Here.
As the gay marriage debate heats up at the Legislature, Sen. Michele Bachmann is at the center of a storm of questions.
Was the Stillwater Republican, chief sponsor of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota, hiding in bushes watching as thousands of gay-rights advocates demonstrated on the State Capitol lawn last week?
Did two critics who followed her into a restroom at a town hall meeting pose enough of a threat for her to scream for help and file a police report?
And why has she asked to be assigned a bodyguard?
Talk radio and websites in Minnesota have been abuzz with speculation this week over all these matters, even as Senate DFL leaders canceled a floor session Tuesday at which Bachmann had been expected to try once again to force a vote on the marriage amendment.
For her part, she says the stories have been blown out of proportion for political effect.
"Anything to make me look odd is to their advantage," she said of her opponents. "I don't want to fuel anything. I'd rather not talk about it."
These facts could be confirmed on Tuesday: Bachmann was obscured by bushes Thursday on the Capitol lawn from a photographer whose snapshots are posted at dumpbachmann.blogspot.com, but she wasn't hiding. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Sven Lindquist, who accompanied her on a 15-minute scouting mission around the gay-rights rally, said she was simply sitting on a curb.
Actually these photographs were first posted at Eleventh Avenue South. Dump Bachmann linked to that post.
"I had high heels on and I just couldn't stand anymore," Bachmann said. "I was not in the bushes."
She said she had ventured out, against Lindquist's advice, to check a tip that "I was going to be a focus of the rally." Sure enough, she found, "it was fairly personal," including a sign reading "Go to hell, Michele."
Bachmann called the Washington County Sheriff's Office on Saturday after beating a hasty retreat from a community center in Scandia when two women confronted her in the ladies' room. A police report she filed lists possible breach of the peace and harassing communications, but alleges no threats or physical contact.
"I don't think there's a crime for us to investigate," said Sheriff Jim Frank.
The report, however, suggests that Bachmann was briefly blocked from leaving the loo. An account of the incident posted on an anti-Bachmann website reports that people outside heard her "piercing screams" of "Help!!!! HEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!" and that when she emerged "in a crouching run" she cried, "I was being held against my will!"
Bachmann declined to comment Tuesday on what went on in the restroom, but she said the meeting had been hotly contentious because of a turnout fueled by pro-gay-rights websites. She said she called authorities to document the incident in case of future harassment.
'Safety issues'
"I walked out of the room to change the dynamics," she said. "There are personal-safety issues involved."
The article later mentions recent incidents of pie throwing at conservative speakers on campuses. That's a stupid thing to do, and I hope that noone tries that with Senator Michele Bachmann. She needs to be defeated at the polls, or at the Republican convention.
At the same time, having constituents express opinions that differ from Bachmann does NOT threaten her personal safety. |
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