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Elections Have Consequences….or My Smackdown of Michelle Bernard. [Update--Bernard Admits to voting for Obama--Case Closed!!]

By: Susannah (Diary)  |  September 1st, 2009 at 11:04 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Last night, Michelle Bernard, who is the CEO of the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative women’s group founded in 1992, decided to write a diary for Redstate.com endorsing the DC voucher program. Well, Ms. Bernard’s diary was actually quite good—she made a rational and eloquent argument for school choice. However, my problem is with Ms. Bernard herself, not what she stated in her diary. You see, during the 2008 election cycle, Ms. Bernard was a relentless shill for Barack Obama, and was a regular guest (actually still is) on propagandistic programs on MSBNC such as Hardball, Keith Olberman’s show and Rachel Maddow’s show. Therefore, I couldn’t believe that she had the unmitigated gall to come on Redstate and lecture us about school choice, when she had been unapologetically shilling for Obama throughout the entire presidential election, and it was President Obama and the Democrats that killed the DC voucher program! (H/T Allahpundit of Hot Air—watch the informative video below.) Furthermore, is she not aware that elections have consequences—or does she think that they are all about unicorn farts, pixie dust, and who gives you a “thrill up your leg”?

Anyway, because of my outrage towards Ms. Bernard’s obvious hypocrisy, I decided to write a comment on her blog (you can read it in the link—it is the first one in the comments section). Well, several regular Redstate readers then suggested that I turn my comment in Ms. Bernard’s blog into a diary (specifically Cold Warrior, Civil Truth and SoFiMil). I have decided to take their advice, and so I pasted my original comment to Ms. Bernard below—and I threw in a few things that I forgot to mention in the original comment as well. Now, here it is—

Dear Ms. Bernard,

So, do you think that we don’t know how to use the interwebs around here?

…Because anyone with a mouse or a TV could figure out that you are one great big Obama shill–even worse than Chris-”thrill up my leg”-Matthews. (See exhibit A, B, and C below).

Oh, and at 5:20 in this video, we can all watch you trash Cindy McCain and imply that her “claws are coming out”. I think that must be a common Obama campaign talking point in regard to women who are opposing him in some way, but I digress.

By the way, I think that it’s great that you are for school choice, but then if that is so, you were certainly shilling for the wrong candidate, because Obama and the Democrats squelched the DC voucher program. (I guess they thought that funding the the study of pig odor in the stimulus bill was more important.) Aren’t you at all aware that elections have consequences? Furthermore, I don’t care what conservative women’s forum that you claim to be the head of, even The Daily Howler mocked your supposed “conservatism” and noticed how much you gushed over Obama. (See excerpt below).–

“Who is Michelle Bernard?

On the surface, the question is easily answered. At present, Bernard is CEO of the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative women’s group founded in 1992. (According to Wikipedia, the IWF grew out of an ad hoc group created to support Clarence Thomas.) The groups directors emeritae include such conservative stars as Lynn Cheney, Wendy Gramm, Midge Decter and Kate O’Beirne. To peruse the group’s web site, just click here.

The IWF, like many such groups, is founded as a non-partisan 501(c)(3) group. As such, the group does not endorse candidates. But it does promote a range of conservative causes.

All that is well and good—and Michelle Bernard is the group’s CEO. Which leads us to a puzzling question: As a major conservative, why is Bernard appearing on Hardball so often—to gush about Obama?

Bernard’s remarkable Hardball run began on Thursday, January 24. Since then, she has become a frequent guest on the propagandistic program. Here is the list of dates on which she has appeared:

Thursday, January 24 Friday, January 25 Monday, January 28 Tuesday, January 29 Wednesday, January 30 (regular program) Wednesday, January 30 (special post-debate program)

Tuesday, February 5 Tuesday, February 12 Wednesday, February 13 Thursday, February 14 Tuesday, February 19 Tuesday, February 26

Tuesday, March 4 Wednesday, March 5 Tuesday, March 11 (regular program) Tuesday, March 11 (special post-primary program) Wednesday, March 12 Friday, March 14 Tuesday, March 18

According to Nexis, Bernard has appeared nineteen times since January 24, an eight-week period. During that time:

  • She has almost never been identified as a conservative.
  • She has repeatedly and effusively praised Obama.
  • She has never been asked why she, as a leading conservative, is promoting the Democratic Party’s most likely presidential nominee.”

