Michele Bachmann’s Lies About Her History– Is She Hiding In Plain Sight?
Image by Michele McGaughey from http://www.flickr.com/photos/michele123mstudios/5932151257/in/set-72157620866357414
I started to uncover something about Michele Bachmann on my own, but did not realize Anderson Cooper had already done this search on her previously. However, what is most disappointing is just that, I had no idea. Why is the media or even journalists not taking this information and running with it? I am just a girl sitting behind my computer with limited resources. I am doing my best to uncover what Bachmann is hiding, because she is in fact hiding something. Her outlandish accusations and public displays of utter stupidity may seem as just whimsy, ditzy remarks, but I personally feel there is something more sinister behind it. Her husband is a PhD psychologist; therefore, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that Michele is well versed in how to lead the public eye away from the real truths. I took only 2 years of psychology and can tell you how to do it.
What first intrigued me about Bachmann, along with many others I am sure, is the fact when she speaks she has a blank stare. Now others may have looked at that said, ‘Well that is because her mind is blank”, but I do not believe that is the case. There are many reasons why someone may appear as though they are in a trance; this is nothing more than my personal opinion. (Avoiding potential libel here.)
I think she is a pathological liar. (Yes, I hear all of the “duh’s”), but let me explain the difference between a ‘liar’ and a pathological liar. A liar is just someone who lies repeatedly; mainly to not get caught in something they have done or even to manipulate situations. A pathological liar takes the basis of being a liar and emphasizes it. Here is the best definition I found “Pathological liars have little regard for the feelings of others or the morality of their lies. Pathological lying is frequently associated with another mental disorder. Compulsive lying is often referred to habitual and chronic lying, which is lying about many things simply out of habit. Both types of lying are believed to begin during childhood.” Definition of a Pathological Liar | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5117545_definition-pathological-liar.html#ixzz1HMyCxbWu
The biggest difference between a ‘liar’ and a pathological liar is the fact that the pathological liar actually believes they are telling the truth. They have concocted this whole story within their own mind and hold it is an actual fact. These types of people can pass a lie detector test with no problem. Basically, even if you told a pathological liar the sky was blue, they would say no way it is green and actually believe it in their own heads. These types of people are extremely volatile to society and especially in a political office. We may make fun of politicians for lying, but the fact of the matter is, 98% of them KNOW they are lying. I do not believe Bachmann realizes she is being false half the time because she has convinced herself otherwise.
Now, getting back to my other article (I realize I went off on a bit of a rant, but I believe understanding the woman is important in this case). So, after I posted my other article, I had some people find her name in the Minnesota Judiciary Files. I will admit, I did not find it there because I did not look there. Why did I not look there? Well, one because in 1986 she just graduated from a school based out of Oklahoma and then went on to another school in Virginia. I searched those states because I figured those would be most likely where she would take her exam. It was my mistake and I do apologize for not searching the national database. However, I did have a few people do some leg-work (well ‘finger work’ – yes I realize that can sound naughty) and this is what they found: http://www.mncourts.gov/mars/AttorneyDetail.aspx?id=0179863. Basically, this just says that she filed for her license and received it for MN Judiciary Branch on Dec. 19, 1986, but it is no longer active because she voluntarily has not paid since Jan. 5, 2009. Normally I would have been like “Oh my bad whoops I am sorry” (I am sorry for not thoroughly searching enough), but this actually poses a greater question – well a couple questions really. In 1986, she was in Oklahoma at least until June when she graduated from Coburn. She then graduated from William and Mary Law School in 1988, which is located in Virginia. When did she move back to Minnesota to take the bar?
For those that want to argue “What about her maiden name for the bar?” or “Maybe she just went to school in OK”. Both are good questions, and ones I asked myself to make sure. Here is what I found, “The couple married in 1978 and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.” So, her and her husband lived in OK while Michele went to Coburn School of Law. Now on her bio on the congressional website she lists only her high school and Winona State University. Now, if I was an attorney and spent thousands of dollars at multiple colleges, they would definitely be on my bio, so why did she list them on hers?
I did a search for her in the national database for attorneys and her colleges are listed as Winona and Oral Roberts University where she achieved her JD. This was found on the Martindale website (http://www.martindale.com/Michele-M-Bachmann/760284-lawyer.htm), which was generously provided to me by a commenter from the previous article. Now, Oral Roberts is not a law school, Coburn was the affiliated school with Oral Roberts, which was the actual law school. However, since 1979 (see previous article) it was under investigation as not being accredited as a law school because of the intermixing of law and religion. (At this point I am seriously having a wtf moment – you betcha’). Now, what strikes me funny is it lists as her law credentials, (what kind of law she practices) as tax and criminal tax litigation law. However, if that is the case, why is William and Mary School of Law not listed? She did say she went there and received an LL.M in tax law as her post-graduate degree.
Well, Anderson Cooper had the same question. Another commenter on the Addictinginfo.org Facebook page made a reference to an article on the Daily KOS Basically, they uncovered that William and Mary does NOT offer a degree in tax law. The only LL.M I found W&M to offer is title as an LL.M for foreign students. Now, the Daily KOS also said it is not possible or nearly impossible to obtain a tax law degree, which is half true. I just did a basic google search on this and this is what I found: (http://www.ehow.com/how_2107018_become-tax-attorney.html) It explains how to become a tax attorney. I am sorry, but there is NO WAY Bachmann is a tax attorney – NOT possible.
I personally do not believe she is even an attorney at all, considering her ‘law schools’ are very questionable to begin with. One law school is not in existence because they were FORCED to close for not being accredited. I even did a search on the American Bar Association website to see if Oral Roberts was an ABA approved school – nope. William and Mary is, but where is the proof she actually went there?
This only leads to more questions and actually it could lead to some legal problems – criminal – for Bachmann. This is if she is really telling the TRUTH about trying cases for the IRS as a tax attorney. The last article I wrote, I spent of the time looking for cases she tried, but came up empty, which is not unusual, but now it is down and out-right suspicious. If she did NOT try ANY cases, then this just proves she is a pathological lair and she is not fit for public office.
Something needs to be done about this woman. Since she is a public employee, the public has the RIGHT to know. Who is Michele Bachmann really? This is a strange woman hiding in plain sight. Saying such outlandish and over exaggerated things about the President seems to be just a rouse so we do not dig into who or what she really is.
Related posts:
Author: Courtney Lynn
I am a 29 year old single mother. I have lived a lot of life for my age and I always try and see the bright side of things. However, lately with the GOP uprising, things seem awfully dark. I am currently in school for marketing, but I do have 2 years in psychology.
That being said, I do not claim to be a professional writer or journalist. I am human, I screw up - BUT I do verify any and all information with research to back up any claims I have, unless they are specifically stated as my opinion.
I am very political and my opinions are my own. I am left-leaning, but I do have some republican views... depends on the topic.
I am an open book.... got a question? Don't hesitate to ask!
Please feel free to check out my blog and my Yahoo! Contributor page http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/834952/courtney_lynn.html
Also, if you would like to add me to skype - courtney.lynn27
4:15 pm
All I have to say is that Michelle Bachmann is definately in the limelight right now.
William and Mary, which is a very highly respected school, probably already knows that she claims she received the degree she posted on her website many years back, and they definately know now. Also, she claims she worked for the IRS–the government. They know she claims to have worked for them.
I don’t think this woman is THAT stupid to state these claims if they weren’t true because it would be next to impossible for these institutions not to publically announce that they are untrue. Actually, they would have already.
10:32 am
Michele and Marcus have five children, Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In addition, the Bachmann family has opened their home to 23 foster children, which has inspired Michele to become one of Congress’ leading advocates for foster and adopted children, earning her bipartisan praise for her efforts
10:03 am
Michele Bachmann’s smarter than Michele O. first lady and her husband B.O.
Its time for USA to have a female president.
11:20 am
You are in a position to say that? Do you know any of these people personally? Based on what Michelle B and Michell O have done and said in public, your position is based on your ideology not fact.
Michell Bachman is an admitted slave to her husbands wishes. She, for that reason, can not be allowed to be President.
1:32 am
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/michele-bachmann/
1:36 am
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/sarah-palin/statements/
9:41 pm
Either you are not very smart or you are ignorant about the bar. If a person is licensed by the bar they are a lawyer period. Not all lawyers have law degrees. In fact in my state( Texas) some elected judge needs no law degree and also can take the bar without ever going to law school. They have restricted this to municipal judges in the last few years, but before that Justices of the peace could do the same thing. Many great lawyers in the past never went to law school, it not having been required for any lawyers until recently( abraham lincoln for example). A law degree does not make a lawyer, an active( or inactive ) bar card does. Now if somebody lied about a degree to be allowed to sit for the bar, that is a crime. I highly doubt any of this has any weight as this woman has been vetted pretty well in running for congress.
9:29 am
I came across this post while trying to find a little bit more specific information… whether or not Michele Bachmann has ever actually litigated a tax case. I “heard” a few years ago that she has not. I was able to find one short video clip of her (2006) where she was asked for specific cases she has litigated. Her response was that she is “prohibited by law by divulging that information” because she worked for the US Dept of the Treasury.
6:06 am
Tell me Ms. Lynn…did you carry out the same level of scrutiny on Barack Hussein Obama? Or are you just a left wing pseudo-intellectual?
6:46 am
Tell me Dr, did you receive your degree from a Christian online college like Mrs. Bachmann’s husband?
Obama is not perfect, but at least he cares and does not shove his religious beliefs into policy.
Pseudo-intellectual? Did you hear that word on FOX? Don’t make me laugh.
4:51 pm
Good Job, Courtney!
11:38 pm
This is NOT a defense of Bachman (hereinafter MB) since I rate her just a level above Palin – both of which I dislike for their politics. But I am compelled to respond because what you have done is the same thing that irritating politicians do…“I said it, repeatedly, therefore it is true.” (actually, Jon Stewart does a good skit where he mocks Glenn Beck’s habit of stringing together unrelated/unsubstantiated ‘facts’ to support some ridiculous conclusion/opinion that is only related to those ‘facts’ in GB’s own mind. Your article is much like that.)
