Is Bachmann Still Opposed to the Census?

March 3rd, Hayley Tsukayama on the Strib's Hot Dish Politics asked whether Bachmann "changed her mind about the Census".

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is planning to support a measure encouraging Americans to participate in the 2010 census.

The Hill's headline read "Bachmann will push 2010 census":

Bachmann communications director David Dziok explained to The Hill that the congresswoman recognizes the importance of Americans participating in the census.

“We are where we are right now in 2010, and she hopes the population is counted accurately as the resolution calls for,” Dziok said.

At the "Kill the Bill: rally yesterday at the Capitol, Twila Brase thanked Bachmann for opposing the Census.

"I want to thank Congresswoman Bachmann for her work against the Census."

Bachmann spoke right after Brase and did not correct Brase.

It's at about 9:20 on this video from The Uptake - listen and watch Bachmann's expression right after the remark:

Does Michele Bachmann Have Anything to Say About the RNC Fake Census Ploy?

Does Michele Bachmann still think Michael Steele "be da man"?



Commenter Anna points out this story in Politico.

Officials of both parties are sharply criticizing a fundraising mailing from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele they say could be confused with official correspondence regarding this year’s census.

The fundraising letter comes in the form of a “survey,” a frequently used device for partisan fundraising, but this one has a twist: Calling itself the “Congressional District Census,” the letter comes in an envelope starkly printed with the words, “DO NOT DESTROY OFFICIAL DOCUMENT” and describes itself, on the outside of the envelope, as a “census document.”

“Strengthening our party for the 2010 elections is going to take a massive grass-roots effort all across America,” Steele writes in a letter that blends official-sounding language, partisan calls to arms, and requests for between $25 and $500. “That is why I have authorized a census to be conducted for every congressional district in the country.”

The mailing is a Republican Party standby, a source of contributions — and occasional complaints — for more than a decade. But the latest round comes in a year when the actual United States census is getting under way, and officials say they’re worried that the GOP will sow confusion. News outlets in Wyoming, New York, Tennessee, and Minnesota have printed complaints about the mailers, with the director of the Census Bureau's regional office in Kansas City, Dennis Johnson, criticizing the letter in the Pioneer Press.

"My biggest concern is that it might be confusing to some residents who get this and then get the real one in a couple of months," Johnson said.

Congress is also taking an interest.

“The mailing appears to be designed to resemble official census documents and to deceive recipients as to its true origins,” wrote Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) and Rep. William Lacy Clay (Mo.), who chairs the House Subcommittee that oversees the census, in a letter last month to the U.S. Postmaster General. “We believe that the RNC mailings are an attempt to mislead recipients and appear to us to be violations of federal law,” the letter states.

The ranking Republican on the subcommittee, North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, has also raised concerns about the RNC mailing, though an aide said he hasn’t complained to the RNC directly.

“Congressman McHenry is very concerned about the integrity of the census and would discourage any organization from distributing information that intentionally or not is easily confused with official U.S. Census materials,” the aide, Parker Poling, said in reference to the RNC mailer.

Recall that congressman McHenry was one of three conservative Republican congressmen who publicly criticized Bachmann for her ludicrous statements discouraging people from answering the census.

Michele Bachmann needs to read: This article about the census

It's in the New Republic. It's a sort of "The Census and What the Hell is That All About, For Dummies." It gives you the low-down on how it's done, why it's done, what arguments you're likely to hear about it...who's for it, who's against it, what does it look like...

Michele is mentioned, and on page two of the article they run that picture of her screaming (which I love.) Michele appears on their "enemies of the census list," which also includes: Glenn Beck, G. Gordon Liddy, Senator Richard Shelby, and Senator David Vitter (my representative when I'm down Louisiana--you know, "Diaper Dave.")

G. Gordon Liddy says he's opposed to the census because it's too "intrusive." He's a convicted burglar and illegal wiretapper--but taking the census; well, that's going a *little* too far, for Liddy.

Bachmann Uses Census Data on Her Townhall Blog

A former census worker sent us this tip.

From Bachmann's Townhall blog:

The relationship between illegal immigrants and our nation's health care system is one that cannot be overlooked. In 2006, the Census Bureau reported that there were 46.6 million people without health insurance of which about 9.5 million were not United States citizens. The expense of illegal immigrants' health care in California, for instance, has become so unbearable that many municipalities had to eliminate this benefit to save tens of millions of dollars. Texas estimates that illegal immigrants cost hospitals there $1.3 billion in 2006 alone.

Did ACORN gather those statistics?

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.