QOTD: Mark Steyn
by digby
Michele Bachmann Could Have Been “America’s Thatcher”
You can say a lot of things about Margaret Thatcher. She was a very tough, trail-blazing ultra-conservative. perhaps you could attribute some of that to Bachman as well. But margaret Thatcher wasn’t an idiot or a crook, as far as I know. Bachman was quite obviously and openly the first — and it looks as though the second may have chased her out of the congress.
Bachman was no worse than a lot of the Tea Partiers. Indeed, she represented them quite well. But she was very flamboyently foolish. And I hate to say it, but women have to be more careful. Louis Gohmert isn’t going anywhere. Steve King may even ascend to higher office. And both of those guys are easily as nutty as Bachman.(I don’t know about the corruption.)
In any case, this was my first memory of Michele Bachman and I knew she was going to be a gift to bloggers:
Newly-elected Congresswoman Michele Bachmann got quite a bit of face time with President Bush after his State of the Union Speech Tuesday night.
While the President was signing autographs for members of Congress after the speech, the sixth-district Republican put her hand on Bush’s shoulder. However, it wasn’t just a tap. After he signed an autograph for her, Bachmann grabbed the president and did not let go for almost 30 seconds.
After signing the autograph for Bachmann, the president turns away, but Bachmann doesn’t let go. In fact, the video shows her reaching out to get a better grip on him.
Bush then leans over to kiss another congresswoman, but Bachmann is still holding on. Bachmann then gets more attention, a kiss and an embrace from the president. A few seconds later, Bachmann’s hand finally comes off the presidential shoulder.
Someone at the time described her as “clinging to the president like a Tiberian Bat,” which became my secret nickname for her. (She is batty …)
But this is my favorite Michele Bachman moment. It happened at the beginning of that unctuous “faith” debate hosted by Frank Luntz (which Romney couldn’t attend being a heathen Mormon and all.)
I kind of doubt that Maggie Thatcher doubled as a waitress during her parliamentary debates.
It’s interesting to me that attractive, dim-bulb right wing female politicians like Palin and Bachman end up dropping out of politics under cloudy circumstances to pursue media careers. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Roger Ailes had found a new recruiting tool.
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