If you haven't opened your home to a foster kid how can you rip Bachmann on the issue?

[Snoutport]

Let me get this straight: I don't like Bachmann. She's awful. I think she is an idiot. I can't stand her.

But this year all but three of my students were in foster care. I take food to the teen homeless shelter on a regular basis and have put in an extra garden plot just to grow them vegetables so they can eat. My mother grew up in an orphanage. So, I'm the first to say this society throws away children all the time. There are kids in your city who will be eating their dinner out of a garbage can tonight.

So don't knock Bachmann for doing something that many of us bleeding heart liberals haven't bothered to do. Take a kid in off the street or from the foster system.

If she abused them, fine, report it. If she used them, fine, report it. But if you don't have proof or haven't talked to the kids themselves then to put her down for fostering kids puts down every family who has saved a kid from life in an orphanage or on the street.

I have never been so mad about DU posts before but this is a low that is way lower than most of us can condone. If we can't acknowledge one good thing in our political opposites we are no better than them.

edit: (and, yes, 23 is a lot of kids but I know a family that has a room just for foster kids in emergencies. Last year they had AT LEAST four kids stay that I know of and one kid who is there permanently so they have had five since I met them last year. Some foster kids stay a week, some a few nights, others need a new home).

[Whisp]

1. I had to refrain from commenting on some of those idiotic posts.

good fucking grief what ignorance, everywhere.

[Snoutport]

2. I had to edit my OP several times because I kept cussing in it...

I think the foster posts have probably made me madder than anything I've read on DU!

[Atman]

3. I'll say it...I'll go out on a limb...here it goes...

Taking in "a foster child" or a couple of foster children is one thing. Taking in 23 children when you already have five of your own, and homeschooling them as well...I'm sorry, but there is something kinda creepy and weird about that. I have no problem with generous people who take children in need into their homes. But this is way beyond that. WAY beyond. And I'm not afraid to say that it creeps me out.


.

[JohnnyLib2]

5. Most foster parents have several at a time, for years.

That includes sibling groups. That sometimes includes very brief stays, as when a child is removed from a home under emergency conditions.

(I don't know any details of Bachman's foster children, but suspect that's the case.)

[Atman]

11. "Several at a time...for years..."

So how many kids does "several" make up, over how many years? 23 kids. If you take the definition of "several" to mean somewhere around 6-8, that's a LOT of kids over a span of what?...21 years (7 years for each group). How old is Bachmann? What about her OWN kids? FIVE of them. How did she divide her parenting time? This just sounds...well, I'll say it again...creepy.

[Brickbat]

19. It's entirely possible that one lived with her from age 8 to age 18 and 22 others came in for an

emergency weekend, 2 kids every year. WTF is wrong with you?

[Atman]

85. I'm not creeped out by foster parents. I'm creeped out by this particular foster parent.

She isn't quite as dumb as Sarah Palin -- .sorry, one debate without embarrassing herself does not make her suddenly brilliant -- but the thought of Michele Bachmann raising ANY children...I shudder. I'm not disparaging foster parents.

[gkhouston]

13. +1. The point is, we know virtually nothing about her foster kids

and how she treated them. And until we do, it's lower than whaleshit to diss her based on zero credible information.

[Lucinda]

6. It was over the course of 6-7 years and many probably weren't there long

It's not like she lived in a house with 28 kids...and they were in public school. I believe it isn't allowed to home school or put them in private school.

[Brickbat]

8. What would the cutoff be then? What would be appropriate? If they have the resources, what would

you say is the proper amount a family should have? Also, IIRC, state law prohibits homeschooling foster kids.

[spedtr90]

42. They went to public school...she didn't like that

Just recalled a speech she made when running for Congress about her foster kids coming home from school with assignments she did not like. She also said the schools were teaching the kids they were more important than their parents. That kids who wanted to be auto mechanics were only taught the history of cars and not the American Revolution.
And I tried so hard to forget this crap...