“One law school is not in existence because they were FORCED to close for not being accredited. “
ORU Coburn School of Law was not forced to close. ORU ‘transferred’ the school along with all first and second year students and the contents of the law library to CBN University in Virginia – now known as Regent University. See Tulsa Oklahoma news story here:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleid=20080326_222_11725.
A law school is not required to be accredited in order to stay open (though it likely could not stay open since a JD from an accredited law school is required to sit for at least your first state bar exam, so who would pay to go there?). So it did not close because of accreditation issues. Nor was it forced to close (I note you did not say who would have the authority to force a school to close); it was SOLD.
“ I even did a search on the American Bar Association website to see if Oral Roberts was an ABA approved school – nope”
Of course you didn’t find that Oral Roberts was an ABA approved school. Their law school doesn’t exist anymore.
“In 1986, she was in Oklahoma at least until June when she graduated from Coburn. She then graduated from William and Mary Law School in 1988, which is located in Virginia. When did she move back to Minnesota to take the bar?”
What? First, you should have explained how where she was in June of 1986 has anything to do with her graduation from a different school two years later. Anyway, as to the rest: just based on logic, she would have graduated from ORU May, 1986. Giving her a whole two months to drive/fly back to MN in time to sit for the bar exam in July 86. (I admit this is ‘educated speculation’ since she may have been eligible to take the exam in Feb 86).
But all bar exams in every state are given in July (coordinated because the MBE section is the same for every state and is given on the same day for every state – with the state portion of the exam either the day before or the day after the MBE; you can obtain dates for Mn exam http://www.thebarexam.com/minnbar.htm). She THEN graduated from WM in 1988. Meaning, she had to be in MN for two days of one month during the two years she was attending William & Mary, and if she started at WM in the fall of 86, she started her LLM program at least a month after she sat for the bar exam.
When did she move back to MN? Your question implies that she needed to live in the state to take the bar. What makes you think that? There is no residency requirement for taking a bar exam.
“Now on her bio on the congressional website she lists only her high school and Winona State University.”
Sigh…did you read her bio? Here it is http://www.congress.org/bio/id/36577 and it does list ALL of her colleges.
“Basically, they uncovered that William and Mary does NOT offer a degree in tax law. The only LL.M I found W&M to offer is title as an LL.M for foreign students.”
College of William & Mary School of Law does offer an LLM in tax law. See: http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=tax&sei-redir=1#search=“LLM+Tax” Just look at the credentials of the first speaker (Bell) who is sited as having an LLM in Taxation from the College of William & Mary. Since this is published by WM, and WM is promoting Bell, I am sure they would have noticed a non-existent degree behind his name.
“ I am sorry, but there is NO WAY Bachmann is a tax attorney – NOT possible.”
Why is it not possible? She practiced tax law; thus, she was a tax attorney. Or is there some proof that she never worked as an attorney with the IRS prosecuting tax cases?
“However, since 1979 (see previous article) it [ORU] was under investigation as not being accredited as a law school because of the intermixing of law and religion. (At this point I am seriously having a wtf moment – you betcha’).”
(You betcha, so am I, and I don’t blame you.) You cite to your own article to support that ORu has been investigated since 1979 but that article doesn’t say that! In fact, your previous article makes the statement:
“I found an article about the Coburn School that was very intriguing to say the least. This was the first paragraph of the article: “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White challenged the new Oral Roberts University law school Wednesday to produce “graduates who are competent enough to furnish the enormous variety of legal services that society must have if it is to function in a civilized and peaceful manner.”” Basically the school was teaching too much about religion and mixing with law, well, those two subjects just do not mix. (Here is the link to the full articlehttp://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleid=20080326_222_26420)”
So essentially, you added “Since 1979” to the “under investigation” then cited to an article written by you which misstates the content of another article to support your misstatement. Oh where to begin! Your comment that her law school lost accreditation is inaccurate. I could not find a single article about Coburn losing accreditation for religious reasons or any other. Nor could I find any ‘investigation’ of Coburn which lead to de-accreditation. I DID find this ABA article of 1981 ABA activity involving Coburn School of Law. http://books.google.com/books?id=xCbZmx1–5sC&pg=PA1491&lpg=PA1491&dq=ORU+Coburn+school+of+law+may+lose+accreditation&source=bl&ots=7Dw2Ge6NUf&sig=ESmkjeLhDj7icz43EGgN_iXvU3U&hl=en&ei=kTAFTszLLMm4tgek_53ZDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false Apparently, ABA wanted to refuse accreditation because the college discriminated in its admissions AND its hiring of staff based on religion. Coburn won that argument and the college received provisional accreditation, which is the first step in full accreditation.
Also, the “previous article” you cited to and I quoted above is a complete miscomprehension of the cited Tulsa World Article. That Tulsa article had nothing whatsoever to do with Coburn losing accreditation, being investigated, or having problems with any mix of religious and legal curriculum. It is simply an article describing a speech given during a ceremony to dedicate the new School of Law!
“I personally do not believe she is even an attorney at all, considering her ‘law schools’ are very questionable to begin with.”
You’re right! But only because she no longer has a license to practice law (that we know of) and not because her law schools are questionable (and since you used the plural – are you really questioning the quality of WM’s law school?). Without that license, she is a ‘former’ attorney and the holder of a juris doctorate.
“ the people have a right to know the FACTS I have posted.”
I am afraid you have told people more about the author of this piece than you exposed about Bachmann and it is not very flattering. Yes, I read the entire article and most of the comments, so before the personal attacks begin know this – I understand you are trying to write a persuasive article. But you need to care about what you write and also learn to take criticism for what it is – a way to improve your skills at making a coherent and persuasive argument/opinion that is built upon substantive, and well-researched, facts. It was so easy and quick to fact check this article. Rather than go on the defensive or make personal attacks against a commenter, spend a few minutes (like I did) checking your facts. You can have any opinion you want, but when you try to support that opinion with fact, or to explain what facts lead you to that opinion – well, chose to use actual facts. The obvious errors/misstatements make this reader believe you made no effort to verify anything. I understand you are not a journalist, that’s no excuse for this piece. The commenter above was justified in referring to this as a hack job.
4:08 pm
5 months and no reply? Nor an edit? Nor an addendum to the article?
I, like you Lynn, believe in facts, however unpalatable.
Journalism of this level is what we expect from the gutter press on the right.
I have no issue with calling Bachmann a moonbat, a ding-a-ling, a nacrissistic vulture, but i you are going to state ‘FACT’, make sure those facts are accurate.
Good post!
(I am not at all sure mine will pass moderation. We live in hope of free speech.)
Courtney, you do yourself a disservice by ignoring this post and leaving your article intact. Have the courage of your convictions and either amend or admit your errors.
4:09 pm
*narcissistic
4:00 pm
In my opinion Michelle Bachmann is more intelligent than George W Bush, but so is my bird dog, Barefoot Contessa’s Lady Phoebe, however that doesn’t qualify her to hold office, and I’m talking about my Chesapeake Bay Retriever and not Michelle!
What terrifies me is that the voters elected someone who can’t pronounce words or complete sentences because he fried his brain with cocaine and alcohol and partied his way through school, and then they reelected him for a second term, and even after being lied to the American people sat around doing nothing, watching while he was destroying our economy and lowering the world’s opinion of our great nation, and now they’re listening to the rants of two bimbos with no qualifications whatsoever!
I really don’t care if Obama is from the planet Xenon because the man is articulate and he’s trying to fix a catastrophic mess that no man can be expected to repair in a short amount of time, especially with the GOP fat cats blocking his every move so they can continue to profit and prosper while the working class losses their homes, insurance, security and jobs!
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a crowd of conservative activists at the Republican Leadership Conference Friday that they should not “get hung up on purity” when it comes to the Republican nominee for president and they should vote for the GOP or else, and to do anything to prevent Obama from going back into office regardless of who the candidate is. His concerns are that if the Tea Party doesn’t join forces with the GOP the current leader will easily go back into office because a third party will split the votes, and that’s what I’m praying for! Please nominate an idiot that can be discredited and will be so obviously deranged and unqualified that there will be no competition!
Please nominate Michelle Bachmann as the GOP candidate so this will be a quick and easy win for Obama because he has a lot of work to do and no president can fix this mess in four years!
I love seeing conservative morons through money down the toilet in campaign contributions backing someone that can’t possibly win.
Governor Barbour also eluded that these candidates are all throwaways and he’s not going to run this time because they’re grooming someone for the next election, and that to me is basically a confession that they all know they don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell this time around, because they don’t have any qualified candidates!
Since Republicans are choosing to destroy Medicare because preserving tax breaks for oil corporations and billionaires is a bigger priority to them, what we need to be focusing on is the Senate seats!
I don’t have much faith in the American people anymore because their actions in past elections have convinced me that I’m surrounded by idiots, but I’m going to try to remain optimistic that they’ve had enough and they’ve learned their lesson, so we’ll see! At this point I feel that if the voters are stupid enough to buy into the GOP lies and rhetoric and they regain power, everyone is getting what they deserve!
The blog was thought provoking, but I don’t see Bachmann as a threat! With the staggering statistics regarding closeted gay men in the GOP and the Church, it won’t surprise me if Michelle’s husband doesn’t wind up busted in a scandal since his so called practice affords him a lot of time with gay men behind closed doors!
4:11 pm
Well dang it. There is no edit option. I misspelled a word, but this affords me that opportunity to add one more line in addition to the correction.
“I love seeing conservative morons THROW money down the toilet in campaign contributions backing someone that can’t possibly win” was the sentence with the error.
What I wanted to add was.. My bird dog is also smarter than Michelle and her occasional parasites are infinitely more intelligent than Palin!
5:00 pm
Wonderful! Let’s make sure all the intelligent people re-elect our articulate President and his beautiful First Lady and help him fix the catastrophic mess that he was left with and that no man could be expected to repair in a short amount of time, especially with the GOP and Tea Party fat cats blocking his every move so they can continue to profit and prosper while the other 98% lose their homes, insurance, security and jobs!
Let’s not allow these Right Wing Extremists/Terrorists to hold our country or our citizens hostages again and degrade our wonderful country before the world.
3:51 pm
Could we see Mr. Barack Obama’s college transcripts please ?
5:02 pm
Can we see yours?
