Flake Eerie

From Slate (6-27-2011):

During his interview of Michele Bachmann last night, Chris Wallace pointedly asked the presidential hopeful, “Are you a flake?” Bachmann was visibly offended. “I think that would be insulting to say something like that,” she shot back , “because I’m a serious person.” Shortly after the interview, the Fox News Sunday Facebook page was flooded with accusations of sexism on Wallace’s part. Politico and the Washington Post speculated today that the interview might enhance Bachmann’s appeal among female voters who’ll now take a sympathetic posture towards her.

In response to the growing chorus of criticism, Wallace issued a video apology this afternoon. “I messed up,” he said, “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

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(Yes, Mr. DeMille, she’s ready for her close-up.)

Waterloony

From The Slatest:

UPDATE:  Michele Bachmann defended her presidential campaign on Tuesday after making a gaffe in which she incorrectly claimed she shared a hometown with the actor John Wayne, a verbal slip up that left many wondering whether she was confused with “clown killer” John Wayne Gacy.

“The main point that I was making are the sensibilities of John Wayne, which is patriotism, love of country standing up for our nation,” Bachmann explained to CNN. “That positive enthusiasm is what America’s all about, and that’s of course my main point.”

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St. Michele

From CBS News:

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says that she prayed to God about whether or not to run for political office and that those prayers provided her with a “sense from God” of “assurance about the direction” she was taking.

In a Sunday morning appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Bachmann – who will formally announce her presidential campaign in Iowa on Monday – responded to questions about statements she has made in the past that God “called me to run for the United States Congress.”

“I am a Christian, as is my husband. I became a Christian when I was 16 years old. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ,” Bachmann told CBS’ Bob Schieffer. “Since that time, I’ve been a person of prayer. And so when I pray, I pray believing that God will speak to me and give me an answer to that prayer.

Did you ask him about the Botox, too?
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The Mother of All Candidates

From The New York Times:

STILLWATER, Minn. — Nearly two decades ago, a stay-at-home mother and onetime federal tax lawyer named Michele Bachmann felt a spiritual calling to open her clapboard home here to troubled teenage girls.

“We had our five biological children that God gave to us, and then he called us to take foster children into our home,” Mrs. Bachmann told a Christian audience in 2006. “We thought we were going to take unwed mothers in,” she continued, adding, “We took 23 foster children into our home, and raised them, and launched them off into the world.”

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Thing Are Not So Peachy In Georgia

From Jay Bookman at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia.

It might be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s largest industry.

Barely a month ago, you might recall, Gov. Nathan Deal welcomed the TV cameras into his office as he proudly signed HB 87 into law. Two weeks later, with farmers howling, a scrambling Deal ordered a hasty investigation into the impact of the law he had just signed, as if all this had come as quite a surprise to him.

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Rethugs are just puppets of Americans for Tax Reform

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS NEWS:

Vice President Joe Biden’s deficit reduction talks imploded today after the only two Republicans involved in the negotiations announced they are halting their participation because of their objections to Democratic demands for “tax increases.”

Democrats meanwhile, suggested Republicans are “playing with fire” by holding up a vote on raising the debt ceiling.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced this morning that he would skip today’s scheduled meeting because “Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include tax increases.”

Subsequently, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona announced he was pulling out of the negotiations.

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The Wheels on the Bus Go Flat, Flat, Flat!

From The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:

Sarah Palin’s bus tour has not been cancelled, if you haven’t heard. It’s on hiatus. Ex-Gov. Palin took to social media yesterday to complain that news reports [from her employer, Fox News!!  😆  ]about the end of her One Nation motorized vacation were in error.

She said on her Facebook page that the coming weeks are busy for her due to civic responsibilities – she’s been called for jury duty.

And if you believe that the real reason, she’s got a bridge to nowhere to sell you.
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Oink, Oink

From Sam Stein at THE HUFFINGTON POST:

WASHINGTON — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has built a large part of her conservative appeal on strict opposition to federal intervention in the free market. Her real-time criticism of the Troubled Asset Relief Program earned her plaudits among the base voters who will soon decide Republican primary elections. Her pledge to repeal President Obama’s health care law, on grounds that it imposes an across-the-board government solution, has become a focal point of her presidential campaign.

When it comes to the agriculture industry, however, Bachmann’s record doesn’t match the fiscal conservative hype. A Freedom of Information Act request for communications the Minnesota Republican has had with the Department of Agriculture shows that she leaned heavily on federal officials for help — never more so than when it came to aiding the pork and dairy producers in her state.