Michele Bachmann for President?

This past week, a Republican Congresswoman from the State of Minnesota announced her candidacy for the Presidency of the United States during a CNN televised debate between Republicans who are all seeking that same office.

Michele Bachmann, a veritable lightning rod for the Tea Party finally stated out loud what many had been thinking for some time—Congresswoman Bachmann will run for President. Does this mean that Sarah Palin will not run? Probably. It appears that she is making too much money at FOX and enjoying her pundit status more than if she ran for office—even if it were for the presidency. So, by hook or crook, Bachmann is the new attack dog for the right and does she ever have a bite!

Here are two examples of her ability to bite: (1) In advance of the 2010 national Census, Bachmann told the Washington Times that she would break the law by not completing the census forms. “I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.” Sounds like something Timothy McVeigh would have said. Or, (2) While testifying in front of the Minnesota Senate in 2005, Bachmann said, “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

It gets worse……

Back in March 2011 when speaking to students and conservative activists in Manchester, New Hampshire, she complimented the crowd by stating, “You’re the state where the shot was heard ‘round the world at Lexington and Concord.”Of course, the Lexington and Concord Congresswoman Bachmann referred to are in Massachusetts. Marxist and socialist follower of Barack Obama that I am, I know where Lexington and Concord are, having even visited the historic site to learn and pay my respects. I suppose that as far as Bachmann is concerned, my doing that only proves that I am a left-winger who loves hanging around with other liberals in Massachusetts.

Barely a week later, the lady from Wisconsin showed the world that she is indeed a historian of the highest magnitude when she touted the “different cultures, different backgrounds, different traditions” of the early European settlers in America, adding that the “color of their skin” or “language” or “economic status” did not keep them from seeking happiness.

“Once you got here, we were all the same,” she said. “Isn’t that remarkable? It is absolutely remarkable.”

The Republican Congresswoman then went on however to refer to slavery as an “evil” and a “scourge” and a “stain on our history.”

“But we also know” she assured us, “that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States with men like John Quincy Adams not resting until slavery was extinguished in the country.”

We all know (I hope) that slavery was an American institution lasting for generations AFTER the founding of our country in 1776, largely due to a compromise reached at the first Constitutional Convention establishing black Americans as three-fifths of a person (the three-fifths compromise). Of course, many of those same founding fathers were also slave owners.

The somewhat scary revelation regarding this “error” is the indication that Michele Bachmann has convinced herself that while slavery was indeed a “scourge” she has been also able in her mind to minimize its effects on black people specifically and the country in general. This attempt to minimize something as evil as slavery is actually more frightening and offensive than the mere fact that she was historically incorrect.

Mrs. Bachmann is also adept at what we used to call in sales, “changing the base.” In other words, if a customer complained that a product a salesperson was attempting to sell them did not come in green, the response would be to say, “Yes, it does not come in green, but it does have a three-year warranty.”

After her initial attempt to change the geography of the American Revolution, she shared on her Facebook Page, “So I misplaced the battles Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire. It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!”

In the end, what is truly frightening is that Michele Bachmann has a firm grasp on right-wing grievance politics. She is better at it than other tea partiers because somehow movement grievances get confused with her own grievances so it is always about her and then she deftly makes it about her followers. And to her constituencies, historical ignorance is a good thing because it just proves that she does not blindly accept American history as it is portrayed by those left-wing zealots who hate America and everything about her.

Are you ready? Congresswoman Bachmann will have to give up her seat in order to run for President and she could win the nomination.

Say it ain’t so!