COMMENTARY | It is not difficult to see that presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann does not appreciate fellow Republican candidate Newt Gingrich's pedagogic condescension toward her. And the former Speaker of the House might want to remember the old adage about a woman scorned. At the Fox News Iowa GOP Presidential Debate in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday evening (Dec. 15), he attempted again to push the position that Bachmann was factually challenged. But, according to CNN, Bachmann refused to back away from the charge that Gingrich and his consulting firm are lobbyists -- no matter what he chooses to call what it is they actually do.
Bachmann, returning to the attack debate style she used that made a poll frontrunner in August, told the Iowa and national television audience, "You don't need to be within the technical definition of being a lobbyist to still be influence-peddling with senior Republicans in Washington, D.C., to get them to do your bidding."
Gingrich adopted his usual posture of pained professorialship and attempted to school Bachmann on the "facts." He said that with regard to his consultancy work, such as the $1.6 million he was paid by federal lender Freddie Mac a year before it became part of the mortgage meltdown, people like the Minnesota congresswoman "ought to have facts before they make wild allegations."
Bachmann -- after a dozen debates and listening to Gingrich's above-it-all comments concerning his GOP rivals, not to mention his condescending remarks where he once compared her to his fact-challenged students -- apparently had had enough of Gingrich's euphemism dancing and dismissive remarks. She retorted: "I think it's outrageous to continue to say over and over through the debate that I don't have my facts right when as a matter of fact I do. I'm a serious candidate for president of the United States. And my facts are accurate."
And her facts are indeed accurate. Gingrich is relying on the idea that Michele Bachmann's reputation for exaggeration, disingenuousness, and outright factually depleted statements and positions will gain him a pass on her continued reiteration that he was a lobbyist, a special interest fixer, an influence peddler. But even Bachmann does not exaggerate or commit falsehoods all the time, as can be attested by her Politifact scorecard, whereon she has scored several true, mostly true, and half true statements amid those where her comments have been found to be wanting in the truth department.
With all the political baggage from the 90s (government shutdown, ethics hearings, Ethics Committee sanctions) and his less-than-perfect personal life (mistresses, marriages to mistresses), Gingrich might want to push his ego aside and allow Bachmann to have her say without adding to the controversy. With each confrontation over his work as a consultant (read: lobbyist by any other name), the resulting stories allow for a re-examination of the millions of dollars Gingrich made since he left Congress. And although nobody begrudges him the right to make money, many do find fault in influence peddling and lobbying and the perception that lobbyists control far too much of the political action in Washington these days.
It is undoubtedly the reasoning behind attempting to squirm out from under the "lobbyist" label. And yet...
Scorning the three-term Minnesota congresswoman might not be the smart route to take in this matter, because call it whatever he likes (just because he nor his consultancy firm were never registered as lobbyists), his work after leaving Congress involved using his political connections to influence positions and votes. No, scorning the likes of someone like Rep. Bachmann will get you someone eager to bring you down -- with facts or without them.
After the debate, Bachmann's camp, according to CNN, continued the attack. Keith Nahigian, her campaign manager, painted Gingrich as a politician for hire. "I think that's what gets [Bachmann] really going - people who morph into different things, on different years, according to who's paying them and who's not paying them."
Currently, Newt Gingrich, according to the latest Gallup Poll, leads the GOP field for the Republican presidential nomination, 31 percent to 22 percent of his closest competitor, Mitt Romney.
Michele Bachmann placed fifth with 6 percent.
Regardless of her chances of winning the nomination, Bachmann just might be the candidate to bring Gingrich down from his lofty perch. And if he returns to the low poll numbers he enjoyed before his recent rise to the top, he might get some of that condescension served back to him. It will no doubt be a dish served cold.
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