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It is one thing to raise millions from grassroots activists or appear on record numbers of TV talk shows or give rhetorically charged speeches before adoring crowds – it is quite another to do the hard work of governing. Both Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin were political lightweights who were full of sound and fury and accomplished very little. Both quit their posts like spoiled children, after meteoric rises that had precious little to do with actually getting anything done. Both were bad examples of what public service should be all about and both exhibited a certain pathology steeped more...

One of the tea party’s strongest supporters is not coming back to Congress. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., announced she will not seek reelection next year. She made the announcement in a video posted on her website. Bachmann isn’t ruling out a run for another office. “Looking forward, after the completion of my term, my future is full, it is limitless, and my passions for America will remain,” she said in the video.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says she will not run for re-election in 2014, ending her tenure as the representative from Minnesota's sixth congressional district after four terms. In a video released on her website early Wednesday , Bachmann says that, in her opinion, if presidents can only serve eight years that length of time is sufficient for her to serve in Congress.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says she will not run for re-election in 2014, ending her tenure as the representative from Minnesota's sixth congressional district after four terms.

During an appearance on Dr. James Dobson's 'Family Talk' radio show today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said that "God is going to answer our prayers and we'll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare" (audio below), reports RightWingWatch.org. Rep. Bachmann could not prove that God opposes Obamacare, which will help provide health insurance to millions of Americans, will no longer allow health insurance companies to discriminate against pre-existing conditions, will allow children to stay on their parents' health insurance until they are 26 and provides preventive health care with no co-pay. Dr. Dobson parroted a false right wing claim that...

The title of a New York Times article by Raymond Hernandez reads, “Weiner’s Wife Didn’t Disclose Consulting Work She Did While Serving in State Dept.”. However, the headline for another story pops up in the eighth paragraph when a potentially very interesting claim is made. Take note of when Abedin allegedly stepped down as Deputy Chief of Staff for Hillary. Via NYT: "Ms. Abedin reached her new working arrangement in June 2012, when she returned from maternity leave, quietly leaving her position as deputy chief of staff and becoming a special government employee, which is essentially a consultant. A State...

On Thursday morning, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann questioned whether Internal Revenue Service could be trusted to oversee implementation of the health care law, suggesting it could inappropriately use records to deny people health care. Paul and Bachmann made the comments at a press conference with several members of Congress and members of tea party groups from across the country, “With the implementation of Obamacare at hand, and knowing that it is the IRS … that will be the enforcing mechanism for this new entitlement program of Obamacare, it’s very important to ask, and now it...

The Right constantly claims devotion to our founding documents. The problem: Its policies completely violate them. Last month, 20 House Republicans, along with staffers from nearly 40 congressional offices attended the first meeting of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. The three premises behind the Caucus, according to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who emceed the event, are “we’re taxed enough, we spend less than we take in, and we follow the Constitution.” This purported devotion to the founding documents echoes the themes reverberated at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, where Sarah Palin and former Rick Santorum declared that...

Speaking at a prayer event inside the US Capitol, Rep. Michele Bachmann said that this nation has experienced God's judgment twice on September 11.

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann spoke tonight at Maryland Right to Life's Third Annual Banquet just outside Baltimore and announced that a bill to repeal Obamacare will be introduced next week. Bachmann stated that every Republican in the House is expected to support the bill. She started off her remarks by complimenting Baltimore on being the home of crab cakes, the Super Bowl champions (which drew cheers) and Nancy Pelosi (which drew jeers). She told the crowd "2 out of 3 isn't bad". Her remarks mentioned the horrors revealed by the Gosnell trial and how the media wanted to pretend it was...

Speaking at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, President Barack Obama made a birther joke. Obama was talking about how his recent appearance at the dedication of George W. Bush's presidential library inspired him to start his own legacy. He then made a quip about the potential location of his library. "Some have suggested we put it in my birthplace, but I'd rather keep it in the United States," Obama joked.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio went on seven Sunday talk shows to pitch a bipartisan immigration reform deal, while a handful of Republican lawmakers famous for their wacky cable news interviews can’t get any attention. An anti-immigration “gang of six” in the House is trying to stop the pro-immigration “gang of eight” in the Senate, The National Review’s Robert Costa reports, but hardly anyone’s listening. The six are cable TV favorites: Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann, Iowa’s Steve King, Texas’ Louie Gohmert, Alabama’s Mo Brooks, Pennsylvania’s Lou Barletta, and California’s Dana Rohrabacher. There were zero “anti-amnesty” Sunday show guests the week before Rubio’s...