8:13 pm
I will show mine :)
1:28 pm
Obama was editor of the Harvard Law Review. One does not attain that position without stellar grades, asshat. You are an ignorant, racist kochsucker. Go fuckyourself
9:16 pm
Why do anti Obama individuals think it’s ok to refer to him as ‘Mr Obama’? I mean that’s a bit trite isn’t it? You really think nobody notices that slight? It’s President Obama! He earned the title! The least sore losers can do it use it. Have a little grace.
Courtney, I love your article GOOD WORK!! Your right it’s creepy have Michelle B. always has that blank stare. But I sincerely hope it’s because there is nothing going on in there besides repeating a script.
Louise I’d be more then happy to show you my college transcripts.
9:19 pm
Typo;
The sentence should read:
Your right it’s creepy the way Michelle B. always has a blank stare.
4:02 pm
Typo.
The sentence should read:
You’re right. It’s creepy, the way Michele B. always has a blank stare.
5 mistakes:
Your = You’re
right it’s = right. It’s
it’s = It’s
creepy the = creepy, the
Michelle = Michele
7:43 am
William and Mary list Michele Bachmann as an alumnus, class 1988. So she went there. There are many other people claiming to have an LL.M in tax law from there probably because there used to be such a program. How she got into that program with a degree from Oral Robers I have no idea, but the college of William and Mary claims her. At the IRS, she was apparently tax collection “attorney”. She chased people down for not paying taxes, which not the kind of job that requires a robust legal repertoire. It’s not like she was representing the government in complicated nuanced cases. She was basically a collections agent. See if you can find out how many cases she personally filed before an actual court. I’ve seen someone claim only one but I can’t verify. Basically, her educational claims may check out, and she apparently worked for the IRS, but it seems that she never really “practiced law”.
12:59 pm
Ms Bachman said she went to work at the IRS to find out how the enemy operates. I believe that she had to sign an agreement that she would uphold the laws of this country so that makes her a terrorist or at least guilty of sedition. She should be arrested and prosecuted by the attorney general of this country for her intention to overthow the government of the United States
5:22 am
actually all of her foster kids are required by law to attend public schools. All of her biological children went to private christian indoctrination centers. Seeing how much better educated and independent the foster children were, she then went on to run for school board so she could drag the public schools down to their level.
9:13 pm
After reading the article, all the comments an and replies to comments, I come to a interesting conclusion.
Bachmann has something to hide, but it is unclear and unfounded due to the fact the author has no substantial evidence and when questioned, the author seems to result to childish behavior i.e calling names, cursing, losing temper etc.
When you are talking about a public official, even in a blog or at home, it is always wise to not only keep your cool but to also be ready to back up your findings with even more evidence than a few sites. it is best to make calls if applicable and calling a public official a liar falls into that category.
It’s not wise nor necessary to revert to lower actions when dealing with your public, as a blog you are expected to take criticism and attacks and not just spew unnecessary laughable rhetoric like LOL and using all caps as a form of making a solid point.
No reader can take you seriously if you sound like them, don’t stoop to their level, never act like the people you dislike. And never let your personal beliefs cloud your judgement. I can say Sarah Palin is unintelligent because there is substantial evidence to prove it. Theory gets you as far as a video on UFO’s.
3:00 pm
I have not read all of the comments but I hate to see misinformation spread. If Oral Roberts had an unaccrediated law school (by the ABA) Bachmann could still sit for the Minnesota bar exam. It is passing that exam that qualified you as an attorney. Oral Roberts is one of the most conservative right wing colleges in the country so I can see the problem with the religion/law contradiction. The law school at William and Mary in Virginia is Marshall-Wythe and Bachmann is credited by the school with a Masters in Law, l988. She is listed on the school’s site as a notable graduate, along with Eric Cantor among other recognizable names. I won’t vote for her either, but misinformation is just that.
3:47 pm
The problem is Oral was NOT accredited I believe it was since 1981 or 1982 and was forced to close in 1986. Where at W&M is she listed as an alum? I looked at the 1988 graduating class and saw Cantor, but no Bachmann. Also, in order to be admitted into W&M for a higher ed degree you have to have graduated from a previous ACCREDITED school, which she did not. No one knows if she passed the bar or not. She has no record of cases she tried (I have been looking and found many other attorney’s, but not her) You stating I have spread misinformation is a lie
1:10 pm
Courtney, your factual opinion piece, as you know, actually is fairly well written. I like your thesis, that because of the obvious inconsistencies and gaps in her educational record, Michelle Bachman merits a closer look by disinterested professionals.
I don’t think anyone from any state can graduate from a non-accredited law school, then sit for the bar exam in any county in any state. It used to be allowed, after all, people used to “Read” the law, then take an exam, but that goes back to the days of Abe Lincoln. If Michelle was allowed to do tjis, then sign me up, too!
I had a teacher in grammar school (1960s) who went to night school in an accredited law school. He graduated, and was brilliant, had amazing verbal and people skills. However, what he lacked was test taking ability. He tried and tried to pass the Bar exam in a few different states that had reciprocity with our home state, to no avail. He then tired of teaching during the early 1970s, , migrated to Florida, and proceeded to practice law there somehow. More interesting, he was successful, won a lot of cases for clients in criminal and civil litigation! Then, by popular demand, he ran for the job of DA, and was elected! Then, after a few highly successful years, it came ot light that he was practicing without having passed the bar exam…and the rest is history.
Difference here, if I may state an obvous conclusion, is that he did graduate from a presitigious accredited law school, and he was sharp enough to fool ‘em all AND to cut the mustard. Had some party not been ticked off about not prevailing in matters where he represented the opposing POV, he probably would have been in there for many more moons. Thanks Good luck!
10:26 am
Did the former teacher turned DA ever lie on his resume?
5:19 pm
She also states she homeschooled all her kids and yet I know someone who went to public school at the same time as several of her kids..
12:49 am
This is a very poor article, but I guess this is really just an elaborate blog, in which case it’s just fine to spew this kind of nonsense. It is clear in this article that the writer does not understand the legal system, nor those that operate within it.
That having been said, the simple truth is that there is NO WAY Michelle Bachman can even stand up to Barry Obama, let alone beat him in an election. The potential of her (or Palin) running is good for newspaper sales, but bad for Republican politics–which means she’ll NEVER make it past the primaries. The powers that be simply will not let her.
So relax, stop getting your panties in such a wad. She’s a paper tiger. She’s not going to seriously run against His Holiness.
10:31 pm
Oral Roberts CLOSED in 1986 (the same year Bachmann graduated, however, they lost their accreditation in the early 80′s (can’t remember exact date because i am busy with school work) but they did lose accreditation BEFORE she graduated.
in order for Bachmann to go to William & Mary (according to W&M themselves) to receive an LLM of any type, she would have had to graduate from an ACCREDITED school
11:51 am
@Lisa thank you! Goes to show that even blithering idiots can get their law degrees, lol. Or, perhaps, she had a stroke sometime in 1995 and hasn’t been the same since.
8:38 am
I think the investigation should go as far as possible to uncover her past. An incomplete investigation does not make for a good article. The article was a bit hard to follow too. It was almost like I could hear the writer speaking really fast and excitedly in my head lol. Had a bit of a ramble going on. Keep up the good work and finish investigating so we can read some bottom of the line facts and not some facts with suppositions.
7:57 am
HELLO!!! She is hiding the fact that she is a witch! Not the fun loving Samantha Stevens kind, the evil vindictive Endora kind.
7:43 am
Bachman will never be president, period. The fact that she is a even a congressperson speaks to the anti-science, anti-intellectual and just plain mean-spirited nature of half of the electorate in this country. And yes, she is undoubtedly a liar, perhaps even a pathological liar, though no evidence is provided to back this up. A blank stare doesn’t mean somebody is a pathological liar.
That said, this is perhaps the worst written opinion piece I’ve ever read. It’s rambling, illogical, and childish. It’s as if a 14-year old is trying to convince her friends that a classmate is a liar.
Sorry to be so harsh, but this piece doesn’t advance the cause of shedding light on one of the right’s most dangerous and idiotic rockstars — it just sounds like immature rock-throwing.
9:32 pm
This is the WORST article I have ever read. I HATE Michele Bachmann, and you’ve compelled me to defend her.
(*) As a law student, I can tell you that many schools, including my own, have tax LLM’s.
(*) Dozens of people on the Internet have the fact that they had W&M LLM’s in their bios. See, e.g., http://www.quintowilks.com/attorneys/.
(*) Read this article about Bachmann describing her time at W&M: http://www.virginia-informer.com/archives/741
(*) Michele Bachmann worked for the IRS for several years as a tax attorney. Would she really get that job without a tax LLM?
What is wrong with you people? You can choose to believe that Michele Bachmann got a job as a tax attorney and worked there for several years without having a tax LLM and a JD. You can choose to believe that Bachmann has fabricated this to this day. You can choose to believe that the many people online who say they have LLM’s from William and Mary are part of a grand conspiracy. (You probably also believe we faked the moon landing, that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and that George W. Bush planned 9/11.)
Or you can choose to believe that Michele Bachmann is a tax attorney, one of the many people who hold a JD and LLM.
3:49 pm
You can work for the IRS as a collection attorney with just a JD and member of the bar. (You don’t need a graduate tax degree to be a collection attorney. The IRS doesn’t pay that much.)A collection attorney for the IRS is the same as a collection attorney on the outside. Any idiot can do the job against the deadbeats.
8:47 pm
Far be it for me to double check your “facts”, but you didn’t get much right. Coburn really was an accredited law school. She was a member of their final graduating class. She didn’t apply for the bar in Oklahoma because she wasn’t planning on living and practicing there. She applied in Minnesota because that’s where she was from. It’s perfectly normal for law school grads to do that.
Then I went to William & Mary’s Alumni Association. She is listed with them as having a post-graduate degree in tax law. She didn’t go through law school all over again. She just did focused post-grad work on Tax law.
Then I went to the US Civil Service records at NARA. Anyone who ever worked for the US government has their work history open for scrutiny. She was a tax lawyer with the IRS. She did litigate and mediation of tax cases.
