Media Decoder’s Bill Carter notes that “Hannity did not address specifically how the mistake came to be made.”

Prominent organizations and individuals in the Jewish community immediately condemned the displays and called on the protest’s organizers to take responsibility and apologize for ignoring the vile materials at the event. Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) posted a YouTube video and singled out Bachmann. Watch it:

Israel also sent a personal note to Bachmann requesting an apology but as of yesterday, she had not replied. She did, however, release a statement calling the anti-Semitic imagery at her House Call “regrettable” and “inappropriate,” but she still didn’t explicitly apologize for refusing to condemn the them earlier:

Sadly, some individuals chose to marginalize tragic events in human history, such as the Holocaust, by invoking imagery and labels which have no purpose in a policy debate about health care. These regrettable actions negatively shift the focus of the current discussion on this issue. The American people deserve an open and honest debate to ensure the best possible solution to our health care problems, and I agree that these unfortunate instances are wholly inappropriate.

It took Bachmann almost a full five days to publicly comment on the anti-Semitic displays. According to her spokeswoman, the congresswoman also “sent a letter to the Jewish Community Relations Council expressing her concerns and ongoing support for the Jewish community.” When Politico asked House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) spokesman for comment on these signs, he simply replied, “Leader Boehner did not see any such sign. Obviously, it would be grossly inappropriate.” Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) spokesman called the photograph “inappropriate.”

Around 4,000 right-wing activists showed up on Capitol Hill yesterday to protest reform. Last night on Fox News, Bachmann inflated the attendance numbers drastically. She also tried to paint the event as entirely grassroots, despite admitting that she had organized it:

BACHMANN: Today people told me they heard that call out on your show on Friday night, and they immediately started contacting other people. And this was totally word of mouth. This was nothing that we organized, nothing that we planned. We didn’t order one bus, one carload. Nothing. Complete word of mouth. And estimates are anywhere between 20 and 45,000 people had assembled. [...]

And also this absolutely outstanding grouping of people that we had today at the Capitol. This is organic. It was a meet up. It was spontaneous.

Watch it:

Bachmann’s claim is laughable. Aside from her leadership in organizing the protest, the corporate front group Americans For Prosperity helped coordinate. AFP mobilized about 40 buses to bring activists to DC, with AFP staffers standing at their designated bus drop off point near the Capitol, handing out signs, directions, talking points, petitions, and donuts to protesters. Moreover, notorious astroturf group FreedomWorks got involved in the action as well:

The protesters were fueled — literally and figuratively — by lobbying organizations like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, the groups behind the August town hall protests and “tea party” events. Freedomworks promoted this week’s event on their Web site DontKillGrandma.com with recommendations for protest tactics.

Moreover, AFP hosted Bachmann on a conference call the day before the rally to discuss their “House Call.”

“So you’re organizing and asking people to come meet you on the steps of the capital,” Fox host Sean Hannity asked Bachmann last Friday after her announcement. “Thursday at noon,” she said, “You can go to MicheleBachmann.com for more information.”

When right-wing radio host Mark Levin took the stage a short while later, the American flag fell over, and he exclaimed, “What the hell is this? Dare I say it? The flag drops. Hold up the flag and drop that [the health care bill]!”

The House Democratic leadership eventually agreed to post health care legislation online for 72-hours before bringing it up for a vote. But once they got what they wanted, conservatives started to complain that 72-hours wasn’t enough. “They are only giving you 72-hours to read it,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Glenn Beck’s radio show today. “So they obviously are embarrassed of their own bill.”

On WorldNetDaily’s radio show today, Rep. John Linder (R-GA) claimed that Democrats were only including the 72-hour waiting period because they needed more time to twist arms for votes:

LINDER: I would not be surprised if they sent us home Friday and bring us back a week or so later to see if they can get the votes because I do not believe they have the votes now.

HOST: What makes you think that?

LINDER: If they had the votes, they’d have voted on it already. They would not have worried about the 72-hours. That 72-hours is for them to beat up their own members, not for the public to read the bill. If they had those votes, they’d cram it down now and they clearly do not.

Listen here:

Despite their current complaints about the 72-hour time period, both Bachmann and Linder signed the discharge petition seeking the 72-hours.

FreedomWorks has launched a website called “DontKillGrandma.com” listing recommended tactics for activists to engage in while protesting health reform. For the Thursday rally, FreedomWorks says activists should engage in a “simultaneous chant of ‘Kill the Bill.’” FreedomWorks is funded by corporate money and is led by Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader and until recently lobbyist from DLA Piper.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is busing people to the rally. AFP is led by astroturf lobbyist Tim Phillips and is bankrolled by gas and oil baron David Koch, America’s 9th richest person and the financier of dozens of conservative think-tanks, publications, and politicians. Like they did for the April tea parties, AFP has commissioned at least 10 buses from Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina to bring protesters — free of charge — to DC for the rally.