[dflprincess]

99. That's rich

as Bachmann's grasp of American History is second only to Palin's.

[Snoutport]

9. 23 kids...but how long do they stay? I know a foster family that has a bedroom for foster kids

Sometimes they have kids for a week or two, sometimes they have them for months. But, this last year I know they had at LEAST four different kids and one kid that is now living there permanantly--so, last year they had five foster kids. I don't know how many they have had over the years but my guess is they have already helped out more kids than Bachmann has.

[pipi_k]

10. Just wondering

where anyone gets the idea she took in 23 of them at the same time.

My SIL has taken in foster kids too. Probably more than 23.

But not all at the same time!

I believe most states have rules spelling out exactly how many foster kids can be in the home at one time.


By the same token, I have two dogs of my own. If they weren't so bad around other dogs, I would gladly foster rescue dogs...as many as I could. Because I love dogs.

Is there anything creepy about that?

[spedtr90]

38. Nothing creepy about it! Some kids were there only a week or two

They were not there all at once. These were teen-age girls who needed temporary shelter. That Bachmann took in foster kids is to me her one redeeming quality. She was home-schooling her own kids,so it not a stretch that she would also home-school the foster kids.

[emilyg]

39. You should have stayed off

the limb.

[REP]

41. If it were cats or dogs, she'd be called a ' collector' or mentally ill

But it's different when it's helpless human beings. You're right. It IS creepy.

[yawnmaster]

71. There are plenty who rescue dogs and cats over a period of years, then find homes for them...

They are neither collectors or mentally ill.
you are stretching.

[jwirr]

56. I wonder where she gets the time to do this and her job? 28 children

are a handful. She must have a lot of help.

[pipi_k]

76. Sigh...

She didn't have 28 kids at the same time.

And they weren't "children" in the classic sense. They were teenaged girls. Pretty much self sufficient except they needed a home.

She only had to be accessible. Not hovering.

[Obamaforthewin]

83. Why?

If she has the means and desire, why not help as many as possible? Why is that "creepy"? I'm guessing you've never taken in a single one, right?

Do you think that the rich can help more? That that bonus could have taken care of X number of kids? Well she has actually walked the walk.

That is not "creepy", it is what we as Democrats strive for.

[WatsonT]

86. If she had different politics she'd be declared a saint

[Lucinda]

4. This place gets so mean at times it takes my breath away

Thank you for posting and what you do to help.

[JohnnyLib2]

7. Rec, with thanks to those who foster.

[CelticThunder]

12. If she is turning out people who are as warped and evil as she is -- she is doing evil.

[pipi_k]

31. Well if you want to put it that way...

then warped and evil people should also be banned from having their own children.


We'll all vote on what constitutes warped and evil, how's that?


According to what I've seen here at DU over the years, that wouldn't leave very many people fit to be parents, as all kinds of different people have their own ideas on what makes a bad/evil parent.

There are even lots of Republicans who think Democrats are warped and evil...imagine that... !!!!


In any event, there are loads of warped and evil people who somehow manage to release some pretty decent kids into the world. Just like there are apparently good and decent people who somehow manage to inflict some pretty fucked up kids on the world. Jeffrey Dahmer comes to mind here...

[DCBob]

14. An "idiot" shouldnt be allowed to adopt children.

[FLPanhandle]

15. So, how many foster children have you helped?

Since you are so smart.

[DCBob]

26. Who said I was smart??

The OPie called her an idiot.. so all I said is an idiot shouldnt be allowed to adopt (sorry I should have said foster). Do you think idiots should be allowed to take in foster children?

[FLPanhandle]

30. I think the first criteria for foster kids is "Can they provide a safe and nurturing environment"

That's what these kids need more than anything.

Plenty of legitimate reasons to bash her, but not on this topic.

[DCBob]

32. I dont think an idiot can do that.. do you??

[FLPanhandle]

35. Happens all the time.

Are you saying folks that have lower IQ's are abusive to children?

[DCBob]

50. having a lower IQ and being an idiot are not the same thing.. imo.

