Ohio paper: Bachmann wrong on census

It's amazing, isn't it, that a representative from a relatively unimportant district can generate so much attention around the country. Not because of what she's *achieved* in her ten years in political life--but because of her lack of judgment and credibility.

These are excerpts from an editorial in the Toledo Blade. The paper takes Bachmann to task for her stand against participation in the census. The same editorial criticizes National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders for encouraging illegal immigrants and others to boycott the census. The paper's point is that politics make strange bedfellows. (I don't know if the paper knows that Bachmann has attempted demonized illegal immigrants.)

Here are some excerpts regarding Bachmann (the critique of the Latino Clergy leaders can be read in the full editorial, here.)

...Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) has said she would refuse to answer census questions other than the number of people in her home as a protest against government intrusiveness. "I think there is a point when you say enough is enough," she told Fox News last month.

Ms. Bachmann also claimed - incorrectly - that ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), the liberal group whose voter registration activities became a flash point in last year's presidential election, would be "in charge of going door-to-door and collecting data from the American public" during next year's national survey.

Rather, ACORN is just one of tens of thousands of groups that have offered to help get the word out about the census.

It is, of course, a little difficult to take Ms. Bachmann seriously. She is the same person who earlier this year thought it was "interesting" that the last time there was a swine flu outbreak there was a Democrat in the White House as well (She was wrong then, too. Republican Gerald Ford was president during the last outbreak.). Ms. Bachmann also thinks government intrusion is fine when it comes to denying gay rights, and last year introduced the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act to stop the phaseout of the incandescent light bulb.

But it is disturbing that Ms. Bachmann seems not to know that the information gathered by the decennial census has always been more comprehensive than a simple counting of heads.

And it is even more disturbing that neither Ms. Bachmann nor the immigrant advocacy group appear aware of the uses the data gathered can and cannot be put to. Personal information from the census is confidential and cannot by law be used by the police, the courts, federal immigration officers, or anyone else.

The collective data are used by the federal government not only to determine congressional representation but, perhaps more significantly, to distribute about $300 billion in federal and state funds for roads, health initiatives, education, and other uses. And state and local governments use data such as age and ethnicity to plan for current and future needs...

...As for the congressman from Minnesota, if Ms. Bachmann wants to get government out of people's private lives, perhaps she should focus her efforts on something really intrusive, such as the Patriot Act.