Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) dished out an oddly phrased and factually challenged takedown of President Barack Obama in a recent interview, claiming that Congress needed to give the president a "spanking" in order to stop him from using his "magic wand" to create a new generation of Democratic voters.
Speaking to WorldNetDaily about her opposition to the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Bachmann argued that Republicans "could actually lose the gavel in 2014" if they allowed the legislation to pass. They'd do so not just because the bill would make them unpopular, she said, but because Obama would "wave his magic wand before 2014 and he'd say now all of the new, legal Americans are going to have voting rights."
While that power doesn't actually exist, Bachmann claimed that Obama's 2012 decision to grant nearly 300,000 undocumented young people reprieve from deportation concerns was proof it did. It doesn't. Obama's decision didn't give DREAMers voting rights, but did allow them to legally work in the United States, continue to attend school and obtain driver's licenses.
Bachmann then continued to describe a fantasy world in which Obama's magical powers would allow Democrats to enact changes to election laws and rule the nation forever. Only Republicans could prevent this nightmare from supposedly becoming a reality, Bachmann continued, and they could do so by giving Obama a "spanking."
"I'm not crying wolf here," she said. "This is working for the president. It's not working for the American people, but, hey, it's great by him. He has a perpetual magic wand and nobody's given him a spanking yet and taken it out of his hand. That's what Congress needs to do -- give the president a major wake-up call. And the way we spank the president is we do it through the checkbook. We're the ones who say, 'No, you can't have the money.' What's wrong with us?"
While rank-and-file House Republicans have expressed vocal resistance to any immigration reform proposal that includes a pathway to citizenship, HuffPost's Ryan Grim and Elise Foley reported Monday that some lawmakers could be more receptive to comprehensive legislation next year, when the threat of primary challenges has faded.
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