[yawnmaster]

73. do you have any evidence to support this? eom

[Lucinda]

17. You might want to look up the difference between

adoption and fostering. :hi:

[DCBob]

23. yeah, my bad.. but the same applies.. imo.

[Lucinda]

27. Should people have to pass IQ tests before they can have children?

[DCBob]

33. just a non-idiot test.

[Lucinda]

40. LOL

Ok then. :)

[Snoutport]

18. So a litmus test to adopt but not to have them naturally?

[DCBob]

29. idiots shouldn't raise children.. natural or otherwise. I think most would agree with that..

right?

[Snoutport]

45. isn't an idiot foster parent better than no home or parent at all?

of course I want awesome upper middle class parents with tennis lessons and a swimming pool for every foster kid...but some kids end up in juvenile detention facilities and orphanages because there is no foster parent to take them in.

It probably happened in the city closest to you several times today.

A night at Michelle Bachmann's can't be a whole lot worse than that.

[DCBob]

48. judgement call..

tough one.

[yawnmaster]

75. This belongs in the eugenics forum. eom

[Cal Carpenter]

90. Agreed. For fuck's sake.

[Zebedeo]

16. +1

nice post

[vi5]

20. Recommended.....

My son had an in-home nurse for a while. And even just over the course of the 2 years she was with us, she had 8 different kids in her house through the Foster system. Sometimes 2-3 siblings at a time, sometimes more. All the kids were from horrible, rotten, abusive home situations. She had a full time job but her husband was retired and would take care of the kids. Drive the school age ones to and from school, watch the younger ones at home.

At first when we heard about this we were somewhat skeptical and shocked. Both of them were in their late 50's and both had multiple health issues. And they had 2 adopted kids of their own. But once we met the kids and learned about the situations they were pulled from there was no question that they were so much better off with this woman and her husband. The time these kids had with them was probably the only time they felt loved, felt safe, never went hungry, didn't get hit or neglected.

Agreed about Bachman. She's a loon but she still probably did more for these kids than I could have even dreamed of being able to do.

[Snoutport]

21. DANGIT! Why UNREC? Because I can admit foster kids need help more than we need to bash an idiot?

I hate it when posts that advocate for children are unrecced. The same thing happened on a post about children and hunger I did last week. There are a couple of creepy DUers who LOVE to unrec me and say I'm not telling the truth in my posts.

A pox on them.

[REP]

44. Look up "false dichotomy"

[Morning Dew]

49. I unrecced for complaining about unrec.

that's an automatic. Nothing to do with the content.

[Snoutport]

53. Thank you kindly for your unrec then. At least you take credit for it

[WorseBeforeBetter]

59. Why are you so hung up on recs/unrecs?

Do you really take it that personally, or is this a thinly veiled attempt to bash DUers (and call some of us creepy)? Your obsession with recs and unrecs is really bizarre. Bringing up rec/unrec warrants an auto unrec in my book, and many of us do not care for vanity threads, or being lectured to.

BTW, did you ever explain how that brawl at school managed to last 1.5 hours? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Snoutport]

61. It was just a comment, not an obsession--

and I have a couple "fans" who unrec every post I put on...often they post I'm a liar or not telling the truth...the moderators usually pick them off.

So, when I see several recs disappear in a row I usually think it is them.

Regardless, if it bothers me, I should be able to say it. If you don't like what I say, I invite you to unrec me or hide my threads.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

65. I know how this place works, but thanks for your permission. (n/t)

[snooper2]

106. ROFL

it's a conspiracy

[tnlefty]

67. I understand what you're getting at, and I don't believe that

foster kids should be placed with an idiot like Bachmann.

However, decades ago, my spouse and I filled out the paperwork to register as foster parents, prior to having our family get larger. We had the first telephone interview, followed by an in-house interview. Everything was fine. During the second interview I merely asked that if we could afford to shelter, clothe and feed any kids that might come our way, just merely mentioned if the money that the state would send, setting that money aside in a savings account for each and every child, with someone from the state overseeing all of it, so that the money could be saved for any child, not us, got us booted and really quick.

