Bachmann Accepts Socialist Payments

The picture above is of teabagger heroine Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota). She has made a name for herself by appearing at teabagger rallies and trying to label President Obama and other Democrats as socialists, who are taking America further down the road to socialism with every law they pass. She has especially been vocal in opposing any kind of health care reform and in labeling that reform as socialism.

For someone as anti-socialist as Bachmann presents herself, a person would expect that she would never participate in any kind of socialist program herself. Surely her teabagger purity would prevent her from accepting any money from a socialist government program.

Well, they doesn't turn out to be true. While she believes it is wrong for the federal government to help poor people or sick people (that would be socialism), it seems that she doesn't mind getting payments for herself or her family from a socialist government program. The rules seem to change when her own pocketbook is involved.

And the money she's accepted is not some pittance like the government would send some poor family. No, we're talking about substantial amounts of government money -- over a quarter of a million dollars at least.

Jolly Roger at Reconstitution 2.0 has posted about the socialist payments that Bachmann finds perfectly acceptable. It seems that Bachmann is part owner of a family farm in Wisconsin. In 2008, she made $50,000 from her part ownership of that farm, and her stake in the farm is valued at $250,000.

At least part of her income from that farm is from payments made by a federal government program. In a ten year period, that farm received $251,973 in government payments, mostly in diary and corn subsidies. She certainly didn't turn down the government money and I don't see her offering to give it back.

I guess socialist payments are only bad when they go to other people (poor people and sick people). Hypocrisy seems to be the most steadfast value of the Republican Party.