Will Michele Bachmann's gaffes hurt her presidential candidacy?
Are Michele Bachmann鈥檚 gaffes going to hinder her presidential candidacy?
You know 鈥� stuff like the slip she made Monday about John Wayne. In an interview with Fox News, she said that the iconic movie star was from Waterloo, Iowa, as she is, and that she鈥檇 run her campaign in his spirit.
But Mr. Wayne wasn鈥檛 from Waterloo. He鈥檚 from Winterset, Iowa, which is close to Waterloo, but not the same place, apparently. Notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy is from Waterloo, though.
As comedian David Letterman noted on his show Monday night, this was not a big slip, but it was a mistake right out of the box, as she just officially kicked off her candidacy Monday.
鈥淒o a little homework, just a little bit of homework,鈥� was Mr. Letterman鈥檚 advice to Representative Bachmann.
Letterman added that he himself remembers two things about the Duke: He was in a lot of westerns, and he was a heavy smoker.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how many votes that鈥檚 gonna get you,鈥� he said.
Bachmann spent Tuesday morning making the rounds of network news shows, and she wasn鈥檛 really pressed about the Wayne thing. But on 鈥�Good Morning America,鈥� George Stephanopoulos asked her about something else: her past statement that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery.
That鈥檚 something most historians would question, seeing that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, among others, owned slaves. But Bachmann defended it, saying that one of the Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, worked throughout his life to end the evil practice.
Of course, Adams was not technically a Founding Father. He was more of a founding son: It was his dad, John Adams, who was the second president. Bachmann said he counted anyway.
鈥淗e was a young boy, but he was actively involved,鈥� she said.
Anyway, we鈥檒l return to the initial question: Are slips of the tongue going to hinder Bachmann鈥檚 progress?
They haven鈥檛 so far. Many commentators thought she won the first big debate among GOP presidential contenders earlier this month in New Hampshire. Recent polls show that the Minnesota congresswoman is tied with Mitt Romney for first place among GOP candidates in Iowa, that all-important first caucus state.
And flaps about her grasp of Colonial history and/or movie-star birthplaces probably are not going to mean a lot to many voters. Plus, she doesn鈥檛 dwell on them, unlike Sarah Palin. Bachmann moves on, apologizing for a mistake and then pivoting to criticize President Obama鈥檚 economic policies.
But there is another aspect of Ms. Palin鈥檚 rhetoric that might come back to haunt Bachmann, and that is her out-and-out misstatements of fact about current political history.
On Sunday, for instance, Bachmann said that Mr. Obama had released all the oil from the nation鈥檚 Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As the fact-checking site , that鈥檚 not true. He released 4 percent.
PolitiFact on Monday noted dryly that Bachmann is 鈥渘o stranger鈥� to its researchers. Eleven of her recent statements are rated 鈥渇alse鈥� by the website. Seven earn an even worse rating, 鈥減ants on fire.鈥�
Perhaps her handling of facts reflects her general approach to political life. On Tuesday, her former chief of staff published an in The Des Moines Register that questioned her ability to run the country.
鈥淭he Bachmann campaign and congressional offices I inherited were wildly out of control,鈥� wrote former staffer Ron Carey, who is now a supporter of her rival Tim Pawlenty.
Mr. Carey said that he found stacks of unopened letters containing contributions filling her campaign headquarters, and that there were thousands of unanswered communications from constituents in her congressional office.
鈥淚f she is unable, or unwilling, to handle the basic duties of a campaign or congressional office, how could she possibly manage the magnitude of the presidency?鈥� wrote Carey.
