Look out! Tea Party Queen serious about running for president

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has signed a seasoned Republican strategist, Ed Rollins, to run her presidential campaign, which she is expected to officially launch in Iowa this month.

If nothing else, this serves as "confirmation that Michele Bachmann is serious about running for president," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. Sarah Palin, who appeals to a similar part of the GOP base, gets so much attention that "Michele Bachmann has been slipping under the radar." But with her latest big hire, "it looks like she's about to make a very big splash."
"Michele Bachmann hires former Reagan advisor Ed Rollins to run campaign"

"Bachmann's political gifts plus the experience of old pros like Rollins give her a potentially formidable candidacy," says Mark Halperin at TIME.

That's bad news for every GOP candidate but Mitt Romney. Party insiders fear that an upstart, unelectable Republican might capture the nomination, and "a strong Bachmann will push the establishment faster into the arms of the frontrunner."

A NOTE ON BACHMANN, THE TEA PARTY QUEEN:

File under Hypocrisy:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has decried government "handouts" as socialism, but an Environmental Working Group analysis of farm subsidies shows that the Bachmann family farm, managed by her father-in-law until his recent death, received $251,000 in farm payments between 1995 and 2006. Bachmann's stake in the Wisconsin farm is worth as much as $250,000.

If American farms such as hers were forced to compete in the global free market, they would collapse.

She’s become famous for moronic quotes like these:

1. On ethnic riots in Paris (November 2005): On the face of it, Bachmann observed, “multicultural diversity … sounds wonderful. But guess what? Not all cultures are equal. Not all values are equal. And ... those who are coming into France, which had a beautiful culture, the French culture is actually diminished, it’s going away.”

2. On evolution (October 2006): Bachmann provoked viewers by claiming that a significant portion of the scientific community rejects the theory of evolution: “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.”

3. On Democratic presidents and swine flu crises (April 2009): “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

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