Question To Bachmann About Being Submissive

[debrand]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/1 ... 25063.html

Bachmann was asked is she is a submissive wife. Her response:

Bachmann batted it aside. "I respect my husband, he's a wonderful godly man, and we respect each other."

It's sad that today, a canidate for president would be asked this question. I've never even heard a male canidate answer a question as to whether he is a good husband, much less a submissive one.

[BlackHawk]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/michele-bachmann-submissive-wife-iowa-gop-debate_n_925063.html

Bachmann was asked is she is a submissive wife. Her response:

It's sad that today, a canidate for president would be asked this question. I've never even heard a male canidate answer a question as to whether he is a good husband, much less a submissive one.

I wonder if this has less to do with the fact that she is a woman and more to do with how she presents herself as the perfect christian woman. She has stated before she only got her tax degree because her husband told her to. I bet that is where this stems from.

[debrand]

I wonder if this has less to do with the fact that she is a woman and more to do with how she presents herself as the perfect christian woman. She has stated before she only got her tax degree because her husband told her to. I bet that is where this stems from.

You're probably right.

[Patsy]

It's sad that today, this question could be answered with 'yes'. I'm assuming it was meant to be a gotcha question.

[turquoise]

I assumed the question was asked because of her previous statements about how her husband told her to get a degree in tax law.

I was really irritated by the way she ducked the question. (Of course, she wasn't the only one ducking questions.) She went on about how she and her husband respect each other. Seems to me that respect for your spouse should include respect for their interests and choices. If you truly respect your spouse, why would you pressure them to go to law school when they don't want to?

[Rosa]

She belongs (belonged?) to a really rightwing church that preaches total submission, and she used to make public statements about it. Sometime in the last year, she stopped doing that.

I'm actually really worried that, as people dip their toes into checking out her beliefs, she will continue to present as way more mainstream than she really is, and voters will think "well see just because her church says that doesn't mean anyone MEANS it".

Because they believe in submission, that divorce and abortion should be illegal, that prayer cures depression, that women should not lead in the church, that working outside the home puts you outside God's protection, the whole shebang. They mean it, and the Bachmanns are hardcore. WELS church took a lot of things off their website the last year or two as Bachmann got more famous, but I have friends who grew up Wisconsin Synod and they are super duper strict.

[Nothing2CHere]

that working outside the home puts you outside God's protection, the whole shebang.

If her and her church's beliefs are that it's not OK to work outside the home, how is she able to run for President? This seriously befuddles me - is this a case of, it's OK for her but not the rest of us wimminfolk?

[demgirl]

Yeah, she needed to be called on this horseshit. I'm super glad that it was asked and I wish there had been a follow up to nail her down on this point. She's said publicly that she's submissive to her husband. America deserves to know whether she is a liar or whether by voting for her, they are actually voting for him -- and it has to be one or the other.

She can run because he told her to... or something.

[Austin]

The issue of submission to her husband is not brought up in this interview, but the source of her "worldview" is explored and I found it very interesting:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/139084313 ... e-bachmann

[Rosa]

The WELS site has been scrubbed of nearly everything, but it used to say something on the order of, sometimes women need to work but it puts them out of the place God made for them to be safe and happy, so it is detrimental to women and the family. Not like "you are forbidden to work!" but "Bad things happen if you work!"

But yeah, Bachmann's said in the past she was perfectly happy at home but her husband pushed her to go to law school. Which is sort of on the cusp between "my husband encourages me to follow my dreams even if i'm scared!" and "Women shouldn't go to law school but I *had* to!"

[pomology]

Yeah, I also understand this question as not an implication that Bachmann should be submissive, but more to raise the question that if she claims to be submissive are we really electing her or are we electing her husband?

ETA:

Not that I would ever voluntarily participate in electing her OR her husband. And hope the we the American public would not elect her either. So what I really meant would be do we the American public have the option to vote for her or do we just have the option to vote for her husband.

[slickcat79]

It would hardly be the first time Michele Bachmann has played the hypocrite. I read this article the other day (from HuffPo, so you may need to take it with a grain of salt):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/1 ... 22851.html

But it basically describes all the ways MB tried to get her hands on stimulus money while decrying the ARRA as "fantasy economics". My favorite part was the way that she asked the EPA for funds for transportation improvements, while claiming that she would eliminate the EPA if she were elected :doh:

I really think "Do as I say, not as I do" should be the motto of the new Republican party. I know it's one of my dad's favorites...

[finleeport]

If she becomes President, I'm outta of this country.

[Angri-la]

Mrs. Marcus Bachmann is the face of what terrifies me about fundie infiltration into the mainstream. We have an obviously fundie submissive wife, whose church is very much in line with many of the people discussed on this board. Do I think the press is being harsh on her because she is a woman? Certainly, and that does make me angry, however, it should not distract from what she stands for and what her goals are. She may say "submission means respect", but I've heard plenty of fundies spout that "submission means the husband should treat his wife like a precious treasure, blahbblahblahaboverubies". It still means inequality. I don't care if others want to do it consensually, but do not expect me to, and give your daughters a choice while you raise them.

She can sugar coat her fundie background because no one asks the tough follow up questions, and the mainstream media seems to stay away from some of her more militant beliefs. Her supporters are the type of people who use no logic, the very far right Teabaggers. Her goal is to destroy the separation of Church and State, or at least erode further the rights I especially enjoy as an American. She is a Trojan Horse, and will unfurl her Jesus banner, if she actually, somehow, gets elected.

My real issue is, that in discussing her with others who don't know about the Dark Side of Fundies, the same sorts of people who think the Duggars are just a nice happy darling family, they are absolutely ignorant of her true beliefs.

I submit only when composing a reply, myself, however, my husband and I respect each other. How does it work?!

