Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) deeply strange, eight-year congressional career will come to an end in January, but before she departs Capitol Hill, the right-wing Minnesotan has some more people to offend. Robert Costa reported yesterday:
In a sign of the difficulties GOP leaders face in keeping their unruly caucus on-message, retiring tea party firebrand Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Wednesday that the immigrants given new protections by the president could become “illiterate” Democratic voters.“The social cost will be profound on the U.S. taxpayer — millions of unskilled, illiterate, foreign nationals coming into the United States who can’t speak the English language,” Bachmann told reporters at the Capitol. “Even though the president says they won’t be able to vote, we all know that many, in all likelihood, will vote.”
Bachmann went on to suggest non-citizens vote all the time — she has no proof, but she added it’s something “we all know” about — which presumably is part of some dastardly plan from President Obama.
When Costa asked why she thinks undocumented immigrants are “illiterate,” Bachmann said she was told as much during a trip to the U.S./Mexico border. “That’s what they told me,” the congresswoman said. “Those are not Michele Bachmann’s words, those words came from Hispanics who live on the border.”
Bachmann added that she may have referred to undocumented immigrants as “illiterate,” but that’s not “a pejorative term against people who are non-American citizens.”
How reassuring.
As it turns out, she’ll be able to learn even more fascinating insights “from Hispanics who live on the border” tomorrow.
Bachmann and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) are headed for another trip to the border tomorrow.
Rep. Steve King of Iowa and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, two of the most outspoken Republican critics to the president’s executive actions on immigration, are heading to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday to meet with border officials. […]The two conservatives visited the south western border earlier this summer. Their last trip was to meet with officials dealing with a massive influx of undocumented children fleeing violence in their home countries in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
One assumes — or at least hopes — that foreign officials realize that fringe figures like Bachmann and King are not representative of the United States and they do not speak on behalf of the country.
Both King and Bachmann will reportedly return to Capitol Hill for the rest of the lame-duck session soon after.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."