We had our hearts in the right place, and we wanted any money from the state that we might receive to have the kids, saved for them as I'm well aware that it's tough for them when they exit foster care, but apparently that was too much for the state of TN to consider. However, the state will dole out money to religious institutions that suck up the money and abuse the kids. Yeah, I've heard some of the stories from those kids.

Just because we were willing to take kids in at our expense and wanted to save any money from the state for their care for them and not abuse them, we were disqualified.

Yeah, I feel like I can gripe, just a little....

[cherokeeprogressive]

91. Shit. I can't unrec based on mentioning unrec because I already rec'd this...n/t

[Bluerthanblue]

96. advocating for children IS the issue here-

do you really think that Michelle Bachmann is doing that?

She hasn't been a foster parent in ...13yrs? She and her husband provided foster care in the 90's.

The things she is doing and advocating in her political position is hardly advocating for children.

Does she really care about kids in crisis? Kids who need a safe, nurturing environment to grow in right NOW- today?

She is presently using her voice, votes and power to make life harder for children and families imo.

:shrug:

[Snoutport]

102. very good point but it doesn't mean it is ok to make up things and say she abused kids

and to undermine the foster care system.

All I'm saying is get some proof of abuse or use the 10,000,000 other horrible sides of Michelle Bachmann. There are plenty of facts out there to rip at Michelle Bachmann...we don't need to make anything up.

There are middle of the road voters who will see us as garbage for picking on a foster mom with completely unfounded accusations.

[bbinacan]

22. Thank you so much for this post. n/t

[mzmolly]

24. I think the issue is that Bachmann decries the need for "social programs" while

getting stipends from the Government, herself.

[KansDem]

34. True, she raked in $251,973 in farm subsidies (1995-2006)

Michele Bachmann: Welfare Queen

By Yasha Levine

Michele Bachmann has become well known for her anti-government tea-bagger antics, protesting health care reform and every other government “handout” as socialism. What her followers probably don’t know is that Rep. Bachmann is, to use that anti-government slur, something of a welfare queen. That’s right, the anti-government insurrectionist has taken more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts thanks to corrupt farming subsidies she has been collecting for at least a decade.

And she’s not the only one who has been padding her bank account with taxpayer money.

Bachmann, of Minnesota, has spent much of this year agitating against health care reform, whipping up the so-called tea-baggers with stories of death panels and rationed health care. She has called for a revolution against what she sees as Barack Obama’s attempted socialist takeover of America, saying presidential policy is “reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom.”

But data compiled from federal records by Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks the recipients of agricultural subsidies in the United States, shows that Bachmann has an inner Marxist that is perfectly at ease with profiting from taxpayer largesse. According to the organization’s records, Bachmann’s family farm received $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006. The farm had been managed by Bachmann’s recently deceased father-in-law and took in roughly $20,000 in 2006 and $28,000 in 2005, with the bulk of the subsidies going to dairy and corn. Both dairy and corn are heavily subsidized—or “socialized”—businesses in America (in 2005 alone, Washington spent $4.8 billion propping up corn prices) and are subject to strict government price controls. These subsidies are at the heart of America’s bizarre planned agricultural economy and as far away from Michele Bachmann’s free-market dream world as Cuba’s free medical system. If American farms such as hers were forced to compete in the global free market, they would collapse.

--more--
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/michelle_bachman_welfare_queen_20091221/

Not bad for someone who routinely denounces socialism and "government welfare."

[martymar64]

69. I'm guessing she has crops that need to be picked and doesn't want to pay for labor

Foster kids would make great slaves . . .

[moondust]

95. And maybe great tax write-offs?

[mzmolly]

97. Agreed.

Not bad at all. Not to mention I've read that the farm land in question, may have been gift from the US taxpayers, aka The Homestead Act of 1862. That's was quite an entitlement program eh? 160 acres for ... free!

