Michele Bachmann & the Census

Bizarro World Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has been on a rampage against the census, recently appearing on several Fox programs ranting about the threat the census poses to Americans and the need to refuse to cooperate with it (which is illegal, of course). Even some of her fellow fringe far-right colleagues are getting a bit antsy about that. Three Republican members of the Census Oversight Subcommittee issued a statement which concluded that "Boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country." This was primarily because the potential impact on redistricting and allocation of Federal spending.

Now Stever Benen at Political Animal adds an interesting footnote:

And as long as we're on the subject, Bachmann talked to Sean Hannity on Fox News last night about her anti-census crusade, and returned to one of her favorite arguments: "Sean, you know the one question they don't ask? They [don't] ask, 'are you an American citizen?' ... [T]hey could at least ask if we're an American citizen? They don't bother to ask for that. That's why I think people need to read this census for themselves. If you go to my website, michelebachmann, you can read it."

Good idea. If you take Bachmann's advice, visit her website, and read the census, you find the American Community Survey put together by the Census Bureau. Question #7 reads: "Where was this person born?" Question #8 reads, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?"

Bachmann probably should have noticed this before repeatedly going on national television, pleading with people to read the census questions, and railing against the absence of a question that's already there.