Michele Bachmann (R-MN) announced on YouTube Wednesday that she is leaving Congress, saying “The law limits anyone from serving as president of the United States for more than eight years. And in my opinion, eight years is also long enough for an individual to serve as a representative for a specific congressional district.”
Bachmann, always her own worst enemy, said that her decision has nothing to do with fears of losing and nothing to do with the ethics investigation surrounding her failed 2012 presidential campaign.
Be assured, my decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected 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 again defeat the individual I defeated last year who has recently announced that he is once again running.
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She was speaking of businessman Jim Graves, who she defeated by a narrow margin of 4,200 votes out of the 356,000 cast. And well-funded? Really? Bachmann did not mention that she outspent Mr. Graves by a wide margin – a twelve to one margin thanks to her $14.4 million in spending.
She failed to mention the advantages accruing to her of redistricting, or that this time around, Mr. Graves seems a much more dangerous threat than previously. She also avoided mentioning that at this point, she is virtually tied in the polls with Mr. Graves (with Graves over Bachmann at 47 vs. 45 percent).
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.
She even mentioned her hope for Republican control of the Senate, White House and putting America back on the track “of greatness and American exceptionalism.”
Of course, we may not have seen the last of her:
There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political area or otherwise, that I won’t be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation for future generations.
And no speech would be complete without a dig at the evil mainstream media without which she could not have so successfully marketed her lies and distortions (like telling people her opponent was well-funded), saying she expected “the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin” on her decision.
She promised, “I will continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same constitutional conservative values we have worked so hard on together.”
Because you can always try to repeal Obamacare just one more time.
Whatever Bachmann thinks, the media’s take on her decision (which so far this morning seems pretty straight-forward and factual) promises to be far less interesting than the reaction of the Right Wing spin machine, and in particular, Tea Party groups.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