See the article below for more info.

http://www.bluestemprairie.com/bluestemprairie/2011/01/will-bachmann-propose-a-retroactive-repeal-of-the-1862-homestead-act.html

[riderinthestorm]

52. +1. I applaud Bachmann for being a foster mom on the other threads with that caveat

She is trying to wipe out child labor laws and de-fund social programming aid for kids in foster programs (even as she takes the government financial aid). It's her hypocrisy and dishonesty about it that makes me a bit squicked out about her. It looks as though she wants to self-promote her actions as a foster mom to score political points, even as she took financial aid money that she nows wants to eliminate. Plus she's hypocritically taking aim at some really important laws designed to help the most desperate kids who would/could be sucked into working pretty horrific jobs without laws with some enforcement teeth.

[KansDem]

72. "...she wants to self-promote her actions as a foster mom to score political points"

It was pointed out by "reporters" that she said this during the debates. I didn't see the debates so I don't know what the context was, but why did she mention this "statistic?" Was there a question about children's services in this country? Was there a debate about helping children?

Why mention "foster kids?" I wonder what the context was...

[riderinthestorm]

80. I've read it was in her opening remarks, in order to underscore her "pro-life" cred.

She was using it to make sure the audience understood how committed she is to walking the walk of being pro-life from conception to grave.

I've read she brought it up again during the debates but don't know that particular context.

I admire her being a foster mom. It's pretty great. BUT her current attacks on funding for the very same social services she participated in, took government money from, and is using to flog her pro-life cred is... a tad bit hypocritical. It's a difficult concept to put into a soundbite and until or unless Bachmann becomes a top tier candidate, I believe attacking her for being a foster mom without being able amplify on the accompanying hypocrisy is just too difficult.

[pipi_k]

89. Hmmm...well I seem to remember back in 2004

When John Kerry did something similar with his military service in Vietnam.

And do you recall what happened?

Nasty little Swiftboat people accused him of all sorts of things. Republicans wore bandaids with purple hearts on them to the RNC. Remember that? I do.

It was disgusting.

Many of those people wouldn't know a war wound from a hole in their asses. Yet they felt justified in mocking a man who did his time in the service while that creepy little piece of shit George W went AWOL.

So tell me...how is what people are doing here any different?

[KansDem]

101. "And do you recall what happened?"

Yeah, I remember...it was indeed disgusting.

[mzmolly]

98. Exactly.

Well said.

[Snoutport]

107. +1 Excellent points based on factual info

It's just the made up claims of abuse I am talking about.

Aside from fostering I can't think of another single thing about michelle bachmann worthy of positive thought and I would prefer to attack her on those factual points.

And if a foster kid comes out and says she was awful, then that is a whole different story and deserving of publicity.

[NNN0LHI]

25. Wait a minute

I have not posted on this subject until now so don't accuse me of anything.

I had no idea that she was ever a foster parent until SHE, brought it up. Here let me say that again. I had no idea that she was a foster parent until SHE, brought it up.

Now that she has brought the subject up are we not allowed to question her motives?

Be like someone coming into where you work with a big huge yellow parrot sitting on their shoulder. And you look at the big huge yellow parrot sitting on this persons shoulder and make a comment about it. And then the person says to you don't ask me about the parrot, like its none of your business.

Its the chicken and the egg thing. Which one came first? See what I am getting at here?

And I promise these holier than thou posts don't help a damn thing. Believe me on this one.

Don

[bbinacan]

28. Oh good grief

:eyes:

[Snoutport]

36. "I have not posted on this subject until now so don't accuse me of anything"

Well, then I wasn't talking about you.

But now that you have posted--I am talking TO you.

There are posts where people are accusing her of terrible things with no proof merely because she said she was a foster parent. Accusations of abuse and more.

I ask for proof of abuse. And I ask that people don't accuse a foster parent who has given a home to 23 kids isn't ridiculed for that and pointed out that foster homes with crisis beds see that many kids in a very short time.