Frankly, you give her more gravitas when you post bad information than if you were to just ignore her altogether. I can’t stand the woman, but I’m one of those middle of the road Americans who got sick of the Obama birther crap and really don’t want to go through Bachmann-is she really an attorney? crap. She passed the Bar in Minnesota. Because she had a law degree and was a member of the Bar in any state, she was qualified to be an attorney for the IRS because it’s federal. She didn’t lie about it. If you don’t like her politics, then say so. But don’t make up crap to discredit her which itself can be discredited in under 2 hours with official websites and calls to a couple of universities and NARA.
7:48 pm
I have been researching Ms. Bachmann on Ancestry, and as a prior attorney, noticed the discrepancies in her personal history. It has now been changing in the past weeks. The congressional record has been updated to include the Pat Robertson supposed J.D. and the non-William and Mary LLM. Martindale Hubbard will print anything you send to it.
However, now that I live in Minnesota, Minnesota has a very “in club” kind of license and could have accepted the Robertson degree, I’m sure that they require an accredited degree, only California does not but the Bar Exam is very hard. However, the Minnesota is known to be one of the easiest, based on Multi-state. I can’t believe she stopped paying her license fee and no journalist picked that up in the last election. You can “retire”, but no newly elected or current official would let that happen. Your running blog is very interesting and spans the period of time that I’ve been investigating as just “a woman with an internet connection and Ancestry.com”. I hate the haters and the deny-ers and agree that she has the pathology of a serial liar/Narcissist. You can see it in her eyes. Let’s see the certificate for the law degree, the certificate for the LLM and the degree from Winona as well. I also think her husband, the therapist who specializes in talking homosexuals straight, probably doesn’t have a PhD and, if so, he got it online. Her site says they own the therapy business together and employ over 50 people. Now that’s scary just in itself. Her husband’s father was “Swiss” and in the military during WWII, owned extensive land there, probably more like Germany and moved here after marrying his “Swiss” wife in 1950. Bought a large farm in Wisconsin that has received government subsidies with cash and then took a honeymoon to Hawaii. Also her half sister is gay and she refuses to talk to her, according to her brother. See my tree at Ancestry.com. I think the more paid journalist dig the messier it gets, makes Palin look squeaky clean. Question is why is all of this not in the media when, if this was a mere celebrity, it would be all over. I believe, as to her education and credentials, she lied to Congress, to the State of Minnesota, and the voters. Now, when I was a lawyer, lying on employment applications was grounds for termination and should be here, as well. Why is Anderson Cooper, et al. covering all this up?
7:08 pm
Actually, I take it all back. After doing a cursory google search, which I should have before I commented, googling “William & Mary” LLM Tax yields multiple results of people who have LLMs in Tax from W&M, including one from 1982. It may well be that they used to have the degree and no longer do. My apologies, though I do stand by my assertion that that is odd, as most schools are adding them, not getting rid of them.
7:05 pm
Yes, she is a lawyer. Martindale Hubbell, which is a highly respected publication (linked in the original article) says she was “admitted” in 1986. That means she was admitted to some state’s bar…aka, she passed the bar exam (though it doesn’t say which state). The bigger issue, imo, is her claim that she has an LLM in tax. It doesn’t appear that the school she claimed to got the LLM from offers that degree. At least, it doesn’t now. Not sure if it did in 1986, but I highly doubt it since LLMs are a fairly recent phenomenon and most law schools are adding them, not getting rid of them.
6:01 pm
I commend the blogger for looking into this situation. I also think, though, that she could have used a beta to edit this down. The initial, long paragraph on Bachmann’s pathology is immaterial. The real, provable, hence dangerous issues are her degrees, and her bar exam.
Bachmann supposedly graduated Coburn in 1986, the same year Coburn’s accreditation was removed, and the law school transferred to Regent. I don’t know what this means for Bachmann’s law degree. She must have been one of the last ones to graduate in order to take her bar exam in Minnesota in December of 1986.
All of this is definitely worth checking out. Did she really graduate from Coburn? Coburn must keep records. Did she really take and pass the bar exam in Minnesota? Minnesota certainly keeps such records.
Bachmann then attended William and Mary to study tax law. However, William and Mary doesn’t offer such a degree. Could she graduate from William and Mary with a nonexistent degree?
The obvious thing to do is to ask William and Mary if Bachmann really received a degree from them. Such records are public, not private. It shouldn’t be too hard to find them.
Also, if any of these questions have been answered in the previous responses, sorry. I haven’t read through the entire exchange.
5:25 pm
Has she passed the bar or not? If she has, she’s a lawyer. Should be pretty easy to verify whether she has or not. I’m an architect and my license information is readily available online.
5:15 pm
It is possible to become a tax attorney. I work at a law school and we offer an LLM in tax. And of course, one can become a tax attorney simply by being an attorney who works with tax law cases. It is not always (or even often) necessary to have a degree beyond the JD to do so. However, you are correct in saying that William and Mary does not *currently* offer an LLM in tax. What I want to know is whether or not they did when Bachmann allegedly went there. It is possible that they used to have one, but no longer offer it.
4:55 pm
These nutcase phony lawyers from religious schools have been injected into all areas of U.S. government since Reagan. They are not lawyers, they are the American Taliban. They are whack jobs, traitors, scoundrels, whose mission is to force their insane religious views down Americans throats.
3:12 pm
I would think everyone on both sides would agree that Bachmann must show records of her passing the Bar. After all the bullshit about Obama’s birth certificate, how can you TeePeers possibly say no without looking like the one-trick punies (no typo) you are?
2:46 pm
Courtney Lynn,
Sorry, I missed most of the “slug fest”. Up front I’m on your side and I’m not concerned with citations and such. People like Peter criticize to give themselves an illusion of of superiority. Any thing written can be criticized, but as Igor Stravinsky said, “How many statues of critics have you seen?”
Certainty has been laid to rest for many years even though most folks don’t know it. Nothing is certain you cannot be 100% sure of anything.
The fellow asking about your thesis statement obviously doesn’t understand formal logic. When doing any test the first thing you do is to construct a null hypothesis. In order to proceed you must disprove the null hypothesis.
Pardon me I do tend to prattle, but your piece certainly refreshed my memory of Michelle Bachmann’s qualifications. As for listening to her you’d have to be nuts. So peter nuts to you.
3:48 pm
I don’t plan on voting for Michelle Bachmann, but I bet it is a safe bet you voted for Barack Obama. For goodness sake, if you want to find fault with someone, at least find something of importance to complain about. Regardless of where Bachmann received her law degree, she had to pass a state bar to practice law. Please stop badmouthing her and listen to what she has to say.
6:15 am
BACHMANN, Michele, a Representative from Minnesota; born in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa, April 6, 1956; graduated from Anoka High School, Anoka, Minn., 1974; B.A., Winona State University, Winona, Minn., 1978; J.D. Coburn School of Law, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Okla., 1986; L.L.M., College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., 1988; lawyer, private practice; attorney, United States Treasury Department; member of the Minnesota state senate; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Tenth Congress and to the two succeeding Congresses.
NOTICE it says LLM.. she’s NOT lying, YOU are distorting information. You liberals better be threatened by her. I hope you have to choke the words.. President BACHMANN. This is the ONLY reason you all vilify her so much. She is a kind, articulate, brilliant conservative woman. Conservative being the word that irks all you nasty liberal types. Michele and her husband have their own business, and have worked hard all their lives to raise a wonderful family.. INCLUDING 25 foster children.
So why don’t you just stop with the attacks. This is libel! You are out of your mind! Talk about birthers and conspiracy theories? You better study a few MORE years of psychology, you may need it for self analysis!
4:03 pm
Ok first off…she did not *raise* all those foster children. While I commend her for taking them in, yes, what constitutes raising a child is from birth to adulthood. Having a foster child for a few years does not equate to raising him/her. I might remind you she was paid for each child also.
Second, Michele Bachmann has a documented history of lies and gross exaggerations. There is definitely something wrong with the woman, anyone of reasonable intelligence can tell that, with the blank stare and the ridiculous things she says at times. C’mon…use your head! She spouts that Obama’s trip cost 200 million $ a day? Any REASONABLE person could see in an instant how ridiculous that is! Yet she actually believed it, because she *read it somewhere*. The absolutely nutty statement she made about school nurses spiriting your daughter off for an abortion? C’mon, again any reasonable person can see how ludicrous that is. The fact that she BELIEVES this stuff is a hugeeeee red flag. I could go on and on citing examples. Please don’t try to defend this looney toon!
To address the issue of her law license, etc. I commend the author for doing the research she was able to do. There’s clearly something muddled, if not downright dishonest, there and it certainly bears looking into. If, for example, she has touted the many IRS cases she tried as her experience, and in fact she did not? That’s a criminal act right there, and we Americans certainly have the right to know this stuff. The idea of her in office anyways, just in general….as Cafferty said about Palin…if that isn’t enough to scare the bejesus out of you, it should be.
7:20 am
Courtney,
Thank you for writing this opinion piece. I’ve been wondering the exact same thing for over a year. After her “speech” in Iowa, following over a year of her daft, obnoxious and seriously moronic statements, it was the “last straw” for me.
So, out of complete digust and frustration I did the following google search mostly as a joke not thinking anything would really be pulled up on google:
“what crazy ass university would ever give Michele Bachman a degree of any kind!?”
…Voila! Merci!
3:45 am
I also did some research on Michele’s educational background. It is indeed quite murky. Her husband, Marcus’, is just as mysterious. Please come to the blog and check what I found. http://politicalgates.blogspot.com/2011/03/meet-bachmanns_27.html
12:53 am
THANK YOU Courtney Lynn! Robert just wrote everything I had to say…. except for a woman who wanted to investigate the “Americanism?” of EVERYONE in Congress was it? Just the Democrats & any “reasonable” Republicans, if they still exist, mmm. yes, That was when I think we got the first “whiff” of this “inmates have taken over the asylum” face of 21st century UN-civilization mess we call,____ oops! I can’t say that here.^=^,,,
Now who rants? LOL
Keep up the FABULOUS work you have undertaken for the sake of “Truth, Justice & the American Way” Cheers!
BTW…You were SO patient with that Peter…if you are a mum I bet you are a good one. He is why I’d NEVER have children, haven’t the patience to repeat myself so many times….maybe a FAUX viewer! THAT could explain it.
Carry on dear!