Oh, and how could I leave this little gem out. The Daily Howler also quoted you as having said the following with regard to Barack Obama’s famous speech on race after his twenty year stint in Reverend Wright’s church became public knowledge.—-

I think that this is probably the most important speech that I have heard in my lifetime. I would say this is probably the best speech and most important speech on race that we have, that we have heard as a nation since Martin Luther King`s “I have a dream” speech. Every single word was riveting.

Really??! I mean, I hate to sound like Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler, but really???! The best speech since Martin Luther King? Are we talking about that same speech on race where Barack Obama threw his grandmother under the bus by implying that she was a closet racist and where he compared Geraldine Ferraro to Jeremiah Wright? Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t remember Martin Luther King taking potshots at people (especially not the woman who raised him) during his “I Have a Dream” speech, but I digress.

FYI–All of your buddies at MSNBC and NBC post on the Daily Kos and Huffington Post. I think that you took a wrong turn and turned right when you should have turned left. Hopefully, If you decide to visit us here again, you will be capable of offering us a reasonable explanation with regard to how you could shamelessly shill for a candidate whose policies you seem to disagree with.

Oh, and one more thing. Welcome to Redstate.

Sincerely, Susannah

PS—I think it’s extremely telling that you never responded to me or to anyone else who posted a comment on your blog.

PPS–Please tell Lawrence O’Donnell that we all think he’s a nutter. Thankies.

Update: Well, well, well. Below is an embed of a video of Hardball where Michelle Bernard literally ADMITS to voting for Barack Obama (at 53 seconds exactly). And, she had the audacity to write a post here attempting to enlighten us on school choice. Unbelievable. Maybe we should send her emails about candidate choice.

This diary is cross-posted on The Minority Report.

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COMMENTS

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  • JadedByPolitics

    informing me about this CRAZY person who is lying about being a Conservative and I will now know if I hear Independent Women?s Forum I will know that there is NOTHING Independent about them and the CEO is a SHILL for the biggest leftist in our countries history. I will know to IGNORE what they have to say and I will most certainly let everyone on every website I visit know about this Obama group!

    • Susannah

      I appreciate the support. :-)

  • ColdWarrior

    And I agree with Jaded’s comments!

    Sincerely, and, again, thank you.

    ColdWarrior

    • Susannah

      I’m so glad that you liked it. And thank you for suggesting that I put this comment in a diary in the first place. :-)

  • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim

    on Keef’s and Wretchel’s shows was enough for me to question her “conservative” creds. Both of them have a long tradition of not having anyone on their shows they don’t agree with. As I write this, I see Michelle still hasn’t responded to any of the comments of her diary. Like you, I commend her support of the DC voucher program, but it’s hard to get past her endorsement of Zero and buy her claim to be a conservative. It’ll take a lot more than supporting the DC, or any, voucher program to make me think about taking her seriously on that claim. One good way for her to start might be to, I dunno, come out against health care reform.

    But even then, there’s those 3 videos you posted last night and also here…

    Thanks for this, Susannah. It’s an even better smackdown!

    • Susannah

      I’m glad that you liked it. :-)

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

    One question you didn’t ask that should be asked is why Michelle Bernard is still the CEO of the IWF.

    When the CEO of an established conservative group actively supports and promotes the most left-wing Presidential candidate that the Democratic Party has ever nominated (and who is now the President), a person with integrity would step down from their position because they clearly can no longer represent and be the public face for a conservative political organization, especially one that is organized to promote the interests of conservative women.