As for your chicken and egg here is my take on that. There was this chicken with a home and 23 eggs in crisis. The chicken opened the door and let them in. The eggs are by now adults or near adults and can speak for themselves as would Bachmann's files on her time as a foster parent. But, as a person who works with foster parents all day long I can tell you this. You don't get 23 kids if you are doing the things the other posts about Bachmann are claiming. I have reported a foster parent to social services and the investigation was started immediately.

I am holier than no one. In fact, I've been a pretty crappy selfish person at times. But I am a better person now and can recognize an act of kindness even in my enemy.

Have a really awesome day NNNOLHI. If your town does toy drives for foster kids you might try giving a toy or some socks or something. It's more rewarding than bashing foster parents.

[pipi_k]

43. As far as I can see she had two choices...

Not mention it and be accused of trying to "hide" something (yes, I do believe some here would have done that)

or

Mention it and get slammed because now it's everybody's business to slam someone for doing something they themselves wouldn't do.


Honestly...there's just no winning around here.

[NNN0LHI]

51. Only two choices?

She could have not run and there would have been no scrutiny of this subject. That is a third choice isn't it?

Don

[pipi_k]

58. yeah, I suppose, huh...

Because taking in foster kids is such a nefarious thing to do.

Honestly. I don't know how she can live with herself.


And shame on her for daring to think she could run for president without being attacked for taking in foster kids...something many here wouldn't even consider doing themselves.

[yawnmaster]

77. So in the last two hours, what have you researched and found regarding her motives?

thank you in advance for any links or information.

[frylock]

37. this is the DU, where spamming people with dick pix is to be lauded..

helping kids, not so much. i hate michele bachmann with a white hot passion, but this place is as partisan, sometimes even worse, than the fucking free republic.

[ecstatic]

62. LOL! nt

[etherealtruth]

46. K&R

There is enough to legitimately criticize that twit for ... making sh*t up about things "you" have no knowledge of is abject stupidity.

Thanks for a very straight forwatd post.

[Angry Dragon]

47. Let's look at the whole picture

Taking in foster kids is a noble deed. Children need a home.

What I have a problem with is that she is using this information as part of her run for the office of the president of the United States. She is using these 23 children to get her into office. Her husband uses them on his website to promote his business, that both of the Bachmanns own. She claims she raised these 23 children when she only held her license for 7 1/2 years.

At the same time she is saying how loving she is, she is working to take the safety net down for the rest of the country. She works against unemployment insurance, she does not think people need good and affordable health care in this country, she has stated in the past that if we got rid of the minimum wage that more people could be hired, she works hard against giving the same rights to everyone in this country, she is against welfare for the needy people but at the same time she takes farm subsidies. The list could go on.

How many people do you know that go around and claim how godly they are because they bring in foster care children and use that for personal gain?? It is not that she brought in foster children, it is that she is a hypocrite. That is why it is fair to question her on this topic.

If you are a godly person show me by your actions and not the words that spew out of your mouth............this sentence is not directed at the Poster



I have read many of your posts and you are a better person than I am. You stand behind your words. Your deeds speak for themselves.
If foster care is so important than why is Bachmann trying to destroy the very programs that help people stay out of foster care??

[Snoutport]

57. I 100% agree that her agenda and deeds are horrible. Just this one issue I can't fault her for

even if she does use it for gain. I just don't like the foster system taking a bashing because Bachmann participated in it.

Now, a post about how Bachmann uses her participation in the foster system for gain, how her husband uses it on his website would be TOTALLY ok with me. Or a post of how she is cutting funding that would help foster kids would be great!

But insinuating abuse without facts makes the foster system look bad and could keep good people from stepping up and taking in a foster kid. It also makes us all look bad to attack a foster mom in the eyes of many many people.