9:09 pm
Hey all — don;t know why i didn;t think of this before! Jeez Now I feel like a moron LOL (Hey what can I say I am a single mom going to school and working full time I missed the boat on this one)
W&M 1988 class photo — there is Eric Cantor — where is Bachmann???
http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=classphotos
Also, there is a comment pending about Obama’s birth certificate you know what birfer…. ITS OUT THERE LOOK FOR IT ASSHOLE!
8:28 pm
Why don’t you put as much effort into trying to find the Tele-Promter-in-Chiefs birthcertificate. BHO won’t show docs for anything, his birth, college trans, nothing. If she passed the bar she’s a lawyer, who cares if the ABA or you don’t think where she went to school is good enough.
We need our next Pres. to be a Constitutional Conservative. Rep. Bachmann doesn’t need a law degree to recognize 2/3 of the Fed Budget in un-Constitutional wealth distribution. And that just about every spending bill Congress has sent up in the last 100 yrs has been un-Constitutional.
Liberals are the ones that have to lie, because Liberalism is a lie. Liberalism is Socialism and Socialism has never worked anywhere its been tried.
The normal state of mankind through out history has been arbitrary abuse and control by others namely gov’t. Our founders sought to change that by limiting the size and power of gov’t. And what have we done, we’ve told Congress, you can do anything apon which you can get a majority vote.
Forced wealth distribution is stealing, but Congress thinks the commandment reads “Thou shalt not steal, unless you can get a majority vote in Congress”
2:13 pm
Oh god… a birther… everyone point and laugh at the stupid fuck and maybe it will go away…
3:22 am
By this time I’m sure you are aware the the President’s birth certificate in long-form has been released but I just need to point out something none of you “conservatives” seem to be able to grasp; college transcripts are confidential documents between the student and the school and NEVER have to be released to ANYONE, so please stop looking like a fool.
10:07 am
I would like to say THANK YOU to Courtney Lynn !!! What I have found in life is this: Usually when people attack other people they either have something to hide in their own lives, are very insecure about themselves, or, in some cases are literally “clinically mentally ill”.
I think that the reason journalists are not exposing more of these nut-jobs for what they are based on money. Journalist’s hands are tied by the owners who rely on advertising dollars from companies or corporations such as that of Koch Industries (Americans for Prosperity). The almighty dollar has ruled our country from day one.
The Koch brothers and others like them have bought the Federal Senate, House, Supreme Court and also a great amount of this nation’s Rethuglican Governors, Senators, and Representatives.
The thing that these Rethuglicans and their benefactors such as Koch seem to forget is this: the more people that they piss off and screw over, the less chance of a Rethuglican of ever getting elected.
These pricks are finally being exposed for what they are, and they are not liking it one bit.
I am not a journalist, do not claim to be, and have expressed my beliefs and freedom of speech.
Once again thank you Courtney Lynn!!!! It is amazing what a girl or a guy with a computer can do.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/anonymous-koch-americans-for-prosperity_n_829056.html
1:06 pm
Did you check mail order degree programs that sound like William and Mary, etc? Alot of frauds go that route.
11:46 am
I have no idea if any of this is true. I just have one question. I take it you’ve looked into Obama’s past? He does not have one document from his past in the library of congress but he’s a genius, after all he’s been to all 57 states? The next 2 years can’t be over soon enough. His time will end when he has to prove his citizenship and of course he will say it’s his choice to not run, whatever. What do you want to bet he ends up working for the UN?
1:54 pm
@DHale not relevant in this format. You want to check into Obama, you go right ahead
10:09 am
It Amazing to me that nayone listens to this bitch to begin with..I’m curious what Anderson Cooper found out.. Did he have dead ends as well? Whenever someone has so much hidden information how can anyone not question them? THanks for your hard work Cortney. There are way too many idiots in politics, telling lies for their own greedy ass agenda’s.. Makes me crazy!
5:55 am
Hmmm here is a piece On W&M website about Cantor — you would think that they would at least mention “fellow alumni” Michele Bachmann in this piece even just as a blurb since they graduated together and are serving in the house together
http://law.wm.edu/news/stories/2010/alumus-elected-first-house-majority-leader-from-virginia.php
5:50 am
Something interesting I did not know — lol Eric Cantor graduated William and Mary Law School the same year as Bachmann
5:50 am
Great piece – all along I kept saying, there is something wrong with this woman. I find it shameful everyone who has info has kept their mouth shut. MEDIA and journalist, shame on you!!!!!
5:30 am
She is nuts, she went to substandard Christianists schools where if facts conflict with their vision of god, facts lose.
She is unfit but so are many of them. I just want to believe that these crazy people existed before the internet, but now we all know how crazy they are,
5:25 am
Her husband’s business is in curing gays with god, so the whole family is a dangerous side show.
12:25 am
Excellent work Courtney! Your investigation has asked enough questions to make many of us wonder the same question, Who this Michelle Bachman really is?
9:24 pm
I believe she has a hidden agenda. M. Bauchman has these very strange blank stairs and she never answers the questions she is asked, but talk over the interviewer mermering about President Obama and others she feels she needs to verbally attack. She has no substance and brings nothing to the table to bring about any peace or solving any real issues of American Life. I believe she is on this earth to bring about division, uncertainty and confusion. Moreover, place many doubts in the mind of those who can not think for themselves. She and Sarah Palin are two of a kind and have the same agenda to attack without any wisdom, knowledge and are all over the board in throwing arrows, hoping that one of their many lies will finally stick. There presence in the public eye sadly, is for a reason to cause about the changes that has been foretold….yet consequences will have to be paid by Bauchman and Palin as well as others with no mercy. May God Bless and protect the humble, children and those who have peace, compassion and love for their fellow humans no matter who they are. Peace!
8:14 pm
I believe she’s a psychopath. Psychopaths and sociopaths literally have their own understanding of words. They know they don’t fit in but they are great pretenders – and they lie as easily as they breathe.
My amateur understanding is that the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is that psychopaths are born and sociopaths are made. This article discusses both.
Profile of a Sociopath.
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
9:52 pm
I believe Sarah Palin is a more likely candidate for a sociopath than Michele.
4:32 am
you might consider double checking the meaning of sociopath before you go casually slinging that aspersion around. tsk tsk.
3:09 pm
Last time I checked this was America and we do have Freedom of Speech. ^_^ Just stating an opinion.
Here is a dictionary definition: –noun Psychiatry .
a person, as a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience
Now, if you would have taken any psych courses you would know that being a sociopath is very hard to diagnose because it is much more than just the dictionary definition.
However, Sarah Palin is very anti-social – meaning she has a very tight social group and if things do not go her way with certain people she cuts them out of her circle. So, even though she loves the media attention- the attention is focused on her – she is not a social person.
Also, here is a more in depth look:
Antisocial Personality Disorder is also known as psychopathy or
sociopathy. Individuals with this disorder have little regard for the
feeling and welfare of others. As a clinical diagnosis it is usually
limited to those over age 18. It can be diagnosed in younger people
if the they commit isolated antisocial acts and do not show signs of
another mental disorder.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is chronic, beginning in adolescence
and continuing throughout adulthood. There are ten general
symptoms:
not learning from experience
no sense of responsibility
inability to form meaningful relationships
inability to control impulses
lack of moral sense
chronically antisocial behavior
no change in behavior after punishment
emotional immaturity
lack of guilt
self-centeredness
People with this disorder may exhibit criminal behavior. They may
not work. If they do work, they are frequently absent or may quit
suddenly. They do not consider other people’s wishes, welfare or
rights. They can be manipulative and may lie to gain personal
pleasure or profit. They may default on loans, fail to provide child
support, or fail to care for their dependents adequately. High risk
sexual behavior and substance abuse are common. Impulsiveness,
failure to plan ahead, aggressiveness, irritability, irresponsibility,
and a reckless disregard for their own safety and the safety of
others are traits of the antisocial personality.
Socioeconomic status, gender, and genetic factors play a role.
Males are more likely to be antisocial than females. Those from
lower socioeconomic groups are more susceptible. A family history
of the disorder puts one at higher risk.
There are many theories about the cause of Antisocial Personality
Disorder including experiencing neglectful parenting as a child, low
levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, and belief that
antisocial behavior is justified because of difficult circumstances.
Psychotherapy, group therapy, and family therapy are common
treatments. The effects of medical treatment are inconclusive.
Unfortunately, most people with Antisocial Personality Disorder
reject treatment. Therefore, recovery rates are low.
7:49 pm
In the private sector if you lie about your eduction, you are fired. Is she exempt from lying because she is a member of Congress?
10:20 pm
Just because someone has been unable to track down certain information does not make Bachmann a liar. Perhaps such strong accusations as liar and fraud should be held in reserve until or if there is actual evidence to support such claims.
10:21 pm
Peter — there is a ton of evidence. It is not my fault you are either too stupid or too naive to see it
11:28 pm
Please cite to this evidence…I’m not asking for an ton, just an ounce to support any “fact” you keep repeating to support your opinion piece. You can read my full comment below.
7:29 pm
Personally, Courtney, I find your article jaw-droppingly provocative. When the subject raises more questions that it can answer after research, I believe it is important to raise those questions with the pubic and, perhaps, inspire others to advance your research. I HAVE been a journalist for more tnan 40 years, now retired, and I would have been proud to work alongside you.
6:28 pm
Peter, In a world where a blogger is challenged on ‘facts’ when the politician can spew her garbage without ever having to verify anything, where a woman can consistently get elected because bozos from outside her state and district dump millions of dollars into her campaign – it seems ridiculously unclever and unimportant to dispute a blog piece that is clearly opinion and says so at least twice in the piece.
If Michelle Bachman is a lawyer, let her produce her degree- she never has.
10:12 pm
As crazy as this may sound, you don’t actually have to have a law degree to be a law maker. While Bachmanns grasp on history is tenuous at best, she still has a right to say what she wants, regardless how wrong she is. She only hurts her credibility. As a journalist, and yes, by the definition of the term bloggers do qualify, accuracy should be the first concern. People read blogs often do not take it in the way the author intended.
10:22 pm
Peter, stop reading between the lines and making shit up as you go. Also, that means anyone on a social networking site is also a journalist.
It is not the fault of the writer if the reader is a mindless oaf
6:04 pm
Courtney, I would be interested in pursuing this issue further, getting a bit of actual legwork done. I have a plan in mind, but I won’t go in to detail here. Matt can provide you with my contact info if you’d be interested in taking part in going to Washington with me on this project.
