“We have a very, very urban senator, Barack Obama . . . and what does he do?" (Black farmer bill)

[bigtree]

11.30.10 | 3:13 pm

Even though a settlement for black farmer’s who were systematically discriminated against from 1983 to 1997 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has broad bipartisan support, Rep. Michele Bachmann along with Iowa’s Steve King came out against the Pigford II settlement on Monday. The agreement passed the Senate just before Thanksgiving by a voice vote and will be considered in the House this week. Bachmann called the settlement fraud, while King said it amounted to slavery reparations.

“Figure this out, Madame Speaker,” King said on the House floor on Monday. “We have a very, very urban senator, Barack Obama, who has decided he’s going to run for president, and what does he do?” King said. “He introduces legislation to create a whole new Pigford claim.”

“We’ve got to stand up at some point and say, ‘We are not gonna pay slavery reparations in the United States Congress,’” he continued. “That war’s been fought. That was over a century ago. That debt was paid for in blood, and it was paid for in the blood of a lot of Yankees, especially. And there’s no reparations for the blood that paid for the sin of slavery. No one’s filing that claim.”

Bachmann, speaking after King, acknowledged her fellow Republican. “I want to thank the gentleman from Iowa, Steve King . . . The numbers bespeak obvious fraud in this situation,” she said referring to the large number of claimants, 94,000, “and the taxpayers are supposed to pay out another $1.15 billion dollars . . .?”


read more: http://minnesotaindependent.com/74627/bachmann-king-fight-discrimination-claim-for-black-farmers


Bachmann suggests Obama is buying black votes with funds from discrimination settlement

On Breitbart’s show, Bachmann accused the settlement against the USDA of fraudulently distributing the money to people who didn’t face discrimination (an accusation that has been hotly disputed), but then went on to lament that other communities might file a class-action lawsuit for discrimination as a result.

“There’s calls to give out more, quote, discrimination money to Native Americans who claim they were discriminated against by the USDA, but it doesn’t end there. They want to also have a class of, quote, women farmers who were discriminated against and another class of, quote, Hispanic farmers who were discriminated against,” she said.

Bachmann then accused the Obama administration of buying votes. “There a real question, a sincere question that: Was this really about vote buying? Because before election cycles, that’s when the demand comes to pay out these claims in order to get support.”

“And our president, Barack Obama, filed a piece legislation to fund this Pigford case when he was running for president,” she said. “And at that time we saw the black community in the southern part of the United States turn to Barack Obama rather than Hillary Clinton. There’s a lot of implications here.”

read: http://minnesotaindependent.com/71965/bachmann-suggests-obama-is-buying-votes-with-funds-from-discrimination-settlement


related:

Cobell, Pigford Settlements Get Final Approval From Congress
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/11/cobell-pigford-settlements-get-final-approval-from-congress.html

DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9658417


. . . have I been transported back to the 50's? Where's the condemnation? Too many comments like this are allowed to stand in politics these days.

[oasis]

1. Haters, the GOP has become the party of "haters".

[bigtree]

3. and racists

. . . apparently.

[Demoiselle]

2. I just threw up in my mouth again.

Sorry. I put the same comment on another post just now, too. Sigh. I'm gonna have to stop commenting for a while.

[bigtree]

7. well

It would be nice if there was as much furor directed toward these negative influences in the republican opposition than there is toward our Democratic president . . . but I've long ago given up expecting that here.

If folks here can't pull themselves away from their circular firing squad to fight back against this blatant and outright racism from republicans on the floor of the House, I really, personally have no significant connection to the debate here. Sadly, I know the way the wind's been blowing here for some time now.

[Blue_Tires]

10. agreed...

[jaxx]

4. Nothing like blatant racism.

This is the face of the right wing. It's ugly and it's mean and it's dirty.

[bigtree]

5. It doesn't exist in a vacuum

There's a tolerance among many of the republican electorate for such blatantly racist and bigoted appeals . . . and among many in the younger generations who are more willing to question the challenges of a past they may not have experienced.

[jaxx]

6. No, it doesn't,

But it exists and the barn door has been opened so that they no longer even try to hide it when they talk. I expect we'll see Jeff Sessions riding up the Capitol steps with his confederate generals coat on any day now.

[Number23]

8. Damn. She figured it out

Black folks only decided to vote for Obama after the PIGFORD case came out. Lord have mercy... :eyes:

And we all know there will be precious little condemnation for statements such as this. People are way too invested in pretending that this type of thing either doesn't happen at all, or only happens in the South, or only from Republicans, or only on Fridays after Labor Day etc.

A million excuses will be made for this just as a million are made for every other similar incident.

[MineralMan]

9. You go, Mr. President!

Thank you!

[malaise]

11. Fuck the racist RETHUGS

The bill passed.

[bigtree]

12. yep

. . . now on to the Hispanic farmers' claims.

[asdjrocky]

13. Yet these are the people he says he can work with.

A total scam and game.

[bigtree]

14. he hopes to get republicans to do their job

. . . and support responsible legislation.

Nice to have you come on here and try and change the subject from these cretins and their bigotry to criticize the President for asking for cooperation from republican leaders and legislators.

[asdjrocky]

15. Sorry my opinion disappoints.

But I just think it's naive to believe it's anything more than a show for the small masses that are still interested. I'm not trying to change anything, just pointing out the audacity of believing you can work with any of these low brows.

[bigtree]

16. not these two

that's clear.