    I’m not clear why the directors have not acted, but that’s a different issue: the point is that someone with a sense of honor would accept the consequences of supporting Obama and not try to hang on to their position of power in an organization antithetical to the Obama. This is called taking responsibility for your choices,

    Not to mention the elephant in the room of race that no one seems to want to talk about.

    And I also find it most telling that Michelle has made a drive-by post here at RedState by not coming back to engage the community here.

    Michelle, if you want a platform, you need to be available to your intended audience – unless you want to model your behavior also on that of the current President, thereby further exposing your double-mindedness to all.

    • Susannah

      If she wanted to shill for Obama, then she should have resigned her post as head of the IWF. It was unfair to those women to have her endorsing an extremely liberal candidate, while she remained the head of their organization and, therefore, was speaking for them.

  • seandparnell

    Sorry, but I’m not real impressed with this diary or the unwarranted attack on Ms. Bernard.

    She said some kind things about Barack Obama, so she must be a “shill” and a leftist plant? It’s probably worth noting that Sen. Tom Coburn has had kind words of the President too, take that bit of information an see what sort of conclusions it leads you to.

    Check out her bio and list of articles: pro-voucher, anti-card check, anti-more government involvement in health care, pro-tax cuts, pro-more drilling for oil…

    Sounds like a real Alinsky wannabe to me. Here for more of Bernard’s dangerous Marxist views: http://www.iwf.org/experts/show/384.html

    So, she said kind things about Obama. Big deal. Agree or disagree with her if you like on the issue she posted here about, but please leave this “Obama shill” nonsense behind.

    Sean Parnell
    President
    Center for Competitive Politics
    http://www.campaignfreedom.org

    • Susannah

      First of all, I never said that she was an “Alinsky wannabe”, a “leftist plant”, or a “Marxist”–please do not put words in my mouth–which by the way, is what people tend to do when they are losing an argument.

      Second of all, she didn’t just “say a few nice things about Obama”–please do not come on my diary and tell obvious lies. She was a constant guest on every evening show on MSNBC throughout the Democratic primary, as well as the general election–and she perpetually trashed Clinton in the primary and gushed all over Obama. Not to mention, in the general election, she not only continued to gush even more flagrantly over Obama, but she also basically said NOTHING good about John McCain, and even managed to trash Cindy McCain (as the last video in my diary demonstrates). This would be the very definition of the word “shill” (see below).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill

      Third of all, as Civil Truth just pointed out, if she wanted to shill for Obama, then that is fine, but she should have resigned from her post as head of the IWF–that would have been the ethical thing to do. Oh, and she should have known better than to come on Redstate and not expect someone to point out her hypocrisy.

      And finally, the “evidence” that you provide of Ms. Bernard’s views only serves to condemn her even more. If she’s pro-oil drilling, anti-government involvement in health care, anti-card check, and pro-voucher, then what the hell was she doing shilling, yes SHILLING, for Obama every night on MSNBC? Has she no real principles? Will she throw her principles out the window for “Yes we can!”? Does she not realize that elections have consequences? Ms. Bernard should have been prepared to answer all of these questions if she was going to come here and lecture us about school choice.

      And finally, I think that it ‘s real sweet that you want to come on my diary and take up for your friend, but your arguments are an EPIC FAIL–so kindly get lost and let the grown ups discuss politics.

      • Rod_Patrick

        I go for Susannah.

        This is a very dangerous time for all of us.

        One example:

        For the first time, a US President recognized and invited Islamic group in America into the WH. We are heading towards European Multi-Culturalism. and the spread of Islamic principles in America. The possible result? European-style of suppressed faith and religion to appease with the Moslem nationals. Do we want a weekly “burning” cars from Muslim protesters just like in France?

        Same thing can be said for the growing number of American Latinos/Latinas still enthralled with Communist and Socialist State ideals.

        This is a dangerous time, I repeat. Pleasantry is not an option.

        Bernard is definitely shilling for Obama. Too bad. The left are using “Republicans and Conservatives” like Bernard, Brooks, etc. to falsely claim the LIE that this race-baiting and highly partisan Obama Administration is “post-racial” and “post-partisan”.

