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Take the Bachmann-Palin Challenge: Can You Tell Them Apart?
POSTED: June 9, 12:44 PM ET | By Julian Brookes
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Comment 11
Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin
Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images (Bachmann), Matt Stroshane/Getty Images (Palin)
A thrill ran down the political media's collective leg the other day when Michele Bachmann's newly minted campaign manager Ed Rollins, in an interview with Politico, called his new boss "so much more substantive" than her fellow wingnut and possible 2012 rival Sarah Palin. "People are going to say, ¡®I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who¡¯s every bit as attractive.'" It was the first salvo of what's sure to be a highly entertaining war of words between the two camps, whether Palin runs or not. But Rollins' comment got us wondering: Are the two women really so different, in style or in substance? As one ¨C rough ¨C measure, see if you can tell whether the lines below were spoken by Palin or Bachmann. Click on each quote's source for the answer.
DC versus the Real America
"I'm a foreign correspondent on enemy lines, and I try to let everyone back [home] know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington." [Source]
We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ¡­ We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.¡± [Source]
The Census
¡°They will be in charge of going door to door and collecting data from the American public. This is very concerning .... I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won¡¯t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn¡¯t require any information beyond that.¡± [Source]
President Obama
"In these volatile times when we are a nation at war, now more than ever is when we need a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor lecturing us from a lectern." [Source]
"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." [Source]
Foreign policy
"Iran is at a point right now where America has to be very aggressive in our response. We can¡¯t remove any option off the table. And we should not remove the nuclear response." [Source]
''This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policies. But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies.'' [Source]
The gays
"I don¡¯t support defining marriage as anything but between one man and one woman, and I think through nuances we can go round and round about what that actually means. I¡¯m being as straight up with Americans as I can in my non-support for anything but a traditional definition of marriage." [Source]
¡°If you¡¯re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it¡¯s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement.¡± [Source]
Health care reform
"This cannot pass. What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn¡¯t pass.¡± [Source]
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama¡¯s death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." [Source]
Global warming
"The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax." [Source]
"It¡¯s kind of tough to figure out with the shady science right now, what are we supposed to be doing right now with our climate. Are we warming or are we cooling? I don¡¯t think Americans are even told anymore if it¡¯s global warming or just climate change." [Source]
Evolution and Creationism
"There is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact ... hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel prizes, believe in intelligent design." [Source]
"Oh, I think [Creationism] should be taught as an accepted principle... It should be taught in our schools. And I won't ever deny that I see the hand of God in this beautiful creation that is Earth, especially coming from one of the most beautiful states in the Union and traveling around this country also in this last month... the beauty that is this Earth, I see the hand of God in that." [Source]
The Deficit
"Look at the debt that has been accumulated in the last two years. It's more debt under this President than all those other Presidents combined." [Source]
¡°I don¡¯t know where they¡¯re gonna go to get all this money, because we¡¯re running out of rich people in this country... Under Obama, big evil is now anyone with a joint income of $100,000 or more. I truly believe that¡¯s probably gonna lower to anyone with a joint income of $65,000 or more¡ªwill be considered big evil and taxed to the hilt.¡± [Source]
Congressional Democrats
"I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?" [Source]
"What is it that Barack Obama really believes? And we know that he¡®s the most liberal senator in the United States Senate. That¡®s just after one year after being there. He's the most liberal. Joe Biden is the third most liberal. You¡®ve got Harry Reid, who's liberal, Nancy Pelosi, who's liberal. You have a troika of the most leftist administration in the history of our country." [Source]
Abortion
"The biggest advance of the abortion industry in America is the passage of Obamacare. Elective abortions have nothing to do with health care. It¡¯s about ending lives, not saving lives.¡± [Source]
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