6:46 pm
Feel free to add me on FB ^_^
http://www.facebook.com/CourtneyLynn29
5:17 pm
William and Mary school of law where she received her POST DOCTORATE — yet the JURIS DOCTORATE was not received from an accredited school. I also posted in the comments the requirements of the MN state bar – which she must have a degree from an accredited school to obtain her license
MINNESOTA BAR EXAMINATION
Is administered on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July.
Only ABA-accredited law school graduates are eligible to sit.
Timely application filing deadline is October 15 (February exam) and March 15 (July exam).
Timely filing fee for non-attorneys is $500.00.
Timely filing fee for attorneys admitted less than 6 months is $500.00.
Timely application filing fee for attorneys sitting for the Minnesota exam who were admitted in another state for more than six months is $950.00.
Late filing fees (on or before December 1 for the February exam, or May 1 for the July exam) are $150: Total fee for late filers is $650.00 ($1100 for attorneys)
Repeaters (if you have taken the Minnesota bar exam before) pay a fee of $500.00. (The late fee does not apply.)
See Board Rules for additional informaiton.
4:59 pm
I’m on board with Michele Bachmann being both batshit and a liar, but (unfortunately) what is here doesn’t nail down much of anything in the liar department.
First, not every jurisdiction requires graduation from an accredited law school for admission to practice law – and the relevant question would be what the requirements in MN were at the time she was admitted, not today.
Second, as you yourself concede, she WAS admitted in MN – and as a lawyer who graduated law school in 1988, I can assure you that state law licensing boards investigate your credentials with a fine toothed comb. You state she was licensed in 1986, but you don’t mention when she graduated from William and Mary’s LL.M program (which may have existed then even if it doesn’t now – we’re talking about 25 years if it was 1986). Even if Oral Roberts was iffy, William and Mary has been reputable for a long time.
So, while I agree she has a very arms-length relationship with truth, reality, sanity and ethics, I think on these issues you’ve struck wide of the mark. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.
9:50 pm
Actually in my first article I did mention it – she graduated from William and Mary (according to her with a law degree in tax law) in 1988.
She graduated Coburn (which some conservative sites list as Regent) in 1986.
4:54 pm
Whether you see it or not, i am trying to do you a favor.
4:55 pm
No Peter – you are snarky little boy who obviously has nothing better to do than to NOT comprehend anything you read
3:56 pm
This guy is a DRAG. omg. I’mn tired of hearing this moron over and over saying the same thing that doesn’t even hold up! I think he has OCD! OMG I’m a hack journalist!!!! I think Peter has OCD!!! This guy is a nimrod. Even I understood that this is just a blog with opinions. Dude, go get some p*ssy or something, jeez… lol.
4:51 pm
I don’t have to prove someone is sane anymore then someone has to prove they are innocent. I cant explain the difference in time from when she took the test and when she became a lawyer. Perhaps it takes that long to process the tests, perhaps there was a clerical error. There are many reasons why this could have happened. It is not my job to track this info down but yours to vet any information you receive as credible and accurate. Otherwise you are no better then the boy who cried wolf and you remember how that ended for him. Credibility is a precious commodity, if you wish to squander yours that is your right. Just remember, once it is gone it is extremely hard to recover it.
4:54 pm
And I have citied all my sources and explained things to you the way I would explain it to my 10 year old. Not my fault you do not get it.
The ONLY source that can be proven as possibly NO credible is the wikipedia source for which I got the chunk of her bio – which cannot be DISPROVEN
Peter, do you know what a null hypothesis is? IF you do great – it applies here. If not, then apparently you are not educated enough to comment on my article
4:56 pm
When someone writes an article, they take the information they research, cite the resources, and condense it into their own words.
I have cited ALL of my sources and then-some… enough said
11:23 pm
Unbelievable. It is an easy explanation: Take the bar in July; it takes months to get the results (usually late September early October), and then you are not admitted until you have a judge accept your oath (signed and returned to the Bar). Here, they have a state supreme court ceremony in December to swear in attorneys. You don’t have to wait for the official ceremony, you can have a judge you know administer the oath any time after you receive confirmation that you passed the exam. Maybe she waited for the ceremony.
4:25 pm
AGAIN Peter – point out SPECIFICALLY what is misleading in this article?
4:40 pm
How about the part where you call her a pathological liar? What evidence do you have to support this claim? I am sorry but behaving in ways that are similar to someone with that disorder is not evidence enough. How about everything you claim about her that you can’t find evidence to support? You ask when did she have time to take the bar in Minn.? How about in august when most college students go home for the summer? That would be a logical conclusion for most people but you don’t even mention it. The bar is taken twice a year, feb. and aug., not too hard to conclude she took it while she was home. Ever hear of occums razor?
4:45 pm
PETER — omg READ this is nothing more than my personal opinion. (Avoiding potential libel here.)
I think she is a pathological liar. — do you KNOW what the words “I think” or “My personal opinion” means? For those that choose to ignore my words — I call moronic and it is not my fault – they are there for all to read. Tel me – what evidence supports she is NOT a pathological liar? She has been proven to lie in MANY cases, not just about her background
Ok Bar exams taken in feb and august — yet according to the MN Judiciary Branch, she became a member in DECEMBER
4:45 pm
I did not write the definition but according to Webster, yes, every blogger is a journalist.
I have no problem with answers leading to more questions but at least make the effort to follow those questions to whatever conclusion they lead you to. Even if they are not the ones you hope to find.
4:49 pm
Ok I will make sure to let every blogger know that they are journalists – so that means every blogger has journalistic rights and can be considered member of the press if you want to get snarky.
PETER! You sir need some serious help. The kind of information that needs to found cannot be found by a google search or even making a few phone calls… the answers that we need may possibly need law enforcement
Again where is the info misleading?I stated the facts that are available… so why are you attacking me for it?
4:50 pm
You know what Peter — I am done — you don’t like it – don’t read it.
4:18 pm
AAAAAAAAAAND for those questioning her husband — he earned a psych degree – it says from Regent — which is the school that bought Coburn’s library http://www.regent.edu/
Christian based education
4:20 am
And his doctor’s degree is from an online/distance learning university in Cincinnati- a place he has no record of ever living so you can draw your own conclusions.
Nearly everything in Bachmann history is a bit unclear. Still, if the Tea Party members want to beat a dead horse about Obama’s birth certificate then I think it is only fair for us to ask about law degrees and counseling clinic licenses, tax law degrees, marriage licenses.
4:11 pm
I also used http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/id/36577
Which prompted the questions — She lists Oral Roberts as her school for receiving her J.D. (Juris Doctorate) but they were NOT the law school — the Law school associated with Oral Roberts was Coburn — FYI a lot of schools have “affiliates” such as school of law, medicine, business.. it is not uncommon.
4:05 pm
Someone made a comment about citing Wikipedia as a source — I just cited it for her bio because it lists the info in an easy to read format – if you find any different information please do share, but the info on wikipedia is consistent with other bios of her.
But please by all means – if you object to anything cited by wikipedia — I am curious to see what you find ^_^
3:58 pm
Another commenter posted this link which I did not use because it has conflicting information with dates, but this article state it lost the accreditation as of 1981 http://minnesotaindependent.com/5746/oral-roberts-u-grad-bachmann-says-harvard-grad-obama-%E2%80%98isn%E2%80%99t-well-schooled%E2%80%99
I got info from http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/l/la029.html
3:46 pm
I did read the article about Coburn but saw nothing about when it lost its accreditation. Where did you say you found that bit of information?
4:00 pm
Peter — I am sorry if Bachmann gives you that tingly feeling below the waste – but she is NOT fit for office and does have a shady background. Again not my fault that the FACTS lead to more questions – that should be what is most concerning and not my as you so politely put it “hack journalism”. I guess if I was a journalist or even a journalism major it could be but I am not nor did I ever claim to be — you would have known that just by READING the article or hell – even my bio
4:24 pm
Sorry, but i am not a big fan of Bachmann, i just don’t like it when someone writes an article that attacks someones reputation and does not do all their homework. I would react the same way if it was about Obama or anyone else.
While you may not consider yourself a journalist, you might want to brush up on the definition of the word.
Here is Websters definition of journalist
a : a person engaged in journalism; especially : a writer or editor for a news medium b : a writer who aims at a mass audience
I would have to say that B certainly describes you. Actually, A fits as well.
4:37 pm
So basically every blogger on the internet is a journalist? LOL Ok Peter.
State was is untrue in the article… be specific.
The answer — nothing — she IS hiding something and I reiterate because apparently you only read half of anything:
IT IS NOT MY FAULT THE FACTS ONLY LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS – I am surprised that you attack me and not her over the facts leading to more questions and/or dead-ends.
But I am done appeasing the comments of an obvious illiterate
4:08 am
Actually as far as I can tell, Coburn did not lose its accreditation but it had a long and bitter struggle with the American Bar Association to obtain it. This struggle is explained in the book, Oral Roberts: A American Life. The ABA objected to two points. One, its conservative view regarding the gender preferences of its faculty and secondly, the oath that Jesus was their Savior that students were obliged to sign. Oral Roberts himself took the matter to the court in Chicago and it was voted in favor of the college. The ABA eventually took the matter to a vote in the House of Delegates and accreditation was allowed by a slim margin.
However, Coburn School of Law was closed in 1986 and its law library was transferred to Regents University in Virginia. This was Pat Robertson’s university and Regents was once known as Christian Broadcasting Network University, before it took a more prestigious sounding name.
I hope that clears up some of the confusion.
3:37 pm
And FYI – I do not control what gets posted where. I submit what I write and it is up to the owners of the site to post where they feel it belongs.
Even though it is an opinion — there are many facts associated with it — it is not MY fault that the facts only lead to more questions – that lies on Bachmann’s shoulders
3:35 pm
I’ve been a MN bar member since 1992, and my license is now on retired status.
First, lying on your bar application is not only unnecessary, it is a serious disciplinary violation.
Second, the MN Sup. Ct. is supposed to check applications carefully. At minimum, that contacting the various schools. They might have not contacted William & Mary, because MN Sup. Ct. would not have cared about her LL.M., but they should have learned that Coburn did not exist.
