Scandal: Michele Bachmann’s Father-In-Law Took Farm Subsidies

The left has made it clear that they hate conservative women, particularly outspoken and popular conservative women like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. The latest manifestation? A “scandal” over the Bachmann family farm, managed by Michele Bachmann’s father-in-law until his recent death, taking farm subsidies.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) — so fond of accusing the Obama administration of foisting socialism on an unwilling America — has apparently been the recipient of about a quarter of million bucks in government handouts.
Liberal site Truthdig links to an Environmental Working Group analysis of federal agricultural subsidies and found that the Bachmann family farm, managed by her father-in-law until his recent death, received $251,000 in farm payments between 1995 and 2006.

First, barring some evidence of Michele Bachmann’s participation in operating the family farm beyond it being managed by her father-in-law, I’m not sure it’s fair to hold her accountable for these subsidies.
Second, let’s not pretend like farm subsidies are always optional. Farming, much like any business, is a competitive enterprise. That enterprise has long been distorted by government involvement in the agriculture markets in the form of subsidies, regulations, mandates, etc. For many farmers, taking subsidies isn’t a choice. It’s a part of business. If you want to keep up with competitors you have to take subsidies or go out of business.
This is a bit like saying that people who are on Medicare can’t be against government health care. As though Medicare were a choice and not a government program we’re all forced to participate in by penalty of law.
But the liberals love these games. Their goal is government dependence, and they love that Americans often find themselves in situation where they’re forced, either by circumstance or law, to participate in the very programs they oppose. So they can obfuscate the opposition to these programs and they ill they do with cries of “hypocrite.”

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  • http://Array farm4money

    and don’t forget …….. janet reno …… or madaline Albright …….. and thank god hillary was not put on the cover dressed like palin was in jogging shorts. I would have wanted to pluck out my eyes after seeing it.

  • http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

    I apologize for trying to bring the discussion back on topic. Who knew that Dino was an authority on women???

  • dave53456

    This situation and discussion reminds me of one of my favorite jokes. Take and empty glass, fill it partially with water. A liberal says it is half empty, a democrat says it is half full, a republican screams “who stole the rest of my goddamn water?”

  • farm4money

    Good God, your right . I should have remembered the Bill Clinton days …… the liberals do pick the less attractive. Is it a mental confidence thing or something?

  • sayanything-4928

    That’s all they can find on her? The dimocrats are desperate.

    Oh vapors, a farmer who takes subsidies.

    Like farmers have a choice. Anytime the gov’t enters what should be a private market there is distortion. Rob is right, with all the mandates, regulations, and other farmers accepting subsidies it’s either take them or be driven out of business.

  • AKA WOOF

    “her stake in the Wisconsin farm is worth up to $250,000. Her income from the farm has grown from $2,000 a year a few years back to as much as $50,000 for 2008.”

    None dare call it Welfare

  • Brent

    Don’t forget the “but you walk on the streets” argument. As if they can be avoided. As if they should be avoided.

  • sayanything-4204

    Biggest Farm group in N.Dak…..ND Farm Bureu came out and directly said—-Time to drop the Govt subsidies………I’d say most farmers in that group are on board

    …Now…ND Farmers Union……….hmmmm….wonder what their stance is……wonder what their political affiliation is??????…….

  • robert108

    This isn’t anything resembling a “scandal”; it’s just more leftie lying smear.

  • farm4money

    Why do I take farm payments from the government? Well, Maybe because I don’t make the rules but I want to play in the game.
    1. the only way to compete with the guy across the road is to be on a level playing field. To compete when we bid the cash rent on rented land, you must have the same incomes as the neighbor or he can out bid you using the income from the government to give him an advantage. remember, he is using tax dollars, yours & mine included to support him a higher rent to the land owner. If no one got the support, it would stay a level field

    2. The main reason for the payments is to gain control over the farmer. There are many things I have to do to get those payments. I have to farm the way they say, raise the crops they allow, give them trade secrets (acre reports of each crop and its yeild) that they give to the grain buyers so they know how much wheat is out here before they bid up the price.

    3. the government wants to make sure that we always have food at a cheap price in this country. This is their reason for doing it, and why the european countrys pay even larger supports. (they have gone hungry there and vow to never let that happen again.)

