Tip 'o the billfold to Bachmann

Ah, dontcha just love campaign season...

We are giggling tonight in spite of our fatigue (busy weekend redecorating our spare room, but more on that when we're finished). It seems our embarrassment of a representative, Michelle Bachmann, went on Hardball on Friday to blast Obama. She suggested that he might be "anti-American" and that voters should get to know him better.

Her ridiculous statements have resulted in $450,000 in donations coming in for her DFL opponent, Elwyn Tinklinberg.

What strikes me about this is that in the news Bachmann's campaign just reiterates the same line about voters needing to get more information about Obama ~ that they should know how he would lead the country. However, Bachmann and her campaign spokespeople don't seem to realize that the problem is that Bachmann is suggesting not simply that Obama would have very different priorities than McCain. No, she's suggesting that he's anti-American because he has different priorities. It's the same thing that I wrote about last week ~ making your campaign tactic the tarring of your opponent as an enemy. This is wrong. Theoretically, we have a democracy. So doesn't that mean that there are people who will disagree and that we should all be able to voice our opinions without fear that we will be scapegoated and hung out as traitors?

Seriously, of course Obama has different priorities and would lead the country in a different direction. And we should be having a vigorous debate on whose policies and priorities would best serve the country in these troubled times. That's sort of the point of the whole campaign thing. But it's just beyond ludicrous to suggest that either candidate is unpatriotic, anti-American, or a similarly dangerous threat to the welfare of the country.

I think that the surge of donations to Tinklinberg would suggest that many Americans, like myself, are just disgusted by these divide and smear tactics. That is what is making me truly hopeful right now.

And, I have to say, I apologize for the political shift lately. I have no desire to have a political blog. But it's hard not to be thinking of these things right now when we are getting hammered by campaign ads ~ I'm so fed up with Coleman, Franklin, Paulson and other ads that I can barely stand to watch TV. Just over two weeks to go, and then they can start fundraising for 2012.