      • Susannah

        ….Yeah, like that she voted for him for starters!

    • janis

      with your unwarranted attack on Susannah. Correct me if I’m wrong, Susannah, but I don’t think she wrote this diary to try and impress the likes of you. With few exceptions, every single comment you make at RedState consists of you looking down your “moderate” nose at us filthy conservatives and finding us lacking. So take your elite self back to your lonely website and you won’t have to waste your time trying to teach us some manners.

      Susannah is what’s “right” with the conservative movement. You? Not so much.

    • Aaron Gardner

      1yr 1month, 11 diaries, 14 recommends…total.

      EPIC FAIL

    • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

      Some people can’t get that through their heads, can they?

      She endorsed Obama over John McCain and now she wants to resurrect conservative bona fides because she got what she asked for and didn’t like it? Anybody who is that poor a judge of character doesn’t deserve being listened to even if what they’re saying makes a little sense to some. Nor did she offer up any kind of apology for being an Obama dupe.

      I suppose that means we should listen to Colin Powell, too? How about Christopher Buckley? Any body else you care to name while we’re at it?

      But then, neither has McCain apologized. He endorsed Obama himself during his own campaign for presidency. I could overlook a lot of things McCain has done and will do but not that. How do you win an election endorsing your opposition?

      I think you owe Susannah an apology.

      • JadedByPolitics

        biggest LEFTIST in the history of the United States of America are NOT I repeat are NOT Conservatives. They might have an R after their name which is not shocking but they are certainly NOT Conservatives. A REAL CONSERVATIVE would NEVER vote for someone with the record of Obama. A REAL CONSERVATIVE would look at his record and RECOIL in HORROR!!!!! What The Won represents is the antithesis to CONSERVATIVE VALUE’s.

        • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

          just because the RINOS are having buyers’ remorse we’re supposed to fall all over ourselves to support them?

          No, they need to live with the consequences of their actions just as much as they made damn sure we have to live with them.

    • Richard Mullins

      a few kind words is ok but going on and on about Obama is too much. She’s comes off like a lot of the quasi-conservative do, say that they are conservative and yet are over joyed by people like Obama(I sort of liked him as a Senator due his being a principled Lib). When you return again, please apologize.

    • JadedByPolitics

      You do know your defense of the slavish bernard won’t get you to far on this site. It is MORE then her mouthing platitudes to The Won it is her despicable habit of throwing Republican’s under the bus to do so. OBTW Sen Coburn is nice because it is part of being a Senator he has to do it, he doesn’t want to. You have had such an illustrious career here as I am sure you have had at your own site…what is that site I don’t know because I don’t troll over to places where the guy is the President and shilling on another site….it says my site SUCKS and I am trying to build readership.

      Susannah is one of the TOP 10 diarist’s on Redstate and when she writes people flock to her diaries….you NOPE. So for me personally I will take what she has to say more seriously then anything you have to write. OBTW don’t EVER tell ANYONE here what or how to write when it is obvious you don’t have the stature to do so!

      • Susannah

        I appreciate it. :-)

        • Richard Mullins

          which is more than we can say for Mr Sean “Moderate to liberal loving” Parnell. We have your back.

        • JadedByPolitics

          tool to task on your behalf. He is senseless and NOT a Conservative. We REAL Conservatives MUST stick together if we are going to WRENCH this party back to the RIGHT. Ms. Bernard is NOT the type we need going forward. It goes without saying that D’s will battle as one and if we don’t DEMAND that from our own it will indeed be a long time in the wilderness!

        • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim

          at RedState were defending you against some troll.

          Oh, well, some habits are worth living with :)

    • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim

      I had pretty much made up my mind about you after your outrageous comment here.
      Thanks for confirming my opinion. Janis said above that “With few exceptions, every single comment you make at RedState consists of you looking down your ?moderate? nose at us filthy conservatives and finding us lacking.” I have to agree with my TN neighbor, and the comment I linked to is probably a better example of that than this one of yours is. Bernard wouldn’t be the first to betray her so-called conservative credentials, but she is one of the latest.

