Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) just finished up a conference call with conservative bloggers in preparation for tomorrow's Tea Party Patriot anti-health care reform rally she's hosting at the Capitol. TPMDC joined the call and asked Bachmann about the big story coming out of her office today: the resignation of her chief of staff, which some Republicans speculated was due to media stunts like the one she's hosting tomorrow.
Bachmann refused to answer questions about the resignation, saying tersely, "out of respect for privacy, I don't comment on personnel matters."
Pressed on whether her staff has been upheaval over the Bachmann-led Tea Party Rally tomorrow, Bachmann again refused to respond. "I've already given my answer," she said.

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Ann Arbor
November 4, 2009 9:23 PM
How about a delegation of Patriots for Sanity marching on Bachmann's office?
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jzap
November 4, 2009 11:20 PM in reply to Ann Arbor
Shirley, you must have meant Hannity.
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East Coast Aussie
November 5, 2009 3:01 AM in reply to jzap
That'd be one of their HQ's already wouldn't it?
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ClosetLuddite
November 5, 2009 6:53 AM in reply to jzap
And stop calling me Shirley!
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chimpale
November 4, 2009 9:34 PM
A few questions come to mind.
1) Does she have any plan for ensuring that the people who show up are with her and not against her? Any vetting of any kind or just a free-for-all?
2) What happens if someone gets carried away and there's physical violence? Will Bachmann be held accountable?
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Kuyleh
November 4, 2009 9:38 PM
Everyone that's the praying type needs to say one concerning tomorrow. Things could get really bad really quick if these nutsos get gun happy.
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Waltz
November 4, 2009 10:20 PM
So, we know it's a personal matter. So either Michelle let THAT out of the bag, or she's a liar. Cool.
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Dorn76
November 4, 2009 10:24 PM in reply to Waltz
"Personnel" matter, as in, relating to her staff.
Either way, she's a clown. No doubt about that.
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TexasFilly
November 4, 2009 10:50 PM in reply to Dorn76
Yeah, you know, just like John Ensign's Chief of Staff resigning was a personnel matter. Oh, and Ensign was screwin the guy's wife as well.
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Democracy Boy
November 4, 2009 10:58 PM
I'm with Kuyleh.
If not tomorrow, at some point soon this will get ugly.
I just happened to be flipping around AM radio a bit ago, trying to find the ballgame, and stumbled onto the Mark Levin show. I've not listened to far-right conservative radio much. It was truly stunning. While fact-free, the language is, frankly, a barely disguised call to violent arms. At a time when a decade of GOP economic policies (and a prior number of years of pro-market, deregulation-happy Clinton years), with the division of wealth wider than ever and regular folks getting the shaft, this could get ugly.
Their nonspecific rage is irrationally aimed at many of the wrong targets (no serious Tea Bag protests about corporatist control of American society and concentration of wealth, for example). But it is being stoked far and wide with crazy talk of Obama's plan to destroy the U.S. (which is, of course, why people run for president, right?)
Anyway, I don't take this seriously as a credible, long-term political movement of any kind. (Led by Bachmann????) But it creates conditions for awfulness.
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markg8
November 4, 2009 11:11 PM in reply to Democracy Boy
Didn't they just have a tea party event in DC last Thursday where all of 10 people showed up? Why yes they did. Maybe Bachmann will be able to do better with her "star" power but frankly I doubt it.
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mikedrevguy
November 5, 2009 9:35 AM in reply to markg8
Wrong Tea Party - that was the caffine free herbal Tea Baggers :
this one is the Fox approved, high octane, good ole Amercian Lipton Tea. Hmmmm good!
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BurningFeet
November 5, 2009 12:11 AM
So the eternal Cheerleader calls for a pep rally? Look deep into those blue eyes. I see a bake sale on the horizon.
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bracken
November 5, 2009 1:10 AM in reply to BurningFeet
She has eyes?
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ProudlyProgressive
November 5, 2009 11:05 AM
She doesn't comment on "personnel matters"? The personnel she pays with federal funds? Imagine if another Member said they didn't comment on how taxpayer resources are spent. She'd be calling for his head. She seems to have forgotten that she is living on taxpayer money and pays her staff with those same funds. It's a public matter, not private.
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mjshep
November 5, 2009 1:13 PM
Maybe, when you're a crewman on the Titanic and see the iceberg up ahead and realize that the Captain is ordering the ship to speed up, it's time to beat the rush to the lifeboats.
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