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Scott Brown joined John McCain in denouncing the congresswoman's Muslim witch hunt Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a rising star in the party and a potential vice-presidential pick for Mitt Romney, said this morning that he disagreed with Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s baseless call to investigate Muslim Brotherhood infiltration in the U.S. government. Appearing on NPR’s Diane Rehm show, Rubio was asked by a caller if he would join Republican Sen. John McCain’s strong condemnation of the anti-Muslim witch hunt on the Senate floor yesterday. While Rubio said he doesn’t personally know Huma Abedin, a...

Before Newt Gingrich and the GOP try to peddle this insanely ridiculous "Reince Revolution" baloney (seriously- with a straight face he said that????) I would like to get out front with what I think would be an UN-BEATABLE ticket in 2016 Palin/Bachman They would get ALL the GOP vote and at least half the Women's vote from Democrats. Plus they would SPEAK THE TRUTH instead of GOP-approved pablum, and -like when Ronald Reagan spoke the truth- the PEOPLE WOULD LOVE IT

Michele Bachmann's downward spiral continues. The latest: Her presidential campaign is being investigated by the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Daily Beast reports in a piece comparing Bachmann to the Hindenburg and the Titanic. Federal investigators are looking into alleged campaign finance improprieties, and several former campaign staffers acknowledge they've been interviewed. The allegations of improper funds transfers and payments specifically relate to Guy Short, the campaign's national political director, and Kent Sorenson, the Iowa campaign chairman who jumped ship and joined up with Ron Paul. Bachmann's campaign counsel notes, "There are no allegations that the Congresswoman engaged in any...

On Thursday night, conservative radio host Mark Levin attacked Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and the “has-beens” at CNN for their “hit” on Rep. Michele Bachmann after she was caught racing away from a CNN reporter confronting her over factually inaccurate claims about the president’s “lavish” White House living. On Tuesday, CNN reporter Dana Bash attempted to confront Bachmann over her claims that the president has an extraordinarily luxurious lifestyle, but was famously met with deflection and a race away from the camera. On The O’Reilly Factor last night, the eponymous Fox host criticized Bachmann for her “trivial attacks on...

The Washington Post reports today that al Qaeda’s successful attack on the Algerian natural gas plant has greatly boosted al Qaeda’s prestige in Africa. Along the way, the Post notes rather casually: The assailants were well-trained and armed with what appear to have been weapons from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s arsenal. The overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi has turned out to be a terrible blunder. It has empowered radical Muslims, led directly to the Benghazi debacle, and scattered Gaddafi’s armory among terrorist elements, including al Qaeda. There has been, of course, no accountability for the Libya decision, either with...

The Minnesota Representative introduced a bill to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, the first bill of the 113th Congress--but it stands almost no chance of passing. Second verse, same as the first, apparently.Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party darling and former presidential candidate introduced the first House bill of the 113th Congress Thursday.Of course, the bill she introduced was to--you guessed it--repeal Obamacare in its entirety. At noon today, I introduced the first bill of the 113th Congress to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.— Michele Bachmann (@MicheleBachmann) January 3, 2013 Even if Bachmann's bill stood a chance of becoming...

What drama: Bachmann, Garrett, Blackburn wait till LAST MIN to cast vote for Boehner, bring the vote from 17 defections down at final second— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) January 3, 2013

The House approved a bill to rescind the executive order President Obama signed last week that ended the pay freeze on federal employees, which meant that some federal workers would be getting a raise—including members of Congress. A number of lawmakers spoke out about the absurdity of the pay increase and timing of the move. Rep. Michele Bachmann said in a statement, “This executive order was not requested by Congress and we should reject it. We have a spending problem in our country and we should be looking for areas to cut spending. At a time when families across the...