This isn’t good news for more liberal Republicans (and yes, some do exist). Bachmann is Sarah Palin with more gravitas: a dangerous package. Whereas Palin is continually lampooned for her gaffes and moronic soundbites, and hence considered something of a liability to the party, it appears that Bachmann is succeeding in consolidating support from Tea Party-favouring Republican voters. But the woman holds political views that wouldn’t be out of place in the Taliban. Bachmann is a climate-change denialist, opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest, terms homosexuality a “sexual dysfunction”, accuses Barack Obama of holding “un-American views”, is against practically any form of state-subsidised health-care; and believes that evolution is “a theory that has never been proved one way or the other”.
It’s a shameful litany, but one that is clearly resonating with grass-roots Republican voters, who turn out in droves to her campaign rallies and cheer her to the rafters. She is seen as a sincere and uncompromising spokesperson for their interests. A Gallup poll in July put her in second place in the Republican presidential nomination race, behind only Mitt Romney.
Next to her, the other Republican presidential hopefuls seem like a bunch of lefties. That’s with the exception of fellow contender Rick Perry, the Texan governor who entered the race this weekend. Bizarrely, Perry started his political life as a Democrat – he ran Al Gore’s 1988 campaign in Texas – before choosing to shelve any remotely liberal leanings in favour of defection to the right-most pole of the Republicans. Perry stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Bachmann in his stance on gays, climate change and abortion. He has a further feather in his conservative cap: in his position as governor of Texas, he has presided over more than 200 executions.
The rightwing duo is despised by America’s left-leaning media. Newsweek came under considerable flak last week for running a front cover photo of Bachmann which appeared to have been selected because it made her look, well, insane. But some would say: if the shoe fits… DM
Join the counter-revolutionary expansion movement. iMaverick.
Photo: U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann speaks at the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, August 13, 2011. REUTERS/Jim Young