During a speech last night, King thanked the lobbyists for bringing in buses from “state after state after state.” He likened them to revolutionary war hero Paul Revere for answering the “call of your country”:

KING: If the Founding Fathers could stand in here tonight, the tears would be running down their cheeks thinking of what is staged to happen in this Congress. This is why we need the American people to come to this city and be here by noon on Thursday. Gather together, come to this Capitol, surround this place, bring your passion, your love for this country, bring your patriotism, and bring your signs while you’re at it. Mr. Speaker, the American people need to come here. [...]

There are buses that are coming in from state after state after state, converging on this city. People are dropping what’s important. It’s as if Paul Revere had ridden across America and said, ‘here’s the call, here’s the call of your country.’

Watch it:

Republicans may be growing concerned that very few people will actually show up to their protest. As Mother Jones notes, “As of Tuesday afternoon, the official tea party website indicated that only 25 patriots were on hand for ‘Operation House Call.’” Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) appeared to try to lower expectations for the event by repeatedly downplaying “Thursday’s event as nothing more than a large-scale ‘press conference‘ on the Capitol steps.”

When [Bachmann] was a teenager in Anoka, Minn., she was a nanny for a young girl named Gretchen Carlson. Today, Carlson, a Stanford honors graduate who studied at Oxford, is a host of “Fox & Friends,” the morning show on — wouldn’t you know — Fox News Channel. See how far ahead the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy plans?

This morning, the pair reunited on-air as Carlson teed up a couple of softball questions, allowing her former nanny to talk at length about her upcoming corporate-sponsored health care protest this Thursday on Capitol Hill.

During the Fox infomercial “interview,” Bachmann employed her usual colorful, over-the-top commentary to decry health reform. The health care vote is the “Super Bowl of freedom,” she said, and voters must mobilize to defeat the Democrats’ “crown jewel of socialism.” Watch it:

Bachmann urged “real freedom-loving Americans come here to Washington” on Thursday, and “look at the whites of their eyes of their members of Congress and say, ‘don’t you remember? I told you don’t take away my health care.’”

As Rachel Maddow observed last night, this is the “rhetoric of revolutionary violence.” “The ‘whites of your eyes’ reference is that you’re supposed to wait and see the whites of someone’s eyes before you shoot at them,” Maddow noted. “That’s where we get that phrase from — from when to shoot at people.”

Now, it turns out that Levin will be at Bachmann’s rally. Promoting the right-wing gathering on WorldNetDaily’s radio show today, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) announced that Levin, along with conservative stars like Jon Voight and Betsy McCaughey, would be speaking at the event:

KING: On that day, we will have with us Jon Voight, the actor is coming in. And he’s more than an actor if you’ve seen him in the media. Mark Levin will also be here, Dr. Betsy McCaughey who has written much about this national health care in the Wall Street Journal. Tony Perkins, there will be others, but those I can announce will be here. Michele Bachmann will be here, I will be here, Tom Price, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee will be here, and we’re calling upon the American people, come defend you’re freedom. Do so politely, within the law, respectfully. But do it as emphatically as you can within those limits. That’s the only thing that is going to turn this thing around.

Listen here:

The conservative infrastructure has been rallying around Bachmann’s idea. Last Friday, Bachmann promoted her rally on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. Glenn Beck hosted her on his radio show today and endorsed her efforts. The offices of both House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) also issued their support.

For those who are unwilling to take time off from work to travel to DC, Bachmann and King are both recommending that they visit the website of the corporate front group Americans for Prosperity to find info on congressional district offices.

Following in the spirit of the “tea party” protests in April and the Glenn Beck-inspired 9/12 rally, Bachmann announced, “We’re going to have a ‘house call’ and a big party out on the National Mall [next week], and we’re going to tell Congress what they can do with their health care bill.”

Fashioning herself as the leader of this mass protest, Bachmann exhorted everyone to “get off the couch, get in your car, get a van together, get a bus together, but get here! We’re going to have a ‘house call’ next week, and we need every American to be here.” She then issued this dire warning (infused with pop culture references):

The American people realize this is it. Just like that brand new Michael Jackson movie came out, ‘This Is It.’ This is it for freedom. If you believe in liberty, and if you’re rejecting tyranny, this is it. Dr. Mark Levin wrote a seminal book that really swept this country called Liberty and Tyranny. And that’s what this debate is about next week. Liberty and tyranny.

Watch it:

Dole has called for Republicans to become engaged in the process, stating “we’ve got to do something” to solve the current crisis. Frist has endorsed the Senate Finance health reform bill, and has called out “people on the extreme” in his own party for falsely labeling President Obama’s health reform as “socialized medicine.” Clearly incensed by these comments, Ingraham and Bachmann traded barbs trashing the former Republican leaders for daring to veer away from a “pro-freedom agenda”:

INGRAHAM: Of course. God bless Bob Dole he just came on our show, I have great respect for the man. And also for Frist. But Frist presided over a pretty disastrous situation in the Senate.

