Jump Onboard Bachmann’s Crazy Train

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My colleague Tim Murphy has an excellent rundown of some of GOP presidential contender Michele Bachmann’s wackiest quotes. But via Grist, here’s one of my favorites of the environmental variety, decrying federal investment in high-speed rail:

“It is a brand new, billion-dollar high speed train that is going to go from Disneyland up to Las Vegas…Harry Reid, the senator from Nevada, was behind this measure, and it makes us wonder, is he more interested in making sure kids start gambling at younger ages?”

(That’s from a speech on the House floor in 2009, via TNR.)

Yet she seems to neglect the fact that the 185-mile, high-speed rail of debauchery only extends to Victorville, Calif., meaning the kiddos would first have to hitchhike the 81.8 miles from Anaheim before hopping on the fast-train to hussies and high-rollers.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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