in the week, appearing on CNN to say that following a trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, she thinks that it’s “the most perfect place on the planet to drill.” Watch it:
Two months ago, she claimed that caribou would just love more drilling and pipelines, saying that pipelines have “become a meeting ground and ‘coffee klatch’ for the caribou.”
And it’s not just drilling that Bachmann is confused about. Last month, during an appearance on harpy cum right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham’s show, she complained that the Democrats were hypocrites when it comes to renewable energy:
They’re so strange Laura, they won’t even pass the tax credit for solar and wind right now. I mean, they claim to be the big solar/wind people, they won’t even pass that.
It is of course actually Senate conservatives, led by Senator John McCain, that have blocked the clean energy tax incentives, forcing Congressional leaders to hold more than a dozen votes on the issue in the hopes of avoiding 116,000 layoffs [PDF] in the wind and solar industries alone.
Conservatives blocked the Senate from even taking up the incentives twice in as many days the week just before Congress went on recess. What’s more, Bachmann herself joined 159 other conservatives in voting against the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act when it last came up in the House. She also voted against repealing Big Oil’s tax breaks (several times), against a Renewable Electricity Standard, and against the first increase in fuel economy standards in over 30 (twice).
And just to round out this week’s energy idiocy from House conservatives, I give you Rep. Bill Sali of Idaho: “there could be up to 40 barrels of oil in a single tree.”
Knock on wood that Nancy Pelosi is in charge of the House and doesn’t take such “hoaxes” lying down.
[editor’s note, by Josh Dorner]:Forgot to thank my friends at ThinkProgress for pulling together all of these great videos. So thanks!