[Raine]

54. Uh cause so far it's still a free country

and everyone is entitled to their opinion right or wrong. :shrug:

[knowbody0]

55. what you say is exactly right

my home was a receiving home as well as a foster home. the average stay for the receiving kiddies was two weeks, the foster kids' stay was all relevant to their home situations. my "job" was helping the families unite. in five years, over fifty kids had lived with us.

they taught me a new dimension of love and it was the most rewarding time of my life.

yep

[pipi_k]

63. Many years ago I knew a couple who took in foster kids...

they had a little boy who was the cutest thing ever. Maybe three years old.

They tried to adopt him, but his mom wanted him back.

They were heartbroken when he left.

[lynne]

60. Cannot believe that people are unreccing this -

- sadly it demonstrates the mean spirit that unfortunately can exist at DU. Partisan to the point of blindness.

[JAnthony]

64. Depends upon the state, but in many states there are limits, and ...

close monitoring of homes with more than 3 children under 5, or a total of 6 children, biological or foster, of any age under 18.

No reasonably equipped parents can well deal with more than 6 at once, if some of them are not their own.

There are simply too many needs of each child in care to ask parents to work too hard and burn out too soon.

23 foster kids, over 13-15 years, one or two children at a time in any year in a family with 5 of their own... possible, reasonable, if each child stays for a matter of a few months to a year or so.

But, as a social worker responsible for approving such homes, I would throw up a red flag as soon as Michele opened her mouth. I would question her competency.

Now, I need to ask, what exactly were the requirements and regulations, restrictions and review processes in place when Michele became a foster parent? Those are public documents. Not the children, nor her application, but the regulations and restrictions MUST be available as a matter of public record.

[Maru Kitteh]

66. Well, because my mom did four years of time as a child slave, OOPS, I meant "foster kid"

She slept on a cot, in a pantry built off of the kitchen with no heat in northern Iowa. She saved trash to jam in-between the cracks in the siding to try to keep the snow out.

She got up before the rest of the family to feed the furnace and make breakfast while her owners I mean "foster parents" and their REAL kids slept. After they ate she cleaned up and was usually expected to help in the fields, too.

After mom finished the 7th grade, they told her she was too stupid to keep going to school, and besides, she was needed on the farm.


There are millions of wonderful foster parents - but I take what I know about a persons general character into account when I think of what kind of foster parent they probably were/are.

Bachmann is a cheat, a liar, a hypocrite and a thief who uses people and uses the American Taxpayer as her own personal financial growth package.

I don't expect virtue from her in any area of her life, including her role as a foster parent.

[kiranon]

68. If she is going to use the 23 foster kids for political advantage she

needs to tell more about when she did this, how long they stayed and their approximate ages when they arrived and left and who took care of them and how many she usually had at any one time. And, we adopted 2 children at birth who are special needs children and do not receive anything from the state/county for having done so.

[AngryAmish]

70. Easy: she only took the kids in order to kill and eat them.

[southernyankeebelle]

74. Please she didn't raise these children from babies to adults. Some of these

children stayed with her up to 6 weeks or 6 months. Yes it was honorable but it allow her to stay home and homeschool her own children and rake the money in. According to DHS she was allow to keep up to 3 children at any time. Her and her husband both take government money. So this woman talks out of both sides of her mouth.

[yawnmaster]

78. rake the money in??? maybe if that $90 max a day is in singles...

it's still a pretty quick rake.

[pintobean]

79. K/R - Thank you!

I couldn't get through any of those threads, and only bothered with part of this one. Your OP covered my feelings very well.

[cry baby]

81. I agree, Snoutport. nt

[bemildred]

82. Well, I haven't invaded Iraq, does that mean I can't criticize Bush? nt

[pipi_k]

88. You haven't invaded Iraq

because you couldn't. You have no choice in that matter.


As a regular everyday person you certainly could take in foster children. Or at least try to. So it's your choice. If you choose not to do it, then don't criticize someone who has.

:shrug:

[Snoutport]

103. The point is Iraq happened. People are making up that Bachmann abused kids.

Feel free to make up anything you want. But, wait, isn't that why we don't like Bachmann? For just making up crap to make people and programs look bad.