      As to her bio and the conservative ideals you mentioned that Bernard supposedly believes in…

      Well, she wouldn’t be the first to put a mask on.

    • Leopard1996

      I believe that all Susannah tried to do was point out that this individual did everything in her power to shill for the biggest leftest douche that we ever elected president, and now wants to come to this blog, to do a bitch and complain about education choice.

      Either she knew that Obama was the exact opposite of education choice, which makes her part of the problem, or she did not know about how a leftest that is bought and paid for by the teachers unions thinks, which makes her stupid.

      Your choice.

    • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

      Especially when the other side has thrown away their allegiance to the rules, and their fans are entering the field and throwing punches (or worse). And worse, when some of the more prominent among your supposed fans are joining the other side in the riot.

      At this point, you need to leave your exalted post and do whatever it takes to prevail against the malefactors. Which means recognizing what is happening down on the field, identifying who’s left your stands, and getting your hands dirty,

    • VinceP1974

      Obama is a Radical Leftist threat to our system of government.

      All those who voted for him are going to face a day of reckoning.

  • nessa

    …she can proclaim her “pro-Obama” conservative views elsewhere. This is probably the newest addition we will be urged to make to the already too big tent that is the Republican Party. Obviously we “need” more people who disagree with BO but can still get a good thrill up their leg when he lies to them.

    Of course, that’s merely my opinion and a good reason for me NOT to be a mod here.

    • Susannah

      “This is probably the newest addition we will be urged to make to the already too big tent that is the Republican Party. Obviously we ?need? more people who disagree with BO but can still get a good thrill up their leg when he lies to them.”—Hilarious. Lol. :-)

  • $peciallist

    Ms. Bernard now officially has Zero credibility speaking as a conservative…

    or maybe she’s a ‘Rick Moran conservative’…gag

    • blooch

      with conservatives? Are they becoming a textbook example of the adage that “Conservative organizations all turn liberal over time if you don’t watch them like a hawk”? Is the IWF just becoming NOW-lite?

      • $peciallist

        come next election cycle……commence watching

    • http://brockwayfamily.spaces.live.com/ Erick Brockway
  • JadedByPolitics

    are aware she voted for Obama and perhaps if they expect to have anyone listen to them she NEEDS TO GO!

    GREAT JOB Susannah pinning down the ultimate video of Bernards betrayal of her supposed “conservative” credentials or lack thereof.

    • Susannah

      I’m glad that you guys liked the video. :-)

      Oh, and Jaded, I agree with you that Ms. Bernard should step down as head of the IWF if they expect anyone to take them seriously.

    • Uma Richie

      Susannah, your tireless efforts to nail down every piece of evidence on a topic you write about are much appreciated. If you are as good a doctor as you are a researcher, I want you to be my PCM.

      I think I’ll send Michele a widget so she can scrape the Obama sticker off her bumper.

      • Susannah

        I appreciate the compliment. :-)

  • Flagstaff

    I note that she served in the executive office of the 2000 Bush-Cheney Presidential Inaugural Committee. To be placed in her current office in 2006, she had to have legitimate conservative credentials, yet her frequent appearances in support of Obama place those credentials in question. She certainly seems to be on his side, although she may be awakening from her dream.

    Was she a closet lib from the beginning, a mole planted years ago into the midst of the Republican and conservative faithful? Has she been blinded by that pearly smile and dazzling but meaningless rhetoric, all wrapped up in a familiar, mixed-race package? Or has she converted to ObaLiberalism, deciding that he really is the way to Hope for Change to a better America?

    From the evidence available, Door #2 seems to hide the most logical answer to the puzzle. Except….