BACHMANN: They lost.

INGRAHAM: They lost. And Bob Dole lost how many times on a national level? I guess I’ve lost count. [...] That Republican ideology and that Republican outlook has been a losing outlook. That’s why President Obama wants more of us to be like them.

BACHMANN: Because we want a pro-freedom agenda. And he’s trying to throw people around who he believes will increase a non-pro-freedom agenda.

Listen here:

Bachmann and Ingraham’s vitriol wasn’t only reserved for Republicans who dared to express a willingness to support reform. Asked if the New York Times’ recent profile of her has generated a lot of “hate mail,” Bachmann replied that although she does receive a lot of mail, it is “because Nancy Pelosi has made me a top target.” Ingraham then began mocking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives and the highest-ranking female politician in American history — by making hissing and cat noises, then shrieking, “she doesn’t like powerful women.”

Listen here:

Additionally, I asked Bachmann if she is being prodded to seek the 2012 presidency, given her growing national profile. She said she has no doubts the GOP will produce a good crop of presidential candidates, and threw out King as a name of interest.

“Steve King is mentioned as a potential nominee. I have a very high opinion of Steve King and his ability, so I would encourage him to consider any position for higher office,” Bachmann said.

Bachmann, who shares King’s belief that President Obama is essentially “anti-American,” makes no mention of what platform she thinks King should run on. Perhaps, it would be his claim that same-sex marriage is “a purely socialist concept.” Or his proud stand against sending aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Or his belief that undocumented immigration is a “slow-moving terrorist attack.” (HT: Minnesota Independent)

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann responds to TVNewser, “Having had an actual stalker myself, I think the Congresswoman needs to apologize to women (and men) whose lives are blighted and ruined by such terror and threat. Not even in the mildest of senses – of journalists whose aggressiveness might verge colloquially into ’stalking’ – is she anywhere close to being such a victim.”

Watch Bachmann’s comments:

O’REILLY: Do you think — and this is an off-the-wall question. And I’m telling the audience that it’s just something that’s occurred to me. Both you and Sarah Palin are good-looking women. I mean, you’re attractive, young — relatively young — women who other women can identify with. You’re a mom, a wife. You had a private-sector job.

I think that’s it. I think that the success of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann drive the far left crazy because you don’t fit — they don’t like what you believe in, but you can attract others to listen to you. I think that’s what’s going on.

Bachmann responded that she and Palin are pulling away votes from Democrats, “especially in a woman block — a middle America woman block.” Watch it:

KING: Congresswoman, I am — Congresswoman, the only thing was the question was simple — do you believe the birthers? Forget the district, forget the jobs for a moment. Do you believe President Obama was born in the United States?

BACHMANN: I have no reason to doubt that he wasn’t born in the United States. I have none. The only place that this issue comes up is on the left. You don’t hear people on the right bringing this issue up.

Bachmann appears to have misspoke though (she intended to say she has no reason to doubt Obama “was born” in the US). Later in the interview, when asked if she believed that Obama was “born somewhere else,” she replied, “The president has shown his birth certificate.” Watch it:

In the same segment, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer tried to compare birthers to Democrats who thought President Bush didn’t win Florida in 2000. “There were many people who called him illegitimate and said that he lost Florida despite there being no evidence of that being the case,” said Fleischer.

KING: Would you want the Limbaugh, that crowd — would you want them to be your voice as the Republican Party stands in this country?

BACHMANN: Well remember it’s who the American people are referring to Larry. And the American people are looking to voices like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck –

KING: I just told you — it’s 2 percent of America. It’s 2 percent!

BACHMANN: If you look for a critical mass, that’s the movement, that’s the direction that the critical mass is going. And the American people are very smart people.

Watch it:

Bachmann’s answer got a chuckle out of Larry King. “That’s funny,” he said.

BACHMANN: We have to defund the left. And this is great. Gallup came out with a poll, I think last week or the week before, that said the American people believe that Congress wastes 50 percent — 50 cents or 50 percent of every dollar it spends. God love the American people. They get it. They understand the truth that actually there’s huge waste. So we defund that but then the third thing that we do, which you’re getting into with economic development, is we have to after we defund the left, we pass repealer bill after repealer bill after repealler bill. Because there’s a huge machinery that’s been built up in this town. And we have to just repeal it. And we have to campaign on that to the American people. That is a hugely winning message right now with the American people.

