MN-06: Bachmann Benefits from Person of the Year

Time misses the mark naming it's Person of the Year -- Ben Bernanke.
It still missed on its runner-ups : Stanley McChrystal, the Chinese Worker, Nancy Pelosi, Usain Bolt ...
and then Time listed all The People Who Mattered :
• Neda Agha-Soltan
• Glenn Beck
• Lloyd Blankfein
• Rahm Emanuel
• Dr. Thomas Frieden
• Jon and Kate Gosselin
• Hamid Karzai
• Adam Lambert
• Jay Leno and David Letterman
• Bernie Madoff
• Alan Mulally
• Barack Obama
• Manny Pacquiao
• Sarah Palin
• Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart of Twilight
• Alex Rodriguez
• Olympia Snowe
• Sonia Sotomayor
• Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger III
• Taylor Swift
• The Twitter Guys
• Joe Wilson
• Tiger Woods
• Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti
• Zhou Xiaochuan

How could they miss the obvious choice ?

First off the list is Pattinson and Stewart … when they have to include a hint ( Twilight ), it is obvious that they have not made an impact regardless of how many cover shots they have done for Time’s sister publications People, EW, or InStyle.

Seeing Glenn Beck and Joe Wilson on the list should be a clue as to who the Person of the Year should be.
It’s not the figurehead talker but instead the people behind the curtain pulling the puppet’s strings.

The winner should be Tim Phillips.
If you don’t know Mr. Phillips by name, you know him by his creation … the grassroots’ political activist events … some have had minor success like the Ending Earmarks Express and some have had major press … like the Tea Party movement.

It is not uncommon to see Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann at these events … most recently last week at the Code Red Rally which by thier own accounts, the attendance was small … in the 5,000 range.
But Ms. Bachmann increased her profile after attaching herself to Mr. Phillips’ Congressional House Calls rally in November. According to Ms. Bachmann, “I was near despair” thinking that the House would pass health care reform. "I was thinking, 'It looks like this bill is going to go through.' But then I thought, 'This is it. This is the Super Bowl of Freedom.' " Then she heard about Mr. Phillips’s "Congressional House Calls", Bachmann said, "I just did a take-off on it."

2010 will be a big year for Tim Phillips. In Florida, there already is a registered political party named the "Tea Party" and is promising to run candidates against Republicans and Democrats in state and national races. Mr. Phillips has already made his imprint on political campaigns … most significantly with the television commercials question the patriotism of Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) who as a result of the ads is now known as Former Senator Cleland.

Which leads to the question for 2010 politics, will there be a formal Minnesota political party called the Tea Party and will Representative Bachmann be their first endorsed candidate ?

Runner-up to Mr. Phillips as Person of the Year, is the Health Care Lobbyists who are set to shatter their financial records. Many of the organizations involved posted six- and even seven-figure increases.
And if anyone is keeping tally, reported thus far for Representative Bachmann’s re-election campaign is $21,850 from the Pharmaceuticals/Health Products industry.

Mr. Phillips and the lobbyists game plan is simple … excite and anger … the result is that a vocal minority out-shouts a silent majority … and as their Queen – Representative Bachmann – appears in FOX television and various selected radio programs espousing whatever the puppeteer tells her to say.