    Her diary is a call for action, for Republicans to start up a privately funded effort to do what the Obama government refuses to do. Personal initiative is definitely a conservative byword, but it seems to be exactly the wrong approach to address a government mistake. In fact, it seems a lot like enabling the mistake to continue. And I don’t care if Erick did say it first.

    OTOH, her article in the Washington Examiner was clearly not a paean to to the NEA nor to the public school system.

    She’s also criticized Child Protective Services in DC, she writes conservatively regarding the G8 in 2009, and in the June 21, 2009, Washington Examiner she said among other things that

    the U.S. is drowning in tidal wave of debt

    ,

    in an article entitled Shame Doesn’t Appear To Be Part of the Era of Red Ink. The article itself was definitely not supportive of Obama’s spending, yet it wasn’t explicitly critical of him, either. I don’t think she’s quite ready for that.

    In all, I see a black American woman who has drunk the Kool-Aid regarding Obama the man, and hasn’t yet recognized that Obama the President isn’t living up to her expectations, and that it’s because of the shortcomings of Obama the man. In fact, in the final clip above, just after identifying herself as an Obama voter, she calls herself a free-market feminist, not a conservative, which fits rather well with her writings. It’s hard to see how a free-market anything could stay in the Obama camp for very much longer.

    Strangely enough, I don’t have any problem with her opinions or her vote. She’s has that right. I didn’t read her diary as a lecture to us. It was more like boilerplate regarding an issue that’s important to her. It’s just as well that she isn’t identified on MSDNC as a conservative, because it would give a false impression of what conservatives believe in.

    Finally, voters like Michelle Bernard are the voters who elected Barack Obama to the Presidency. They saw something in him they liked, and they voted for him without knowing anything at all about what he intended to do economically or politically, or while denying to themselves what they did know or suspected.

    • Susannah

      Thanks for all of your research. :-)

      …And, I wouldn’t have any problem with Ms. Bernard if she came here and wrote a disclaimer in her diary that she voted for or supported Obama, but is now seeing the error of her ways (particularly with regard to school choice) and would like to make amends. Hey, I think that most people would welcome home a prodigal son or daughter. However, what I can’t stomach is her trying to enlighten us on school choice, but at the same time, attempting to play us for suckers by refusing to admit to supporting the very candidate who put the kibosh on school choice in the first place–and thinking that we are too dim-witted to find this info out.

      Furthermore, I agree with Jaded and Civil Truth that, as long as she continues to shill for Obama and the Democrats and talk out of both sides of her mouth (she was just on Hardball last night criticizing Bob McDonnell), that she should step down as head of the IWF. It’s not fair to their members. Just my thoughts.

      • Flagstaff

        I’d probably agree with you. As it is, I’m fairly certain she isn’t ready to forsake The One just yet.

        I’m not sure where the IWF stands, either. Obviously, it was founded as a conservative organization. Maybe to counter the NAG’s?

        I almost inserted into my first comment that anybody whose primary credential is that she’s a black female lawyer working for a pressure group for women isn’t my idea of a leading conservative voice, particularly if she is using that voice to talk up the statists.

        She is also clearly very smart, and it would be good for all if she could rouse herself from the dream world she seems to be living in right now. She eventually will, unless her dream includes Obama creating permanent special dispensations for women, which could happen. I don’t really know what a “free-market feminist” is. Sounds a bit oxymoronish, doesn’t it?

  • Flagstaff

    To begin, David Shuster’s voice-over would have been hilarious, had it not been so misleading. Cindy McCain made NO accusations against Michelle Obama, nor did she ask any questions about her. In fact, she simply answered a question from GMA.

    And The View is NOT a “soft, welcoming environment” unless you happen to be a liberal.

    Matthews at least admitted that Cindy, in his opinion, didn’t go over the line. Yet nobody caught the fact that his line of questioning was a non sequitur.

    Then Michelle Bernard mentioned Obama’s color a couple of times, indicating to me that it was an important factor for her.

  • Jack_Savage

    Infiltrating and trying to tear us apart from within. We should have known, and now we do.

    • Susannah

      :-)