    4. the payments are a damn poor settlement for the damage done to my market by the federal government. A little over a month ago president dumba$$ put a 30% teriff on tires from china. China is the number one importer of soybeans from this country. thanks for poking a stick in their eye. they went to south america for one of their last large buys. To protect his labor union buddys making tires he screwed up my market. I should have the right in this country to sell my beans to who ever i want, we used to be a free country.

    I could go on but what for, those from the left don’t want to know the facts anyway.

    Just for the record, Dino, you put nothing in the trough. How the hell do you figure you and 10 others have anything coming from something you never put into in the first place.

    By the way, you liberals are at the trough all the time. I have my property TAKEN from me for your road. only federal & state highways buy the land for the road. all country roads are easements, the roadway is taken but not bought. I own the land to the center of the road but the easement says 33′ on each side of the section line can be used for public transportation.
    You live in town and flush your toilet? 85% of your sewer system is funded by the EPA ….. MY taxes help pay for your toilet but I pay 100% of my own. How about your schools, here in ND my land taxes pay for the schools in all of the smaller districts. only the major cities fund their own.
    you ever go hunting? on whos land? whos crops feed most of the wildlife out here. In small town ND who pays the taxes for the fire trucks ….. farm land owners again.

    The main point i wanted to make is this, WE ARE ALL AT THE TROUGH, even those who will not admit it.

    but back to the thread …….. she is related to someone who got a government payment big deal, Barak socialist Obama is related to a man who abandond his own children, ran around fathering kids all over the place. How is that baraks fault?

  • http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

    (Politico’s Glenn) Thrush calls this “selective socialism.” Neither Thrush nor the author of the article in question found it worth mentioning that Bachmann voted against the 2008 reauthorization of the farm bill, and then voted against it again when the House voted to override President Bush’s veto.

    You know who doesn’t make a dime from farm subsidies, but supported the awful 2008 farm bill anyway for crass political reasons, flip-flopping after he originally called it a “multimillion-dollar giveaway” for “big agribusinesses”? Barack Obama.

    -Stephen Spruiell

    http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTEzZjc4NjYwOTg0ZjFiNzFmZDI4NTUzYjFhMDlkNjA=

  • farm4money

    get someone to help you read what I wrote. Have them explain it to you. I did not say that they are good, I don’t want them, I want a level playing field. NO ONE GETS THEM. not farmers or city dwellers either. pay for your own services. If you chose a risky life style …. pay for it …
    yourself. do not expect it to be free or that others should have to pay for it. If you smoke you shold pay more for your health coverage. if your fat ….. lazy … or engage in a life style that is risky …… pay your own way ….. don’t be a bottem feeding free loader

  • sayanything-12

    Well I’d settle for a modicum of common sense, and a bit more objectivity in their thinking.

    Clearly if you’re going to compete with other people who get subsidies, you’re going to need to take them too, or just choose to go out of business.

    The big problem here is it isn’t even the local farmers who are receiving most of the subsidies, it’s the large, bloated corporate farms with owners e.g. in Miami and New York, that without subsidies wouldn’t even exist. (And ironically, the subsidies push intensive farming practices that otherwise wouldn’t be economical and which are very ecologically damaging.)

    The little guy can’t afford to not take subsidies, but the market distortions associated with them still favor the big cats. If liberals don’t want to see oligarchies and monopolies, they can start by dropping back on subsidies.

    It all comes down to the Gold Rule, “them with the gold make the rules,” and the big guys with the deep pockets always make sure the rules favor them, regardless of whether you have Democrats or Republicans in office.

    It’s like Jimmypop says the only real solution is to drop the rules and drop the subsidies. Fat chance of that happening of course, in the current political climate.

  • farm4money

    btw ……. I went through this once before but will do it again, how a ‘Loan Deficiency Payment’ works
    the government says ……. canola is worth $.09 per pound
    I take a load of canola to ‘ADM’ to sell it.
    ADM says they will pay me $.05 per pound.
    I say, ‘you can’t do that, the government said it was worth $.09 per pound’.
    ADM says not to worry, they will give me $.05 and the government ‘LDP’ will pay me the other $.04

    I got the $.09 per pound that the canola was worth. ADM got to buy the canola for $.05 per pound
    WHO REALLY GOT THE ‘LDP’ .. EWG list my name as getting it but all i got was the $.09
    ADM WAS ALLOWED TO BUY $.09 canola for $.05 …. would look like they were the ones who got the subsidy and, let us not forget, you the consumer were able to buy canola cooking oil in the store for less

  • sayanything-203

    Eddie!