[Cassandra]

If she becomes President, I'm outta of this country.

Normally comments like that piss me off (especially when right-wingers wanted to go to Canada (A much more liberal country) after Obama was elected), but yeah.

Michelle Bachmann being elected is pretty much the sign of the apocalypse for me.

[shesinsane]

She can sugar coat her fundie background because no one asks the tough follow up questions, and the mainstream media seems to stay away from some of her more militant beliefs.

I doubt anyone would dare do this, because Bachmann's reply will be to scream religious persecution. The same people that claim Romney isn't a Christian because he's Mormon seem to be on board with Bachmann's flavor of Christianity, so they won't bring it up. Any discussion of her religion will be ignored as part of the lamestream media's war on Christianity.

I noticed Palin used the tactic of rather than answer the question attack the questioner, quite often. Bachmann will use this to deflect any questions about her religion or the church she was part of.

And in case you're wondering why Bachmann's church is off limits but Obama's wasn't, he's a Democrat. ;)

[nutella addict]

...I have an interview for a UK job next week. At least here supporters of the BNP are few and far between.

Comments about fleeing the country are pretty common in my European family, my parents are already talking about leaving if any of the nutcases get elected, and they're Republican. And they watch BBC News not Fox. Mom's already assured me she's not fooled by people like Bachmann, and to relax because she doesn't know anyone *that* stupid. At least she'll be voting in the Republican primaries. Although I have to argue, having a complete lunatic for your competition might not be a bad thing - Christine O'Donnell lost by a landslide, but then she only got the nomination because nobody bothered to vote, thinking our state was nice and liberal and liking our incumbent, only to find out that the 5% of Republicans who did vote were Tea Partiers in the rural agricultural south we didn't know existed. Sigh. Major N/S divide for such a small state.

[Black Aliss]

She says she's submissive to her husband, and that god speaks to her *through* her husband (on issues such as studying tax law), and then she turns around and claims that because Marcus isn't the one running for president, all questions about his practices and beliefs are off the table. She wants it both ways.

[doggie]

She says she's submissive to her husband, and that god speaks to her *through* her husband (on issues such as studying tax law), and then she turns around and claims that because Marcus isn't the one running for president, all questions about his practices and beliefs are off the table. She wants it both ways.

So she will be just a sham president and hubby the gay Councillor will be the one running the country?

[Austin]

Her goal is to destroy the separation of Church and State, or at least erode further the rights I especially enjoy as an American. She is a Trojan Horse, and will unfurl her Jesus banner, if she actually, somehow, gets elected.

My real issue is, that in discussing her with others who don't know about the Dark Side of Fundies, the same sorts of people who think the Duggars are just a nice happy darling family, they are absolutely ignorant of her true beliefs.

She doesn't believe that separation of church and state even exists in the constitution. Since those exact words ("separation of church and state") do not appear, she believes, as do all of her ilk, including many in my town, that our (meaning reasonable people) understanding of this is just a gross misinterpretation. She believes, as David Barton has teaches, that the separation thing was only a one-way street, that the founding fathers intended for the country to be expressly "Christian". She and her ilk maintain that the only reason anything of the kind appears in the Constitution is to prevent government from getting involved in religion, not the other way around. To them, Christianity should be infused into every segment of our society and of the public square.

So ITA that our rights would erode under her or someone like her. More like a mudslide. I don't she has a shot in hell, but I think Perry is a male version of her, without the crazy eyes.

It IS freaking scary.

[hoipolloi]

She's been steadily hiding away her fundie beliefs in the last 6 months or more. While the questioner in this case may have had some ulterior motives in going after a woman candidate, I'm glad that it was asked. The more exposure of this crazy crap the better. For that matter, why do you think that so many of the bloggers we snark on present themselves as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths? Like Michelle Bachmann, they understand that sugar generally catches more flies than vinegar.

People here ooh and ah over the latest fundie pregnancies & babies but seem to forget that many of these same parents will be hitting the kids with plumbing line before they're two years old because the children don't obey the first time or have a bad attitude or some other fundie bullshit.

[Edited for clarity]

[doggie]

though the news can drive me crazy sometimes but they are good at digging up the buried bones of presidential candidates.

[AnnieC 305]

So she will be just a sham president and hubby the gay Councillor will be the one running the country?

No, more likely whichever High Holy Fundamentalist Guru their particular pastor/church/belief system subscribes to. Once she becomes a nominee he will deign to come down from on high and become her "spiritual adviser."

And I think the same thing would have happened with Palin or O'Donnel. They don't believe women can be leaders, but they are also savvy enough to know that a woman who is as ignorant as these three appear to be can be easily controlled as a mouthpiece and has a better chance of winning votes than a man in the same position. Men in that camp aren't told to submit all the time, most Americans wouldn't stand for a man with those attitudes (while they seem almost cute on a woman), putting a woman forth to be elected shows that they aren't as backward as everyone assumes (yeah, right). and the sheer OMG a woman President! value cannot be beaten.

[Rosa]

I don't think Bachmann or Palin are stupid at all. They sound stupid because they're not telling the truth and they aren't able to pull the image together all the time (Palin loses it more than Bachmann). But Bachmann especially is a smart cookie. She's worked the system in a number of ways - getting public money for the opportunity to "minister" to vulnerable teen girls, being the face of the angry right wing without actually having to accomplish anything. She graduated law school, she has constructed an amazingly seamless persona that has all the "good Christian Lady" signifiers but rarely comes out and says anything but a vague Tea Party mishmash. And she comes off as not serious enough to really do anything about, but serious enough to get elected at the state level.

[Patsy]

Ugh. And this: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2071

You can build up your career on submission, but don't let them ask you about submission! Make them like you by talking about foster care, but how very dare they ask you about foster care.