Or, is it OK for us to do that but not her?

We could use facts and her record instead of making up stuff that could upset and turn independent voters towards her instead of away from her.

[bullwinkle428]

84. My view of her being a scumbag is based on how she regards her

lesbian step-sister.

"And Bachmann’s irrational animosity towards gay people is not just reserved for strangers. In a speech in 2004 when she referred to a gay family member as “a part of Satan,” she was talking about her lesbian stepsister, Helen LaFeve. A year later, LaFeve literally stood in the room and watched as her stepsister went on to propose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Minnesota."

http://www.queerty.com/why-we-should-be-very-very-afraid-of-michele-bachmann-20110615/

Can't speak for other DUers, but that view has NOTHING to do with her role as foster parent. BUT...I would really like to know how she would react to any of those foster kids coming to her with the revelation that they happen to be gay.

[WatsonT]

87. Is she supported abortion and opposed the war (the last one)

people on here would be declaring her the greatest humanitarian ever.

As is they're calling her creepy at best. A monster at worst.

[Bluerthanblue]

92. the thing that ticks me off is the

way she plays it up for political gain.

She was a foster parent for five years ending in 1998. The claim that she makes that she's 'raised' 23 foster kids is a stretch. They were all teen girls, who had spent a large portion of their lives with others before coming into the Bachmann home.

I agree that using this as simply another way to vent dislike for Ms. Bachmann is wrong- but there are some legitimate issues to be raised imo and she's the one who keeps making HER experience center stage.

I'd love to see her be a REAL champion for kids stuck in the foster system by making sure that programs that benefit them aren't going to be ended because of her devotion to "tax cuts".

I'd love to see that she truly cared about kids who languish in foster care who could be adopted by supportive loving parents who might happen to be gay. (she's opposed to allowing gays and lesbians to legally adopt)

I do have personal experience with foster care.

Her stand on issues that directly effect children and families make it difficult not to question the depth of her caring and commitment.

[JosefK]

93. If I don't have the $ to create my own problems...

how would I have the $ to solve someone else's?

[bigwillq]

94. I don't care how many kids she has

As long as they're taken care of and that what she is doing is legal.

Why do you care?

People can choose to have as many, or as little, kids as they want. It's none of my business.

[customerserviceguy]

100. Well said

There are at least a thousand reasons why Bachmann should not be president without getting into this. Equally, no amount of foster or adopted children qualifies a person to be President.

It's simply an irrelevancy, and she's the one who looks vain for bringing it up.

[Iggo]

104. I'll rip her on whatever issue I please.

[Rebubula]

108. That is your right

No one is trying to stop anyone from being an asshole.

I like it when people attack the other side for things they would lionize people on our side for - it allows me to see who the real hard core partisan people are; the ones that employ an 'us vs them at all costs' attitude, just like so many republicans.

[KingFlorez]

105. Everyone is entitled to they're opinion

Some people think she's using the fact that she took children into foster care for political reasons, which is pretty desperate.

It amazes me how quick people on this site will rush to defend Republicans, but tear Democrats down at every turn.

[Blasphemer]

109. Frankly, 23 does not seem like a lot to me

I worked with foster families at one time in my life and it's very easy to imagine a 55 year old woman who has had 23 foster children. As a NY Rangers fan, I have always had great admiration for Adam Graves. His story is well known - when he was growing up, his family fostered 40 children.

[JoeyT]

110. While I agree with you to an extent, and I certainly won't criticize her for taking in foster kids,

I'm still not going to give her credit for it for the reasons I've given before. Given the amount of effort she and hers put into making sure the foster care system stays overcrowded as hell by trying to prevent GLBT people from fostering/adopting, she more or less burns off any credit she might get for it. If they were actually concerned about those kids, it would be more important to see they went to good homes than it would be to try to keep people in their place.

Edited to add: And for the record, I haven't had foster kids. I'm an unmarried male atheist with a gay roommate. The chances of me even being able to are mighty remote to put it lightly.