Third, what evidence is there that Bachmann ever attended school in Oklahoma? If she lied about William & Mary, why not also lie about attending a law school that closed?
Fourth, why would Bachmann not have taken the bar exam earlier? Everyone who attends law school knows that the best time to take the bar is right after you graduate, because you will remember more.
I passed the bar in MN, and then passed it again in WI when I was hired for my first attorney position in ’93.
Fifth, how could you pass the bar without attending law school? Well, you could take a bar study course for a little over $1000, and then take your best shot. The essay portion is hard to imagine passing, but its been done.
Keep digging; I hope this helps you, CL, investigate Bachmann fully.
3:32 pm
http://books.google.com/books?id=sU-sTO8P2oAC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=when+did+coburn+law+school+lose+its+accreditation&source=bl&ots=O4BIXU_abd&sig=Z8-4EL59KDlcsywoHQhgaZaXEZA&hl=en&ei=y3SKTaXXE_Kx0QGr_viEDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
3:25 pm
Do you think it may be possible the Bachmann was a member of the final graduating class? You state that the school lost its accreditation the same year she graduated, perhaps they lost it soon after graduation?
3:27 pm
Peter, read – I am not here to babysit and walk you through what was already written
3:19 pm
Good job Courtney, stay on it. You are helping to expose Bachmann as the obvious fraud she is, thank you.
3:16 pm
Oh and just for those who do not click the links:
MINNESOTA BAR EXAMINATION
Is administered on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July.
Only ABA-accredited law school graduates are eligible to sit.
Timely application filing deadline is October 15 (February exam) and March 15 (July exam).
Timely filing fee for non-attorneys is $500.00.
Timely filing fee for attorneys admitted less than 6 months is $500.00.
Timely application filing fee for attorneys sitting for the Minnesota exam who were admitted in another state for more than six months is $950.00.
Late filing fees (on or before December 1 for the February exam, or May 1 for the July exam) are $150: Total fee for late filers is $650.00 ($1100 for attorneys)
Repeaters (if you have taken the Minnesota bar exam before) pay a fee of $500.00. (The late fee does not apply.)
See Board Rules for additional informaiton.
3:14 pm
From the American Bar Association http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/bar_admissions/basic_overview.html
Bar Admissions Basic Overview
In order to obtain a license to practice law, almost all law school graduates must apply for bar admission through a state board of bar examiners. Most often this board is an agency of the highest state court in the jurisdiction, but occasionally the board is connected more closely to the state’s bar association. The criteria for eligibility to take the bar examination or to otherwise qualify for bar admission are set by each state, not by the ABA or the Council for the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
Licensing involves a demonstration of worthiness in two distinct areas. The first is competence. For initial licensure, competence is ordinarily established by a showing that the applicant holds an acceptable educational credential (with some exceptions, a J.D. degree) from a law school that meets educational standards, and by achieving a passing score on the bar examination.
The most common testing configuration consists of a two-day bar examination, one day of which is devoted to the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a standardized 200-item test covering six areas (Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts). The second day of testing is typically comprised of locally crafted essays from a broader range of subject matters; however, in a growing number of states, two nationally developed tests, the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), may be used to round out the test.
In addition, almost all jurisdictions require that the applicant present an acceptable score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), which is separately administered three times each year.
The second area of inquiry by bar examiners involves the character and fitness of applicants for a law license. In this regard, bar examiners seek background information concerning each applicant that is relevant to the appropriateness of granting a professional credential. Because law is a public profession, and because the degree of harm a lawyer, once licensed, can inflict is substantial, decisions about who should be admitted to practice law are made carefully by bar examining boards.
Boards of bar examiners in most jurisdictions expect to hear from prospective candidates during the final year of law school. Bar examinations are administered at the end of February and July, with considerably more applicants taking the summer test because it falls after graduation from law school.
Some boards offer or require law student registration at an earlier point in law school. This preliminary processing, where available, permits the board to review character and fitness issues in advance.
As state-specific information is so important (and so variable) in the lawyer-licensing process, law students should contact the board of bar examiners in the jurisdiction(s) in which they are most likely to practice law.
Also information for the Minnesota state bar requirements. Which is where I did my research on Bachmann as well http://www.mncourts.gov/lawyerregistration
Also for those skeptics – “MPRE Score
Minnesota requires that you obtain a scaled score of 85 or higher on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examiniation”. Link http://www.ble.state.mn.us/
Anything else?
2:35 pm
You all can access the first article here http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/03/20/michele-bachmann-woman-of-mystery/
And I can search on google — however it is finding CREDIBLE sources that matter, not just a google search ^_^
Here is the article regarding Coburn
By Julie DelCour
Published: 9/20/1979
Last Modified: 3/26/2008 11:32 AM
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White challenged the new Oral Roberts University law school Wednesday to produce “graduates who are competent enough to furnish the enormous variety of legal services that society must have if it is to function in a civilized and peaceful manner.”
Speaking before 4,000 guests including a long list of judiciary, civic and academic figures at the dedication of the new multi-million-dollar O.W. Coburn School of Law, White said law schools “cannot be content with teaching mechanics with how-to-do-it courses or with teaching black letter rules, although they mus do this, too.”
“At least enough of the law schools must strive to teach enough of their students about the role and function of the law, about the way the law is made and developed and the interaction of the law with the adjoining disciplines that determine its contents and operation,” White said.
The O.W. Coburn School of Law opened this session with 54 students. The school is housed in 60,000 square feet within the ORU graduate center. A $1 million donation to found the school was made in 1976 by Muskogee industrialist O.W. Coburn, who with his wife, Joy, was present at the dedication. Charles A. Kothe, a Tulsa labor attorney, was named dean of the facility three years ago.
In his opening remarks in Christ’s Chapel on campus, White said he was at the law school dedication “to redeem my promise made some time ago to the late (U.S. District Judge Allen Barrow, and to others.”
Barrow, of Tulsa, was sworn in to his post in 1962, the same year White was nominated for the high court by the late President John F. Kennedy. Barrow died of a heart attack Feb. 26.
In the long run, White said, the significance of the law school function depends on the importance of the role of the lawyers that the schools are charged with educating and starting on their way.
White said this country has been aware since its founding that “a free people could not exist and govern themselves in ignorance.”
“It became more and more obvious that furnishing the needs of a complex society required the services of many highly trained people sufficiently motivated to perform the country’s work.”
“…Hence the investment of huge sums of public money in schools and colleges and hence the willingness of public-spirited citizens to share their fortunes with private institutions such as this one.”
White said a major part of the insistence upon more and better lawyers was sparked by “the seemingly endless multiplication of statutory, administrative and constitutional restrictions, regulations or entitlements, the burden of benefits of which could only, or best, be satisfied by competent legal advice.”
He said law, and life, have become more complex and difficult than ever. Yet, he added, there are whispers that the job market for new lawyers is softening and that job opportunities are narrowing.
“For myself, I am quite sure that there is an insatiable demand for the young lawyer with the energy, brains, training and motivation to get the job done well. There are plenty of young people with this kind of potential who want legal training; and if the law schools properly select, as I think they do, and if they impart the training that is possible for them to do, they will be doing a great public service.”
White said it is the lawyer’s broad role in the development of the law that adds special importance to the work of the law schools.
“Of course, lawyers represent clients and help solve their problems, and they must be taught to do this effectively.
“But to the extent that lawyers, individually or collectively, can or should be held responsible for the condition to the law and the legal order; to that extent is the role of the school and its responsibility immeasurably extended,” White said.
Hosts for White’s appearance were Oral Roberts, Don Moyers, ORU general counsel; Kothe, and Byron V. Boone, publisher of the Tulsa World.
Among the guests attending were deans or deans’ representatives from seven law schools.
Judiciary attending included Senior Judge Delmas C. Hill, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th circuit; Senior Judge Luther L. Bohanon, U.S. District Court for the western district of Oklahoma; Chief Judge H. Dale Cook, U.S. District Court of the northern district of Oklahoma, and retired Judge Royce H. Savage, U.S. District Court for the northern district.
Also present ere attorneys James O. Ellison, Thomas R. Brett and Lee R. West, nominees for U.S. District Court judgeships for the northern district of Oklahoma.
State appellate judges attending were Chief Justice Robert E. Lavender, Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judges Robert H. Neptune and Paul W. Brightmire, both of the Oklahoma Court of Appeals, and Justice Robert R. Rose Jr., Wyoming Supreme Court.
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleid=20080326_222_26420
2:28 pm
http://minnesotaindependent.com/5746/oral-roberts-u-grad-bachmann-says-harvard-grad-obama-%E2%80%98isn%E2%80%99t-well-schooled%E2%80%99
This explains a bit about Coburn’s law school and Ms. Bachmann’s education. It includes a quick stmt too about her husband’s PhD.
Educational shortcomings aside, one does not have to reside in a state in order to take the bar exam in that state. In addition, some states, like OK and MN, have reciprocity that doesn’t require the bar exam.
http://www.utahbar.org/admissions/reciprocity_jurisdiction_table.html
These took me about 30 seconds to find…2 very short googles…1st hit on each. Your research skills are seriously lacking, my dear. Please don’t consider law school.
I see no reason to defend Michele Bachmann on anything but, on the other hand, you’ve posed some questions that have long been answered.
5:09 pm
No, I found this article and chose not to use it because it does not go into detail and some of the dates are misleading with other research. i.e. stating school lost acc in 1981.
The Utah bar??? Really? I used the AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION — whose research needs working on? – LMAO @ UTAH
2:19 pm
I am going to state again – just for those that obviously cannot read – I am NOT a journalist! I am just a girl with a computer and limited resources. As I stated IN the article itself.
The fact that I cannot find anything on her being an attorney is nil since I asked the question — this article is designed to make people THINK… I know that may be a hard concept for some….
Also, let me list the FACTS that matter:
Bachmann graduated with a Juris Doctorate from Coburn School of Law
Coburn School of law was under investigation as of 1979 because they based their education on a CHRISTIAN theology. Law + Religion = No-No
Coburn Law school was forced to close because it lost the accreditation
Coburn LOST accreditation the same year Bachmann graduated with the Juris Doctorate
In order for Bachmann to get a post-doctorate from William & Mary School of aw, she would have had to earn her juris doctorate first… see above facts again if you need to connect the dots
Now do I need to re-clarify this?
