Does Bachmann Know What She's Saying ?

Sometimes I wonder whether Michele Bachmann knows what she is saying. Does she really understand the words that come tumbling out of her mouth, or is she just repeating what someone else told her the voters want to hear -- regardless of whether those words might be at odds with historical fact or, as in this case, against her own stand on an issue? I think there may be a valid reason for that clueless look she normally has on her face.

Ever since she's been in Congress, Michele Bachmann has toed the Republican Party line in calling for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans (and against tax cuts for ordinary Americans -- the ones who really need them). That's why it's very confusing that she is now calling for raising taxes -- especially on the richest Americans. I have the feeling that she doesn't even realize she just came out in favor of raising taxes on the rich.

Much was made of Herman Cain's ridiculous 9-9-9 tax plan in the last Republican debate. Bachmann and most of the other candidates attacked the plan as unworkable. Evidently someone in the Bachmann campaign decided that instead of just attacking the tax plans of other candidates she needed to have a tax plan of her own. But she's not smart enough to come up with a plan of her own, so she just decided to latch onto the memory of Republican icon and demigod Ronald Reagan. After all, wasn't everything Reagan did wonderful? Here's what Bachmann told Fox News:

"For my tax plan, I take a page out of one of my great economists that I admire, Ronald Reagan. And under my tax plan I want to adopt the Reagan tax plan. It brought the economic miracle of the 1980s. Why not go with what works? You can't argue with success. I want to reinstitute the Reagan tax model from the 1980s."

But Bachmann should have checked some facts before sounding off. Both the actual and effective tax rates during the Reagan administration were higher than current tax rates (which are a continuation of the Bush tax cuts). Re-instituting the Reagan tax plan would actually raise taxes, especially for the rich -- since Reagan was a believer in the rich paying their fair share of taxes (now referred to as the Buffett Rule). Here's what Reagan said about taxing the rich:

"We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that have allowed some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. In theory, some of those loopholes were understandable, but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary, and that's crazy. It's time we stopped it."

That's exactly the opposite of what Bachmann has been preaching until now (and voting for in Congress). I'm starting to think this woman is one neuron short of being brain dead.