    Yes indeed! Go back and look at the disparagement heaped on those attractive, well-educated, women on Fox by our local lemmings here. Anyone who prefers Helen Thomas and Nancy Pelosi to Megyn Kelly, Shannon Bream, or Julie Banderas, is either gay or ought to be.

  • sayanything-203

    My, we are getting snippy and downright waspish in our later years, aren’t we!?

    Not only are those women you so crassly refer to better educated, and better paid, they’ve no doubt got better looking men to choose from too.

  • jimmypop

    as always, conservatives say ‘take away the bribes AND the rules for everyone.’ problem solved. now, lets see which side objects the most to that.

  • sayanything-203

    There is plenty to ridicule Michelle Bachman for. You shouldn’t have to look.

    Lioncourt,

    Are you, a devout liberal, suggesting a discussion of issues and policy positions, and not parentage, appearance or IQ scores?

    What is this world coming to?!

  • sayanything-12

    As usual conundrum doesn’t make an ounce of sense.

    If you morons learned an iota of economics, you’d actually at least sound slightly intelligent.

  • sayanything-3960

    There is plenty to ridicule Michelle Bachman for. You shouldn’t have to look.

    This is ridiculous.

  • sayanything-4416

    Those attractive conservative women are the spoiled privileged ones who know the power of the pink hole. They’ve got more doors open to them due to their looks and like to think that the advantages they have are due to their intelligence. That makes them callous towards anyone who wasn’t born with advantages.

    They’re not accomplished. Just pretty with a hole between their legs.

  • sayanything-7134

    Go back and find out how many have accepted the subsidies for 09, empty hollow announcement. Why because they like their pork. Perhaps farm4money could enlighten us. Weren’t subsidies meant to level the playing fields because of international trade and most of their farmers are subsidized. Good luck on getting other countries to change their rules.

  • sayanything-32786

    Oh boy…the Dems are ruining her just as they did Palin! You know how the Dem have shut down Palin and no one wants to hear her speak…the same for Bachmann! Palin is in demand, er, ahhh. Oh yeah, Bachmann will not be able to have a successfull book explaining her views to the masses, juat like Palin….oh yeah, Palins book was a massive hit. Or, er, or the Dem can try to ruin Bachmann, like they did Palin, by disgracing her family…oh yeah that didn’t work either. Where is that Rules for Radicals book when you need it anyway…lol

  • sayanything-7134

    I hear bullsh@t. Take the pork and run. It is always optional. Lets start making excuses for conservative farmer. Talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. Sanctimonious hypocrites. At least Rob has the guts to call it what it really is.

  • sayanything-4416

    That was a long way of justifying your addiction to farm supports.

    Never met a conservative yet who couldn’t justify their taking from the collective. It’s quite disgusting. You people fight like mad to keep others from being helped, from the government making anyone’s life better but you take as much as you can with both hands.

    Conservatives are awful people. The absolute worst kind of parasitic infection.

  • sayanything-4416

    They’ve had lots of advantages due to their looks and the hole they sport. That gives them a distorted view of the world and can diminish their capacity for empathy.

    We’ve all met the spoiled, cuntish, “ladies who lunch”, the ones married to rich men who haven’t a clue what life is like for real people, who think planning a lavish birthday party for little Emily is the height of personal achievment.

    These conservative FOX drones are those women with a degree in communications.

  • sayanything-32786

    Or Amateurs if you like.

  • sayanything-7134

    that isn’t even a good thought. Those hips in lycra. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

  • sayanything-32786

    Darn Carrick, you always insist that they are factual and contextual and honest and informed and intellectual and normal and…lol

  • sayanything-32786

    Yeah guys, cause I’m certain she was the decision maker for her Father-In-Laws farm…lol (Amaters)

  • sayanything-32786

    First of all Bat, she’s attractive…that’s usually a good starting point for liberals…

  • sayanything-4416

    Yeah, we know, deadbeat. I’ve heard it all before.