(Just an FYI, I can see comments before they are approved hence this post ^_^) Not intended for those posting above.
2:09 pm
The Michelle Bachman listed may not be the one you were looking for.
Just as their is more than one Barack Obama, there is more than one Michelle Bachman.
2:30 pm
It is the only one listed and has her first, middle, and last name along with her home address. I did not look at opinion articles when citing FACTS – I did several searches on martindale.com which is a credible source
1:57 pm
This is typical hack journalism, running with a story before you have all the facts. There sure are a lot of ifs and maybe’s in this article, far too many to potentially ruin someones career. How about in the future you actually get ALL the facts before you accuse someone of being a liar and a fraud. Just because some things do not make sense to you and you are not able to track down all the facts you want does not mean anyone is lying. I could just mean you are incompetent. In fact, it probably does.
This is the same kind of BS we went through last year with Obama’s $200 million a day Asia trip. You would have thought that journalists would have learned from that stupidity. Guess not.
2:28 pm
And you might want to read the other article and all the words of this article before you accuse ANYONE of being anything.
Incompetent? I do not think that word describes anyone on this site — maybe just the people who cannot read the ENTIRE article.
So Peter – what is ‘hack’ about it? Please point out where the information presented states anything other than my opinion, resources, or poses questions.
This article is made to make people THINK about what is going on and what she IS hiding. For you not see that is not my problem. Maybe a little hooked on phonics will do you well before you come to an opinion piece. I state throughout “my opinion” or “I personally” UNLESS there are cold hard facts. The things that ARE questionable are easily attainable for anyone, yet for Bachmann they are missing in action.
3:00 pm
I did read all the words in this article, i saw lots of ifs and maybe’s and i don’t knows. That is what makes this article a hack piece. Any journalist with an ounce of integrity would make sure all their facts are accurate and verified by more then 1 source. How many NYT articles have you ever read where the author said they did not know something. You haven’t because they make sure there are no unanswered questions.
Perhaps the reason journalists are not “running with it” is because they did ALL their research and found the story to be a dead end.
Just because you are not a true journalist does not mean the things you write can not and will not harm a persons reputation. Do you think that everyone reads every word that you write? Most people skim articles and only the parts they agree with will resonate and be remembered with any kind of clarity. Then they will post about it in their blogs, FB page or just tell friends. There is an old saying, I am paraphrasing “Good news travels on the back of a snail, bad news travels on the wings of a bird”. Also, Voltaire once said “When we hear news we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation”.
Perhaps if you had listed this article in the rants section instead of the information and resources section your claim this is an opinion piece would hold water.
3:06 pm
Again Peter, I am not a journalist nor do I write for the NYT nor do I claim to be.
However, you say maybe they have come to a dead end? Why? That is the question — she is a PUBLIC FIGURE representing the public as a member of congress and she claims to have tried cases as an attorney… the people have a right to know the FACTS I have posted.
Would you like me to list them yet again or do you need to get your children’s dictionary first?
What is hack about this opinion piece Peter? What is wrong with asking questions and getting others to ask questions?
Please list specifics from the srticle that are “hack” pieces. Do not state the entire article because that just proves you are just a lonely, bitter commenter with nothing better to do than accuse a non-journalist as being a hack journalist
Peter – are you a tea bagger?
10:02 pm
Courtney Lynn, May an older, more experienced writer give you a little advice?
1. NEVER get into an argument with critics, ESPECIALLY in the comments section. Be they ignorant asses, smart asses of just plain asses it will always be YOU that ends up looking bad.
2. YOU know that what you wrote was a fine and upstanding piece of work. OTHERS posting know this and have said or will yet say so. Let THEM argue the merits of your piece for you. Believe me honey, THEY will make you look MUCH better than you EVER can!
3. When an old retired Minister named Julie offers you free advice take it! It’s worth every penny you pay for it!
6:27 pm
I don’t think she claimed to be a journalist. This is just an opinion piece
9:15 pm
Thank you, Christina. None of us on here, as far as I know, are professional journalists, but we are outspoken people with news and opinions we want to share.
10:29 am
This is not journalism, it’s blogging. It’s a very preliminary presentation of a work in progress. It raises questions. Why is it published? Partly because someone else might have information.
I came away from the piece thinking that questions had been raised and should be looked into further. The discrepancy might be cleared up, or it might not.
9:13 pm
David, she may not have all her facts but she gave SOMETHING. If you have anything to ‘debunk’ what she says, spit it out now or forever hold your ‘piece’.
10:34 am
Peter, her article states that it is a query and you have gone off (wild w/ emotion!) about what it isn’t.
Grow up! Wake up! And SHUT UP!
5:44 pm
The fact that she continues to refer to death panels and insisting that the President is not an American proves to me she’s a pathological liar. Some people call it spinning; I choose to call it lying.
9:18 pm
$200million a day my ass. Before you go criticizing other people’s work, try getting some facts straight for yourself. The whole trip cost $50 million, with much of that cost being money that would have been spent at home too. Not to mention that it costs that much for ANY president to go abroad. It’s not like when you or I leave the country, nobody out there is targeting me specifically, there’s a bit more security precaution that has to be taken when the leader of the most powerful country in the world travels.`
10:50 pm
You don’t need to defend yourself. He is guilty of the same thing he is attacking you for.
10:51 pm
Scientists don’t know all the facts about the universe, but we still publish and build on findings.
1:56 pm
This article is interesting, but a little hard to read. Hard to tell what the thesis statement is.
2:29 pm
You want a thesis statement – read my college papers
11:07 am
Yeah, Adam. Writing clear, concise arguments with proper form is only useful in class. You’re making it out like she was trying to get people to pay attention to a serious social issue. This aint writing 101.
1:54 pm
Mike – are you aware what a thesis statement is? Obviously not
4:03 pm
Are you? Your reply does not make this clear.
3:17 pm
Umm… I don’t think you need a thesis statement when that thing on the top left part of your browser says “Michele Bachmann’s Lies About Her History”.
1:46 pm
I did a search for her maiden name as well… nothing came up. It says on one of her bios (I think wikipedia) and other conservative sights that she was married in 1979. I still looked for Amble though just to be on the safe side.
3:36 pm
You lost me when you cited Wikipedia as a source.
C’mon. really?
5:10 pm
for her BIO Kara… but if you find different about her biography – please by all means do share ^_^
4:43 am
Nevertheless, her Wikipedia page contains some interesting tidbits that could provide an incentive for future research. The “law school” she attended in conjunction with Oral Roberts U supposedly folded and was absorbed into Regent University in Virginia Beach – which is Pat Robertson’s pet Dominionist/Reconstructionist school. Then, as a graduate of William and Mary (undergrad), I find it hard to believe that someone as deluded as Bachmann could ever complete, much less graduate from, a quality program such as W&M, so this definitely needs to be investigated.
3:09 pm
wikipedia is actually a good source, when used with other sites or other forms of documentation.
it is possible to introduce bogus information, otoh, you can correct the content yourself, presuming you have the necessary info to do so.
anyone who uses any single source for reference, is very foolish.
12:43 am
you lost me when you cite ehow.com as a source!
Sheesh!
9:20 pm
Wikipedia is just a collection of VERY WELL documented souces, with references to the original articles, or works, most frequently including name of author, date of publication, etc.
It is not uncommon that supporting facts are supplied, and it is quite common for peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals are cited as sources.
When controversial “facts”, opinions, or controversial viewpoints are presented, it is almost always stated as such, and there is ample room for posting opposing viewpoints.
That you would challenge Wikipedia based solely on the name “Wikipedia” just shows that you are ignorant of the level of integrity that can be found there.
And, if you don’t happen to agree with anything on their pages, you are always free to do your own research, and post it there as well. Most often lazy people don’t bother to do this, being that it is easier to just criticize Wikipedia as being biased without providing any reliable documentation of this.
Be prepared however, if you don’t do your homework and attempt to pass off 4th grade level statements fully lacking in any documentation, as $carah Palin’s lackeys attempted to do the day after she got called on her “Paul Revere’s ‘Midnight Ride’ was to warn the British they wouldn’t be taking our arms away …”, then you will be challenged.
As $carah was.
She got slashed at the ankles.
2:02 pm
Using EHOW as a sourse was even worse — the whole section on pathological liars was false. I can’t take an article seriously that attempts to diagnose a condition in someone, using ehow as a source. Especially since the definition is wrong. Who wants to take this site seriously if they don’t bother with the most basic fact checking? Pathetic.
3:12 pm
Hey, why don’t you lay off “the girl behind the computer”? At least she’s thinking and bringing good ideas and points to our attention–can’t say the same for you. Ok, so you say she’s not a “pathological liar.” Even if the definition she gave was not that of a “pathological liar”, then how about she’s a liar of a different sort. Is “she’s dillusion and often says things that are false” good enough for you? Quit being so negative. Don’t put people down. Don’t call people pathetic. I think this girl is damn cool because she actually cares enough to spend her free time doing something constructive and interesting.
4:13 pm
Thanks Monica. It’s ok, i have learned to develop thick skin. Plus these articles were my first on a large platform and having negative comments actually help me become a better writer.
1:44 pm
I cannot find any records in Oklahoma of her marrying here…. that’s odd!
1:41 pm
You can find out if she ever was an attorney on any cases through a court records search in any states where she may have practiced. You can search by attorney name in most cases. Good luck! good work!
1:39 pm
Liar or not, I’m still waiting for her to take a stance on job creation for which she kept arguing during the elections.
Also, it extremely scares me to think that she keeps getting facts wrong about this country-which I would have to believe her advisers and researchers, and even her children, would let her know those facts are wrong, could even be considered for the presidency. Imagine if she was on camera making a public address, in the White House press room, addressing the world or making a statement and get a fact wrong that would put this entire country in danger. Remember she had notes and scripts that she was speaking from and even her teleprompter moments were crazy.
1:38 pm
Far be it for me to defend Michelle Bachman, but is it possible that she went by another name? I was married when I was in college and had my husband’s surname. And while we got divorced while I was still in college, and I had tried to have the university change my name, they never did, so all my graduation stuff is under another name.