Two Very Ugly Faces Of Mindless Republican Obstructionism: Connie Mack & Michele Bachmann

An unholy triad: Connie, Mary & Michele

This morning, CNN had Florida reactionary Connie Mack on to spew some venom about Tim Geithner after the announcement of how to get rid of the toxic assets that had accumulated on the books of American banks while George Bush's hand was steering the ship and while Connie Mack and his Republican colleagues were merrily rubber stamping every venal scheme the Bush Regime came up with to impoverish the middle class and further enrich and empower the top one percent of wealth holders. As Mack droned on and on with his partisan talking points-- basically about how no one has any confidence in Geithner and he should resign-- the Wall Street ticker under him kept rising and rising, indicating, I assume, that everyone has every confidence that no one cares what Connie Mack has to say about anything. Nor should they.

Cornelius McGillicuddy IV, commonly known as Connie Mack, represents the same southwest Florida area once represented by Cornelius McGillicuddy III, the grandson of Philadelphia Athletics owner of the same name. McGillicuddy III also served two undistinguished terms in the U.S. Senate. The overwhelmingly Republican 14th district (PVI is R+10) is currently best known for being ground-zero in the home foreclosure mess, with the most foreclosures-- 35,134-- of any congressional district in America, about 9,000 more than the runner-up. Needless to say, Mack voted against the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which passed 234-191, 3 slightly less dogmatic Florida Republicans joining the Democrats to try to help keep families in their homes. This is nothing new for Mack, who is one of the most reactionary Republicans in the state, this year sporting a 1.32 Progressive Punch score (out of 100), far more extremist than any other member of the Florida delegation. If you want to point to the 10 most rabid obstructionists in Congress, you can't do it without including former marketing consultant McGillicuddy IV. And, yes, this Banking Committee member (who has snorted up $727,518 in legalized bribes from the finance/insurance/real estate sector and repaid the favor by voting for every single deregulatory bill that has ever come before the House), stuck with his A.I.G. pals last week and was one of only 93 members of Congress voting for them to keep the bonuses he expects taxpayers to reach deep for.

And, by the way, you can't draw up that list of the most rabid obstructionists without including another lunatic fringe Republican who's in the news today, Michele Bachmann (MN-06). Bachmann made her debut on the national stage when she got drunk at a congressional St Patrick's Day party in 2007 and puked in the woman's restroom, sneaking out without cleaning up, only to have poor Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH) slip in it and get covered in vomit, ruining her lovely American flag dress and the rest of her celebration. As for Bachmann, it's been straight downhill since then.

She gained even more fame when she hysterically demanded, McCarthy style, that members of Congress, especially then-Senator Barack Obama, be investigated for being "anti-American," causing her own party's congressional leaders to wince and roll their eyes but making her very popular among late night comedians. Well, she was at it again this weekend.

During a Saturday afternoon interview on WWTC 1280 AM with The Northern Alliance’s John Hinderaker and Brian Ward, Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann discussed her staunch opposition to several Democratic-led efforts on Capitol Hill this session – such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the recently passed HR 1586 tax on bonuses for TARP recipients, and President Barack Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan to reduce greenhouse gases.

Bachmann then began to talk about her role as Representative at the nation’s Capitol. Explaining the resources available at her U.S. House website which enable her to communicate what is happening in D.C. to the public, such as her Bachmann Bulletin, Bachmann Blog, and links to her Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace pages, the Congresswoman said, "I’m a foreign correspondent on enemy lines and I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington."

Previously best known as a local kook running around and demanding that her bizarre religious beliefs be taught in public schools in place of, or along side, science, she has, since being elected to Congress, been in a neck and neck struggle with half a dozen other far right extremists to see which could have the most "perfect" neo-fascist voting record. Currently she's winning, beating out Paul Broun (GA), Adrian Smith (NE), Patty McHenry (NC), her old nemesis Mean Jean (OH), and Eric Cantor (VA). She is also widely considered to be the most clueless member of the House Financial Services Committee, where she ineptly always defends corporate banksters and special interests. She received basically the same in bribes that McGillicuddy IV got ($756,740), although a lot faster, and, like him, was one of the 93 who thinks the taxpayers should be paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to the executives who have financed their political careers. Although she ran into some problems because of her crazy and well-publicized extremism and because she favors abolishing Social Security and the minimum wage and adamantly opposes allowing Medicare to negotiate lower pharmaceutical prices, her district is so gerrymandered to elect Republicans that even a reactionary Blue Dog, Elwyn Tinklenberg, wasn't taken seriously by the benighted voters last November. After Minnesota loses a seat in the 2010 census the consensus, on both sides of the aisle, is that the state will be far better off without the unhinged Bachmann in Congress. You don't believe me? Watch: