Bachmann’s very visual universe: "False Witness" comic #1 sketches the political phenom

[This review originally ran in the June 26, 2009 PIM Weekly Report.]
The larger-than-life electoral avatar of the Sixth Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6), gets a full-blown cartoon critique in “False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story,” a 2000-copy run of what’s hoped to be the first in a series of political comic books. The cover price is a reasonable $4, and can be obtained online for $4.95 (via BiasedLiberalMedia.com) including shipping. Bookstore distribution is in the works.

Overall it’s a fun read, even if the reader has already been saturated with Internet Bachmann coverage ad nauseam. The short comic (a svelte 24 pages), written and penciled mainly by Dump Bachmann contributor Bill Prendergast, along with Ken Avidor, Danno Klonowski, Lupi McGinty and Daniel Olson, brings political imagery to life with punchy iconography and snarky text.

Issue #1 covers Bachmann’s rise to the Minnesota Senate, her messaging that fused hardline religious conservatives and libertarians into a steamroller coalition in the Senate and Congressional primaries, as well as some classic controversial statements. The thesis argument is that “Making bizarre charges against the government and promoting conspiracy theories have been regular features of Michele Bachmann’s career since she first entered American politics about ten years previously. Bachmann is an extremist demagogue and a proven liar who rose to national office on waves of apocalyptic rhetoric and hateful accusations against her fellow Americans,” set against the congresswoman dribbling burning gasoline around armed protesters battling President Obama’s New World Order police.

The comic is a great format to illustrate the ominous ideas and symbols that Bachmann’s linked with — from the black helicopters to the teabaggers, icons like this deserve a graphic treatment. Two other classes of characters, mainstream journalists and non-sectarian Republicans, get portrayed as happy faces and anxious elephants. Much wrath is justly directed at the journalists, who repeatedly failed to get Bachmann’s most outlandish comments in print [though perhaps more blame ought to go to their editors].

Bachmann has pulled off an impressive trick, diagrammed in snarky cartoons: she directed messages to the hardline evangelical base while also appealing to conservative anti-government types (the comic notes the 2001 Maple River Education Coalition flier she co-wrote about an impending socialist agenda). As the comic puts it, she “suppressed her extremist beliefs when appearing in the mainstream media and ‘Reagan conservatives’ media forums…and was able to gain popularity with the grass-roots of the party.” In turn, the comic stresses, the media let that subset of her message become defined as her official message.

Another well-presented side of the Bachmann saga is how the evangelicals and “extremists” were joined by Bachmann to defeat Gary Laidig in the GOP Senate primary race, bringing in waves of extremely motivated delegates to GOP functions for the first time. This writer can attest to Bachmann’s ability to persuade hard-core Ron Paul backers that she is “one of them,” and the fury and confusion among the comic’s elephants is quite well portrayed. An elephant snaps a golf club in fury: “She brought all these nuts to the nominating event to take control away from the regulars! She’s by-passing the state party’s organization!”

The first issue of “False Witness!” should be palatable to anyone that wants to see shots taken at the media or various conservative factions, not just the congresswoman. It’s really about the failures of political journalism itself: this comic wouldn’t be salient if frontline journalists could just spell out the facts, analysis and opinion around Minnesota’s most loquacious representative.

6 Responses to “Bachmann’s very visual universe: "False Witness" comic #1 sketches the political phenom”

1. Anonymous Says:
   June 29th, 2009 at 11:58 am

   Compilation of reviews of “False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story,” most notably Eric Kleefeld’s review in Talking Points Memo:

   http://www.immelman.us/news/bachmann-false-witness-released/

2. Anonymous Says:
   June 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

   Another Liberal Hating on Bachmann………..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

3. Anonymous Says:
   June 29th, 2009 at 9:40 pm

   This is necessary and good work. Just one search for “Michelle Bachman” on YouTube yields a litany of crazy so heavy that it collapses into itself and sucks all sane from its surrounding environment.

4. Anonymous Says:
   June 30th, 2009 at 8:45 am

   Once again the liberal cheap shot artists can’t understand someone that has principles. It is easy to understand why the liberals hate the congresswoman because they don’t have any ethical boundaries to start with. May God Bless them all!

5. Anonymous Says:
   June 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

   There are few so blind than those who refuse to see.

   If liberals are “unethical”, then conservatives who claim this are blind.

6. Anonymous Says:
   June 30th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

   I have 20 20 vision certified by my private physician. Once the liberals get the national health care I probably won’t be able to make that statement as often since the rationing of health services will start.