Michele Bachmann

In her comment to the Chicago Tribune endorsement post, below, reader Troutay called our attention to Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, a genuine wacko, and her opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg (and Barack Obama thought his name might be a handicap!).

Bachmann first showed up on my radar when, after the 2007 State of the Union Address, she grabbed George W. Bush by the shoulder and wouldn't let him go until he kissed her. It was a remarkable display. Breathtaking, really.

Since then she has continued to be a piece of work. Read her entry in Wikipedia if you want to know about her Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act.

Michele got more national attention recently when she went on Chris Matthews' Hardball and said -- oh, just see for yourself:



So it was delightful to read, in the Wikipedia article cited above, that:

Just 24 hours after her appearance on Hardball, her opponent received $450,000 in new donations and a campaign urging Congress to officially censure her was launched with over 35,000 signatures in the first 24 hrs.

And in his Obama endorsement this morning, it was a genuine delight to hear Colin Powell single her out:

You know, we have two wars. We have economic problems. We have health problems. We have education problems. We have infrastructure problems. We have problems around the world with our allies. And so those are the problems the American people wanted to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who is a Muslim and who's not a Muslim. Those kinds of images going out on al Jazeera are killing us around the world. And we have got to say to the world it doesn't make any difference who you are or what you are. If you're an American you're an American.

And this business of, for example, a congressman from Minnesota who's going around saying let's examine all congressmen to see who is pro-America or not pro-America. We have got to stop this kind of nonsense and pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity.

From Troutay's mouth to Colin Powell's ear.

Update: According to Pollster.com, two polls have been taken in the Bachmann/Tinklenberg race. In August, Bachmann led by 13 points. In a poll taken October 10-12 (which was before her Hardball appearance), her lead had dwindled to 4 points, with 15% undecided. In a list of Republicans it would be sweet to defeat, she would be in the top 15 or 20. She'd be higher if she were effective. But she's a freshman Congressman, and a flake, to boot. Still, it would be sweet.