Watch it:

Bachmann isn’t the first conservative member of Congress to express a desire to “repeal” legislation passed under Obama if Republicans take back control of Congress again. In August, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) said “we’ll repeal” health care reform if it passes. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said at the Values Voter Summit last month that he dreams of telling President Obama in 2010, “we need to repeal the disaster and the tyranny that you passed last session.”

After the speech, Bachmann had only a few minutes to sign autographs and collect a stack of CDs and books from fans who’d followed her into the lobby. I caught up to her as she headed outside and asked if she had any response to the murder of a Kentucky census worker, having noticed that the Census, a constant target for Bachmann, did not figure into her speech. Bachmann recoiled a little at the question and turned to enter her limo.

“Thank you so much!” she said.

Over the summer, Bachmann waged a high-profile, wildly-dishonest campaign against the Census, going so far as to claim that the data collected had been used to round up and intern Japanese-Americans in the 1940s.

Writing for The Daily Beast, Maureen O’Connor notes that the event melded two “wingnut worlds“: “the fanatically religious Bush-era neocon, a flag-waving patriot who likens gay sex to bestiality and fantasizes about lobbing nukes at Iran” and the libertarian “Ron Paul Revolution.” Indeed, for Bachmann, the presence of Paul created numerous awkward moments, particularly as the Texas congressman sermonized at length about his isolationist views. For example, Paul said:

– We should never go to war if they’re telling us a lie about what’s happening. … We took the position, over my strong objection, we took the position that we had to have regime change in Iraq.

– What they’re getting ready to do is put very, very strong sanctions on Iran. … But sanctions, and blockades, and prevention like this is an act of war.

– The proper foreign policy under the Constitution is non-intervention and mind our own business.

– I say bring all the troops home — Japan, Korea, and Germany.

For Bachmann — a typical neoconservative on foreign policy issues — Paul’s rhetoric stunned her into stone-cold silence. O’Connor describes the scene:

As Paul spoke passionately about ending all military operations and keeping government out of people’s “lifestyles,” a lone heckler began to shout, “Tell her!” Bachmann remained serene, hands folded in her lap, facing Paul. Bringing up Obama’s announcement that Iran had secret underground nuclear facilities, Paul announced that he had had enough of “fear-mongering” for the sake of the “military-industrial complex.” Bachmann, who once advocated nuking Iran, kept her eyes trained on Paul as her heckler repeated, “Tell her! Tell Michele! Tell her!”

Bachmann issued a very simple statement saying that she believes in “the mission of our men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The UpTake has posted video of Ron Paul’s speech last night. Watch it:

The gruesome lynching of this Census worker seems to bear a disturbing similarity to some of the worst hate crimes committed across this country. Regardless of what the motive for the killing may have been, why would a murderer(s) take such pains to so blatantly convey anger, fear, and vitriol towards a Census employee? Perhaps because some on the right have created an impression that Census employees are terrifying.

Earlier this summer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) waged a high-profile, wildly-dishonest campaign against the Census. The Minnesota congresswoman said she was so worried about the threat of the government asking “very intricate questions” and collecting information that she would illegally refuse to fill out the form. “They will be in charge of going door to door and collecting data from the American public,” she said. “This is very concerning.” She repeatedly used inflammatory and fear-mongering rhetoric against the Census:

– “I think there is a point when you say enough is enough to government intrusion.” [6/25/09]

– “If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps.” [6/25/09]

“You will receive approximately six contacts from them [Census workers], either through phone calls or they will knock on your door. If you still do not give them the information, they said they’ll contact your neighbor to the left of you, to the right of you to get information.” [6/25/09]

Bachmann’s irrational diatribes about scary stalking Census workers quickly spawned a right-wing movement. During an interview with Bachmann, Fox News’ Glenn Beck said, “Ok, so let me talk about the Census because there’s a lot of people that are concerned with it because they don’t want to fill it out, they’re not comfortable with ACORN members coming to find out all this information, they don’t want to give the government all this kind of information.”

Conservative radio host Neal Boortz told a caller, “Most of the rest of the [Census] information is designed to help the government steal from you in order to pass off your property to the moochers. They’re looters.” Boortz urged his listeners to resist the Census workers. “If somebody comes to my — if a burglar came to your house, are you going to show him where the silverware is?” he asked. “Maybe you will if he pulls out a gun.”

We wanted to respond to your letter to us last week and to assure you that regardless of what inside-the-beltway media writes or what unnamed “sources” it quotes, we are proud to serve with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. [...]

When the other side can’t come up with arguments to defend their policies, they turn to personal attacks against their detractors. Congresswoman Bachmann stands shoulder to shoulder with her constituents and that really seems to irk some on the left. We fully expect that despite the best attempts of the media and the liberals, Michelle will continue to be a strong voice for freedom, smaller government, and better solutions.

The Minnesota Independent reports that Boehner had briefly posted the Bachmann letter on his website, but it now appears to be gone.