Following Rep. Michele Bachmann’s appearance with Chris Matthews yesterday, America is learning what many in Minnesota already knew, which is that putting Bachmann in front of a live microphone is like handing an excitable 15-year-old a bottle of gin and a loaded gun. The only question is when something unspeakable is going to happen.
Bachmann is no stranger to the hysterical off-the-cuff reaction. In her BC (Before Congress) incarnation, perhaps the most celebrated instance of Michele being Michele was a bizarre 2005 incident in a little town called Scandia. At the conclusion of a heated town meeting, then-state Sen. Bachmann retreated to a bathroom, where a couple of her constituents followed to continue the argument.
Then, according to a police report (PDF) that Bachmann later filed with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office:
BACHMAN [sic] STATED THAT WHEN SHE WAS GETTING READY TO LEAVE SHE WENT TO THE RESTROOM. SENATOR BACHMAN STATED THAT WHEN SHE WAS TRYING TO LEAVE THE RESTROOM, 2 WOMEN BLOCKED IN AND TOLD HER THEY WANTED TO CONTINUE TALKING. SEN BACHMAN STATED SHE WAS AFRAID AND SCREAMED FOR HELP. THE 2 WOMEN LET HER LEAVE THE RESTROOM WHEN SHE SCREAMED. THE WOMEN ARE BELIEVED TO BE W/ THE GLBT GROUP.
In short, Michele Bachmann claimed to have been briefly kidnapped, and caused to fear for her safety, by a pair of argumentative lesbian constituents. The incident never resulted in charges, in part because Bachmann’s own account of it kept shifting. (The Dump Bachmann blog has a good contemporaneous summary.)
Shortly after arriving in Congress, Bachmann briefly made headlines by revealing to St. Cloud Times reporter Lawrence Schumacher that the US government had agreed to a secret plan to turn half of Iraq over to Iran: “There is already agreement made,” said Bachmann. “They are going to get half of Iraq, and that is going to be a terrorist safe haven zone where they can go ahead and bring about more attacks in the Middle East, and come against the United States.”
Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media. Michele Bachmann’s Hardball blowup: Minnesotans knew it was only a matter of time
Bachmann is no stranger to the hysterical off-the-cuff reaction. In her BC (Before Congress) incarnation, perhaps the most celebrated instance of Michele being Michele was a bizarre 2005 incident in a little town called Scandia. At the conclusion of a heated town meeting, then-state Sen. Bachmann retreated to a bathroom, where a couple of her constituents followed to continue the argument.
Then, according to a police report (PDF) that Bachmann later filed with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office:
BACHMAN [sic] STATED THAT WHEN SHE WAS GETTING READY TO LEAVE SHE WENT TO THE RESTROOM. SENATOR BACHMAN STATED THAT WHEN SHE WAS TRYING TO LEAVE THE RESTROOM, 2 WOMEN BLOCKED IN AND TOLD HER THEY WANTED TO CONTINUE TALKING. SEN BACHMAN STATED SHE WAS AFRAID AND SCREAMED FOR HELP. THE 2 WOMEN LET HER LEAVE THE RESTROOM WHEN SHE SCREAMED. THE WOMEN ARE BELIEVED TO BE W/ THE GLBT GROUP.
In short, Michele Bachmann claimed to have been briefly kidnapped, and caused to fear for her safety, by a pair of argumentative lesbian constituents. The incident never resulted in charges, in part because Bachmann’s own account of it kept shifting. (The Dump Bachmann blog has a good contemporaneous summary.)
Shortly after arriving in Congress, Bachmann briefly made headlines by revealing to St. Cloud Times reporter Lawrence Schumacher that the US government had agreed to a secret plan to turn half of Iraq over to Iran: “There is already agreement made,” said Bachmann. “They are going to get half of Iraq, and that is going to be a terrorist safe haven zone where they can go ahead and bring about more attacks in the Middle East, and come against the United States.”
Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media. Michele Bachmann’s Hardball blowup: Minnesotans knew it was only a matter of time
This is good stuff. 
