Frankly, Brett exercised Rasputin-like control over Michele. More than one staffer was grateful to God that she didn’t win the nomination because of the influence that Brett had over her. …Once she asked me to ride on the bus with her to pray. Brett’s objection was so intense that for the good of the order, I followed the bus in my personal vehicle. On one occasion, she whispered to me, ‘Peter, don’t get off the bus no matter who tells you to get off.’ Another time, her personal assistant told me, ‘Peter, Michele does not want to you leave. Stay on the bus. Please pray for us.’Peter Waldron, former aide to Rep. Michele Bachmann • In an email to BuzzFeed, in which he alleges that Michele Bachmann’s debate coach during her presidential run, Brett O’Donnell, maintained an irregular level of control over the candidate. Waldron claims that O’Donnell prohibited Rep. Bachmann’s husband Marcus from sleeping in the same room with her while on the trail, refused to grant debate prep access to campaign consultants Ed Rollins and Ed Goeas, and “held her captive” in the back of her campaign bus during a 99-county tour, leaving her emotionally and mentally “broken.” O’Donnell strenuously denies Waldron’s surprising allegations: “Your source for your outrageous claim is a disgruntled campaign employee who has little knowledge of reality. Why is this news now anyway? The story is completely false.” source
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In full disclosure, I did win a polka dancing competition when I was in the tenth grade at my alma mater, Anoka High School in Anoka, Minn. But, despite my tenth grade polka success and my lifelong love of ballroom dancing, the recent rumors are false. I will not be joining ‘Dancing with the Stars.’Michele Bachmann • Revealing that, like Herman Cain before her, she’s passing on “Dancing With the Stars”. Odds they get Tim Pawlenty: Even. (ht imwithkanye, who is totally owning the political DWTS beat)
Michele Bachmann, after tough presidential bid, running for Congress again: Despite the belief among analysts that her skills might better be suited for Fox News, the Tea Party Caucus leader will stick with Minnesota’s 6th district for now. It’ll be Bachmann’s fourth term if she wins. source
William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., is at Michele Bachmann’s campaign headquarters at the West Des Moines Marriott wearing a Revolutionary War-era costume that he wears to Tea Party events and historical re-enactments around the country. He’s a pastor at a Brunswick Church and a Bachmann supporter.
#TricornerStyle
… Mallory Alexis at the Iowa of the Tiger Tumblr identifies the same man as“Button Gwinnet,” which Wikipedia identifies as a Georgia rep at the first Continental Congress. I’m not sure they had laminated press passes at that one, though.
This guy wears a Revolutionary War getup while campaigning. We wear a beard hat while blogging:
Clearly, we win, weirdo.
My theory … is that there has been a rarely-admitted fatigue with the Republican House, and its inability to get anything done unless there’s last-minute stop-the-clock brinkmanship. Yes, Republican voters blame Barack Obama for most of this. But if being a Tea Party candidate in November 2010 meant taking Barack Obama’s power away, in 2011, it started to mean that you were part of Washington machinery that was creaking and belching acrid smoke. Bachmann, a very good local politician, never strayed from her “record” of “leading the fight” against various Obama evils. But the evils passed. And “leading” didn’t seem to improve anything in 2011.
Key part of the commentary in italics. Fact of the matter is, she’s part of the least-popular part of the federal government, and as one of the most-vocal members, that rubs off on her. Weigel also points out what Politico’s Maggie Haberman had to say on the matter, which is that incompetence showed very quickly after she won the straw poll in Iowa.
Kent Sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign. Kent campaigned with us earlier this afternoon and went immediately afterward to a Ron Paul event and announced he is changing teams. Kent said to me yesterday that ‘everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I?’, then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions.Michele Bachmann • Trying to explain the late-stage defection of campaign co-chair Kent Sorenson, who yesterday jumped to the Ron Paul camp. In trying to explain this situation, which carries a big political cost to her already sub-tier candidacy, Bachmann is leveling a pretty loaded claim. It’s also one that Sorenson has flatly denied — he says the conversation Bachmann recounts never happened. source (via • follow)
» So why has Bachmann met with him four times? So far, Michelle Bachmann seems to be promoting Donald Trump’s advice better than she’s promoting herself — she’s currently sitting at 4% in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll.
It’s time for Michelle [sic] Bachmann to go.Tea party training group American Majority’s president, Ned Ryun • Offering up an assessment of the GOP candidate for president. Ryun doesn’t seem too pleased with Bachmann’s campaign thus far, claiming that she “has ridden her tea party credentials from obscurity to a national platform like no other.” With a wide reach — the group is active in seven states and trains thousands of budding activists — the group could prove dangerous to her presidential run. Even though Bachmann’s campaign manager claimed in response that Ryun is a Rick Perry supporter (Ryun denies the endorsement), American Majority has not endorsed any candidate, saying they “don’t care which one of the personalities wins, as long as they’re conservative.” We’re assuming they’d prefer if the winner wasn’t Bachmann, however. source (via • follow)
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
The manner in which some in the national team conducted themselves towards Team-NH was rude, unprofessional, dishonest, and at times cruel.A memo from five of Michele Bachmann’s former New Hampshire staffers • Explaining why they quit her campaign last week. The memo went on to say that it was “more concerning was how abrasive, discourteous, and dismissive some within the national team were towards many New Hampshire citizens. These are our neighbors and our friends, and some within the national team treated them more as a nuisance than as potential supporters.” These lapses of communication within Bachmann’s camp seem to show some glaring weaknesses in her campaign strategy. source (via • follow)
I believe that Iraq should reimburse the United States fully for the amount of money that we have spent to liberate these people. They are not a poor country.Rep. Michele Bachmann during an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.• Bachmann added that Iraq was a “wealthy country” that would be “subject to dominance by Iran and their influence in the region” once American troops withdraw by the end of the year. source (via • follow)
When asked what she would invest in if she were president, GOP candidate Michele Bachmann replied: “I’m just leaving it as space for right now…I don’t want to give a flip off-the-cuff answer.” [KGO]
For the last three years, the Republican Party has run on a platform based on cutting wasteful spending. Isn’t it odd, then, that a Republican candidate for president would cite the space program as the only viable avenue for new investment? Not that the space program is a waste per se, but it’s not exactly one of the GOP’s sacred cows. Color us puzzled. (Thanks KGO-TV for the video)
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