Michelle 'McCarthy' Bachmann -- The Hate Monger of Minnesota

[Faygo Kid]

"Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, is now notorious for an incident on the October 17 edition of Hardball. Bachmann told Chris Matthews she was "concerned" that Obama "may have anti-American views," and linked him to a Who's Who of leftist agitators, from William Ayers to Saul Alinsky to Ward Churchill. "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?" Bachmann said.

Bachmann's comments were an extreme example of McCain-Palin campaign's closing theme: "Real America" and the "the pro-American parts of America" against nebulous socialist elites who "pal around with terrorists." The once reliable tactic backfired in dramatic fashion, jeopardizing Bachmann's reelection in what was once one of the country's safest Republican districts. Bachmann is now the poster child of her party's mounting political woes.

While Bachmann's gaffe startled pundits, a review of her political career shows she has a habit of unusual behavior and inflammatory statements. The fact that she has gotten away with it owes to her relative obscurity and her protection from religious conservatives. "Bachmann was an accident waiting to happen," Steve Perry, the editorial director of the left-learning political news website, The Minnesota Independent, told me. "With no expertise in secular matters, she was caught between an enormous desire for attention and a well justified interest in repelling scrutiny."

In 2005, while serving in the Minnesota state senate, Bachmann crept surreptitiously to the perimeter of a protest against a bill banning same-sex marriage. She ducked behind a bush, and for several minutes, Bachmann and a staffer observed the rally like spies. When a demonstrator approached the half-hidden Bachmann with a camera in hand, she scurried away, jumped in an SUV, and bolted from the scene. . . "

http://www.alternet.org/election08/105084/michelle_'mccarthy'_bachmann_--_the_hate_monger_of_minnesota/