    “I just HATE taking this unemployment but I paid for it over the years!” (They didn’t)

    “People should take care of themselves! Now, help me hide grandma’s money so we can put her in a nursing home on Medicaid after we make her look poor.” (That’s a favorite of conservatives everywhere. They know how to f*ck the system.)

    “Everybody should take care of themselves! Oh honey, little Billy’s rare disease is costing us a fortune. Let’s run to the government and ask for help!” (A very common conservative story. Look at Palin, tirelessly working for more aid to the mentally disabled like her little Trig! If she didn’t have him she wouldn’t give a flying F*CK about the mentally disabled.)

    I have acquaintances, relatives, the friends of relatives and too many people to count that do the same thing you’re doing. Bitch about being “forced” to be part of a mutually supportive society while you take every goddamn penny you can collect from the government.

    Just admit that you haven’t the intellect to be part of a civilized society unless you’re forced.

  • sayanything-32073

    I am a conservative that looks at govt subsidies a little differently. I can clearly see that the money is going to be thrown away regardless of my beliefs so I might as well get the share that I am entitled to as a taxpayer and citizen. I figure as long as I am putting in more than I am taking out I am not hurting anybody elses chance to get their share. The problem is that the govt really doesn’t have anything but what they take from us. Many people believe the govt has a stash of money like black people believe that Obama does. Most of the mud the left throws doesn’t stick. Michelle is one of the few great people we have in congress. She isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com robport

    It is welfare, and it should end.

    But like most government programs, it’s hard to avoid them.

  • sayanything-7134

    A conservative finally admits the truth. A difference between conservatives and liberals, the liberals admit to going to the trough, a conservative won’t. Hey Hennen how is the advertising for E85 going. They are supported by subsidies which means in the trickle down economy Hennen is supported by E85 proponents.

  • sayanything-6955

    It will keep her in the spotlight, “right” where she belongs! She is a great voice for conservatives. Another heel in the nads of the left.

  • sayanything-4416

    Uh, no, sorry. Getting farm supports isn’t mandatory. Like all conservatives, these flaming sh*theels are taking as much as they can get while trying to deny others a fair shake.

    It’s disgusting but typical of the conservatives in this cesspool culture.

  • sayanything-4416

    It’s just like I always say: conservatives are the first at the trough, elbowing others out of the way, taking their share and that of 10 others.

    That’s the real reason they’re so find of denying others the goodies. They want more for themselves.

    This will not go well for that evil woman in the next election.

  • paul

    I can't even find the proof. Everyone keeps saying her "family farm" but not the name, where it's located, what the actual ownership is…nothin
    on top of that, they say nothing at all about my rep. F allen Boyd Jr. who has an effective ownership rate of 70.6% and collected well over 1million during the same period. He's a democrat.

  • Pingback: Farm Subsidies

  • Jason

    This is like when the homosexual activist try to discredit Ryan Sorba by bringing up a mistake he made 10 years ago as a 19 year old teenager. He had a restraining order but on him by a mother of another boy Ryan was constantly getting into fights with. Nobody knows the whole story other than that, but the libs and the homosexual activists will twist it out of context and use it so they can shy away from the truth Ryan Sorba lays out about the history of farce and fraud homosexuality was founded upon and based on. Libs will deny facts as opinion or fiction if it doesn't make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Most Conservatives weren't spoiled as a children as much as libs, so they can handle the sting of truth and moved forward. Liberalism is based on an infantile sense of entitlement, it is truly a mental disorder.

  • Inga

    Medicare is a government program, but we are not forced to participate in it. Unless you mean how people are "forced" to participate in it because health insurance companies refuse to insure old people.

    As far as the family farm goes, this was in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today: Bachmann responded that she has never received "one penny" from her in-laws' family farm in Independence, Wis., even though she reported between $15,001 and $50,000 in "farm income" on her federal financial disclosure forms this year. She and her husband also list a stake in the farm valued at up to $250,000.

    She goes on the say that she is proud of her in-laws, who "escaped" socialist europe. I guess they escaped european socialism so they could partake in american socialism.

    Farm subsidies are unfair and put small farms, real family farmers who make less than $30,000/year, out of business. 60% of subsidies go to only 10% percent of US farms.

    The left doesn't hate conservative women, they just don't like hypocrites that use politics for their own personal gain.
    And yes, democrats collect subsidies too, but then they don't turn around and accuse others of being socialists.

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