Thursday, May 30, 2013

Michele Bachmann Won't Seek Re-Election

photo MICHELE-BACHMANN-NEWSWEEK.jpg

From Reuters
Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party firebrand and 2012 presidential contender, announced on Wednesday she will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives but said her surprise decision had nothing to do with multiple investigations into her campaign finances.
. . . Bachmann also said the decision was "not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries" into her 2012 White House campaign, which is the subject of at least five federal and state investigations into potential campaign finance violations.
The Federal Election Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee and a local Iowa police department are looking into allegations about the campaign.




"Be assured, my decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to Congress. I've always in the past defeated candidates who are capable, qualified, and well-funded. And I have every confidence that if I ran, I would defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced that he is once again running. And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign, and I have no reason to believe that that was not the case."



I think she's going to the Elephant's Graveyard.
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball

. . . she never really explains her head-snapping decision to step down. She starts with a confusing numerology about her length of service in various political offices. Bachmann says she figured eight years was enough time in office. Strange, because just Friday she sent out an email asking for money for her re-election.
~ John Dickerson on Slate

Bob Dole must be some kind of prophet.
Not 72 hours after Fox News Channel aired the former Republican leader’s suggestion that the GOP put out a “closed for repairs” sign, Michele Bachmann announced that she’s going out of business. Just like that, the Republican conglomerate got an unexpected chance to shutter one of the balkiest shops in its supply chain.
. . . Soft, slow music, with a sound not unlike a church bell tolling, played as she began her announcement. . . . The bell tolled a final time as the video faded to black — and so, too, did the career of a lawmaker unlike any other this country has seen since the shot heard around the world was fired in New Hampshire.
~ Dana Milbank on Washington Post

The announcement that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is not seeking reelection will leave the Capitol a much less interesting place to fact check. As one of our colleagues put it, “The entire fact checking industry may have to hold a national day of mourning.”
Bachmann is not just fast and loose with the facts; she is consistently and unapologetically so. No other lawmaker earned as high a percentage of Four-Pinocchio ratings as Bachmann — and she earned an average of more than Three Pinocchios as a presidential candidate.
~ Glenn Kessler on Washington Post

There is, inevitably, a rambling quality to an eight-and-a-half-minute monologue. This is Bachmann's hostage video to reality. The staff decision to back her vocal track with faint Springsteenesque music was a tell—the video would have seemed ever odder without it. Bachmann was at turns defensive and defiant and bucket-list ticking, talking about her excitement at taking a plane to London to attend Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, her co-sponsorship of the 37th attempt to overturn Obamacare (“which passed in the House”), and her philosophically contradictory commitment to bring federal tax dollars to her district to build a regional airport and rebuild a bridge. Note to Bachmann: you didn’t build that.
~ John Avlon on Daily Beast

























































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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJune 3, 2013 at 10:00 PM

    Thanks for the shout out! Here's a little impression I do as Michele Bachmann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2PLHTW7_8A

    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete

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