The Craziest Town Hall Ever: The Daily Beast Reviews Paul/Bachmann event at University of Minnesota

What happens when ultra-religious neocon Michele Bachmann co-hosts a town hall with anti-authority libertarian Ron Paul? Wingnut worlds collide. Maureen O'Connor reports.

Ask a liberal to describe a “crazy Republican,” and their description is likely to fit one of two archetypes. First and most classically would be the fanatically religious Bush-era neocon, a flag-waving patriot who likens gay sex to bestiality and fantasizes about lobbing nukes at Iran. The second, newer iteration would be members of the “Ron Paul Revolution.” Though Rep. Ron Paul’s philosophy is grounded in Constitutional libertarianism, he is also notorious for attracting conspiracy theorists and people who own multiple assault rifles.

Logically, the camps are mutually exclusive; “family values libertarian” is practically an oxymoron. But on Friday night Congress’ evangelical mascot du jour, Rep. Michele Bachmann, nevertheless co-hosted a town hall meeting with Paul at the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Auditorium, drawing 2,000 people and marking a tenuous foray into a potent—if paradoxical—political syncretism.

Her voice rising to a high-pitched chant, Bachmann ticked off the list of financial aggressors: “Income tax, property tax, gas tax, sales tax—everytime-you-turn-around tax!”

In the hours leading up to meeting’s start, activists waved signs and stood in clusters of like-minded people. A trio of men wearing black 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB t-shirts handed out DVDs explaining various conspiracy theories. A lone drummer, dressed in full Revolutionary garb and a white powdered wig, marched back and forth across the plaza without speaking to anyone.

Fresh from the introduction of HR1207, a bill to audit the Federal Reserve, Bachmann and Paul arrived at Northrop to paint a portrait of financial dystopia where “100 percent of your paycheck is being spoken for.” Bachmann predicts this will happen some time around 2050. Her voice rising to a high-pitched chant, she ticked off the list of financial aggressors: “Income tax, property tax, gas tax, sales tax--everytime-you-turn-around tax!” Meanwhile, over at the United Nations (the very mention of which drew a chorus of boos), they’ll likely work with China and Japan to “insist on replacing the American dollar with the international one-world currency.” More boos, and some emphatic waving of handheld American flags.

The Federal Reserve audit, she explained, would “pull back the curtain” on the shadowy organization that controls the value of the dollar. Two-thirds of the House support the bill, including the Financial Services Committee’s famously liberal chairman, Rep. Barney Frank. During the Q&A session, Paul explains that, though an audit is far more modest than his goal—End the Fed is the title of his new book—once everyone sees how dirty the Fed is, “the next thing that happens is the Federal Reserve is over.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-26/th...