Bachmann Proves Red Meat Isn't Enough
IN THE NEWS: Bachmann relieves GOP headache … Chafee switching parties – again … House to hear testimony from targeted tea party groups … Stopping China from buying our hot dogs … Hacking as a continuation of military service … Congressional comb-overs
THE TAKE
Bachmann Proves Red Meat Isn't Enough
When a member of Congress announces that he or she is leaving office but it has nothing to do with politics, don't buy it. That's the case with Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose videotaped retirement announcement featured a lengthy denial that her decision had anything to do with her barely winning reelection in the most conservative House district in Minnesota last year.
In truth, Bachmann's trouble back home illustrates the limitations of using red-meat rhetoric as a substitute for legislative accomplishment. Bachmann's bluster earned her plenty of national attention, but turned off anyone outside the hard-core Republican base. Her presidential run distracted her from her responsibilities as a representative, alienating nonideological constituents and colleagues alike.
Her career is also a lesson for tea-party-aligned Republicans, who often are mocked for their tone as much as their policy views. When conservatives talk about cutting spending and regulations, they can find themselves with a potent political message. (Just look at the recent battle over sequestration.) But when members like Bachmann, the head of the Tea Party Caucus in the House, are the face of that argument, their views become a lot easier to caricature.
Josh Kraushaar
jkraushaar@nationaljournal.com
TOP NEWS
BACHMANN'S DEPARTURE RELIEVES GOP HEADACHE. Rep. Michele Bachmann's decision to retire from Congress (video here) next year will bring to a close a political career full of sound and fury, signifying—well, not much, Hotline's Reid Wilson writes. Bachmann's bombastic personality led to almost nonstop controversy. Her staff turned over constantly. One former chief of staff, Andy Parrish, is at the heart of several investigations stemming from Bachmann's 2012 presidential bid. As she leaves her Minnesota seat, Democrats lose a potent fundraising tool and makes taking her seat that much harder. Republicans lose a headache they would just as soon do without. Read more
The loss of Bachmann will make Washington a less interesting place to fact-check, The Washington Post's Fact Checker writes.
BACHMANN'S LESSONS FOR FEMALE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. For a while there in 2011, or at least for a few minutes that August, Michele Bachmann was a real contender for the Republican presidential nomination. The race she ran offers several lessons for women who may be thinking of making a White House bid, National Journal's Jill Lawrence writes: Spend what you must to look good, ignore the noise, and build a fact-based case for why you deserve the top job and those other guys don't. Read more
National Journal's Michael Catalini has compiled a list of five of Bachmann's most memorable sound bites. Read more
CHAFEE TO SWITCH PARTIES AGAIN. Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who was elected as an independent in 2010 after serving as a Republican senator, intends to join the Democratic Party, Politico reports. Chafee, who campaigned for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, faces a potential Democratic primary fight against state Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. Read more
@aedwardslevy: "The party of Lincoln" now means "all of them" http://goo.gl/bwndm
HOUSE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE HOLDER OF CONTRADICTIONS IN TESIMONY. Top House Judiciary Committee Republicans on Wednesday demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder explain what they say is a contradiction in his sworn testimony at a May 15 hearing and subsequent revelations about his department's obtaining a search warrant in 2010 for e-mails of a Fox News reporter, National Journal's Billy House reports. Read more
Holder will hold an off-the-record meeting this week with D.C. bureau chiefs to discuss changes to guidelines for media subpoenas, Politico reports
McCONNELL CITES IRS, NIXON IN CAMPAIGN VIDEO. A new web video from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticizes the Obama administration for the IRS's targeting of conservative groups for additional scrutiny. The web video includes news footage and clips of current and former IRS officials appearing before Congress, as well as a clip of then-President Nixon saying, "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." The two-and-a-half-minute ad concludes with the text, "Intimidation. Retaliation. Secretive" and a voiceover of President Obama saying, "We're going to punish our enemies and we're going to reward our friends." Read more
HOUSE PANEL TO HEAR FROM TEA-PARTY GROUPS IN IRS INQUIRY. Conservative groups singled out by the IRS for special scrutiny after applying for tax-exempt status will testify June 4 at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee, The Hill reports. Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said in a statement, "While we now know that the IRS began targeting individuals based on their personal beliefs three years ago, we still need to know who began this targeting and why, and we need to understand how individuals were affected by the IRS's abuse." Read more
National Journal's Ben Terris explores the case of Gibson Guitar, which Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., says was unfairly targeted by federal regulators due to the conservative leanings of its CEO.
REPORTED U.S. DRONE STRIKE KILLS TALIBAN LEADER IN PAKISTAN. Pakistani officials said Tuesday that a high-ranking Taliban operative was killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike, The New York Times reports. According to sources, Wali ur-Rehman, who was among five killed in the missile strike in the town of Miram Shah in North Waziristan, was the deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban; a Taliban commander confirmed his death. Rehman, who in 2010 was listed by the U.S. government as a "specially designated global terrorist," had a $5 million bounty on his head. Read more
The recently discovered al-Qaida letter that chastised one of its operatives for, among other things, failing to file expense reports, is remarkable for its banality, National Journal's Niraj Chokshi writes.
HOW ONE U.S. AGENCY COULD STOP CHINA FROM BUYING OUR HOT DOGS. Chinese and U.S. markets are becoming closer and closer by the day, but there is one government agency that stands to keep this in check: the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The committee is back in the news this week for its upcoming role in approving the biggest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese company with the announced merger of U.S. pork-producer Smithfield Foods and Shuanghui International Holdings. National Journal's Matt Vasilogambros explains how CFIUS could stop the deal. Read more
TOMORROW
GDP REVISIONS OUT. Revisions to first-quarter gross domestic product will be out Thursday, and the country's economy is expected to show an expansion of 2.5 percent – essentially showing no change from figures first reported last month -- according to a survey of economists conducted by Bloomberg.
QUOTABLE
"I think we have 60 votes. Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats." -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the prospects for immigration legislation in the Senate (National Review)
BEDTIME READING
HACKING AS A CONTINUATION OF MILITARY SERVICE.Newsweek's Michael Moynihan talks to a notorious hacker known as the Jester, who has hacked Wikileaks, a Gaddafi-backed news site, a Taliban website, and the Westboro Baptist Church website. He has acknowledged that his enemies are often similar to America's enemies, and he's never been charged by the government for his hacking activities, but he said he has no relationship with authorities. He says he simply puts things "where certain people might 'find' them." The Jester and his hacking have become mythic, though he's never been identified and rarely speaks with journalists, but he's also representative of the increasing ideology behind hacking, calling it a "continuation of [military] service." Read more
REALITY CHECK
WHY A MEDIA SHIELD LAW ISN'T ENOUGH TO SAVE JOURNALISTS. National Journal's Matthew Cooper is all for a shield law to protect journalists and their sources from government prosecutors and hopes that Congress passes one. But Cooper, who was caught up in the CIA-leak case involving Valerie Plame during the Bush administration, doesn't have lots of faith that the ideas under consideration in Congress or any law can protect journalists adequately. Read more
THE QUIRK
THE 23 MOST IMPORTANT COMB-OVERS OF CONGRESS. From the "round-the-world" to the "full-court-press," to the "crashing wave," BuzzFeed rounds up nearly two-dozen unfortunate hairstyles currently topping the heads of Washington lawmakers. See it here
