Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Michele Bachmann Needs To Dump Ed Rollins Now
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion ^

Posted on 06/08/2011 7:00:37 AM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm

This is a follow-up to my post yesterday, Michele Bachmann's First Big Mistake - Hiring Ed Rollins, regarding Rollins out-of-the-gate attacks on Sarah Palin:

Hiring Rollins is an enormous mistake for Bachmann. It could be campaign killing. The people who hate Palin are the same people who hate Bachmann, and no amount of trashing of Palin by Rollins will change that. Bachmann needs to focus on building, not tearing down.
The profound mistake Bachmann made by bringing Ed Rollins on board cannot be overstated..  (Several commentators to my prior post think Bachmann is a stalking horse, but I'll prefer to call the Rollins hire a simple mistake.)


Salon.com gets it right, Rollins is instigating a fight which is damaging to each candidate and the Republican Party:

For weeks commentators have tried to set up Tea Party darlings Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, both of whom may end up launching presidential bids, in opposition. Both women have, however, fought the catfight narrative. Bachmann, for example, told "Good Morning America" last week, "I like Sarah Palin a lot, we're friends."

But that was before Ed Rollins, Bachmann's new campaign manager with a checkered path of dirty and aggressive tactics, entered the scene.
Bachmann and her supporters are kidding themselves if they think bashing Palin will immunize Bachman from the treatment.  The mocking of Bachmann started long ago, but now will kick into full gear.  They will portray every slip of the tongue or error by Bachmann as reflective of a lack of intelligence and wingnuttia. 

Witness TPM's article about Bachman's hire of Rollins:

Of course, this has often lead to some amusing off-the-cuff fumbles. She once told a conservative rally at the Capitol: "It's the charge of the light brigade!" (The Light Brigade lost) She also misplaced the historic Revolutionary War towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, into New Hampshire. And in an infamous House speech, she blamed Franklin Roosevelt for something call the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs.
But at the end of the day, the same qualities that often lead Bachmann to the edge of rhetorical cliffs, are the same that ignite fervor among her base in the far right wing of the GOP.

A successful career and lifetime of achievement is turned into a caricature based on a handful of misstatements or mistakes.  That's what Rollins is doing to Palin, and it's what will be done by others to Bachmann.

Michele Bachmann has a chance to carve out a successful insurgency campaign by uniting the non-establishment base of the party, particularly if Palin does not run.  Bachmann's chance will disappear quickly if Ed Rollins' smash-mouth tactics towards Sarah Palin continue much longer.


Update:  Nice job Ed (h/t commenter Viator), is this how you wanted to launch your campaign, Michele?



TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: bachmann; bachmann4romney; rollins; rollins4romney; romney; romneydirtytrick; sarahpalin
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

1 posted on 06/08/2011 7:00:43 AM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm
This is disappointing. If Michelle Bachmann is willing to let old school, ruling class elitists dictate her campaing strategy, why should we believe she won't let them dictate her Presidential agenda?

And I say this as a Bachmann supporter.

Of course I'm also a Palin supporter which makes this whole episode even more disconcerting.

2 posted on 06/08/2011 7:04:51 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

I dropped Michelle Bachman a comment on her website re bashing Sarah Palin. Her campaign will be dead in the water within a week unless she cans that guy and publicly apologizes. Nobody disses Sarah Palin and gets my vote.


3 posted on 06/08/2011 7:06:16 AM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

I dropped Michelle Bachman a comment on her website re bashing Sarah Palin. Her campaign will be dead in the water within a week unless she cans that guy and publicly apologizes. Nobody disses Sarah Palin and gets my vote.


4 posted on 06/08/2011 7:06:23 AM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

MB does need to dump Rollins immediately, I agree. If she does, there will still be the issue of what it was inside of Bachmann that allowed her to make this huge mistake in the first place.

Putting aside the stalking horse theory, which I find interesting - but do not buy into just yet - one has to wonder how she could hire someone who has been so openly disdainful of her core constituency. What was she thinking? And will that kind of thinking be gone by reversing this mistake?


5 posted on 06/08/2011 7:06:23 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (American Thinker Columnist / Rush ghost contributor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

Rollins is a poor manager, he’s past his prime


6 posted on 06/08/2011 7:06:36 AM PDT by therightliveswithus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

I bet Rove or Romney are paying for him.


7 posted on 06/08/2011 7:07:00 AM PDT by Reagan69 (If it ain't broke, the government will fix it till it is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

Rollins’ first move out of the gate- attack Sarah Palin?
Go negative on other republicans and conservatives?

This is an example of Bachmann’s judgement in selecting associates?

Why not just hook up with Nicole Wallace and the McPain loooser team?

Being inside the beltway brings on a debilitating ego disorder, doesn’t it :-(


8 posted on 06/08/2011 7:07:45 AM PDT by silverleaf (All that is necessary for evil to succeed, is that good men do nothing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

I dump Ed Rollins every morning.


9 posted on 06/08/2011 7:08:52 AM PDT by RichInOC (Palin 2012: The Perfect Storm.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

I’ve already said this a number of times...

Ed Rollins is an idiot!

Comparing Palin to Bachmann is like comparing a WW-II Normandy vet to a state-side Fort Dix recruit! Period!


10 posted on 06/08/2011 7:09:35 AM PDT by The Bronze Titan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: silverleaf

I Read Ed Rollins’ book. Very funny. The funniest part had to do with Frank Sinatra.


11 posted on 06/08/2011 7:09:50 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle
Of course I'm also a Palin supporter which makes this whole episode even more disconcerting.

That's the entire problem here - you have a near-complete overlap of Palin and Bachmann support. What on earth is Bachmann thinking by allowing an attack dog to get after Palin? She is dissing her own base in the process. You don't enlarge a coalition by knifing your base to get more supporters from elsewhere.

12 posted on 06/08/2011 7:09:54 AM PDT by dirtboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm
Bachmann is finished. No judgment. All RINO and backstabbing.

(backstabber poser RINO-Bachmann):
"Oh, how I love you, Mitt.
Mission accomplished.
Now treat me like Kerry Healy. Or Seamus. Or the Maucks."

13 posted on 06/08/2011 7:09:59 AM PDT by Diogenesis ( Vi veri veniversum vivus vici)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

No, let him stay for another month or so. When she finally fires him, Sarah will be in the lead and it will boil down to a Palin-Romney primary fight.

If brother killing brother is “fratricide”, is this “Sororicide”?


14 posted on 06/08/2011 7:10:29 AM PDT by Andy from Chapel Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

Michele Bachman was always my second choice in online GOP presidential polls until she fires Ed Rollins my second choice will now become Herman Cain.


15 posted on 06/08/2011 7:11:26 AM PDT by Ocarterma (formerly Obushma: Because he's way past Bush---he's Carter now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

If she doesn’t fire him TODAY she’s toast in my opinion.


16 posted on 06/08/2011 7:12:41 AM PDT by McGruff (Run Sarah, Run. Restore this country to what it once was.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

The first mistake Michele made was running for president. The second was pitching herself as a constituionalist/originalist and then putting Lexington and Concord in the wrong state. The Ed Rollins disaster merely clinched what should already be clear:

The next “smart” thing she will do is drop out of the race for a nomination she has no shot of winning.


17 posted on 06/08/2011 7:13:47 AM PDT by PaleoBob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RichInOC

and wipe my Obama.


18 posted on 06/08/2011 7:15:50 AM PDT by allsouthern
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: perfect_rovian_storm

Bachmann needs to drop out now. She has NO chance.


19 posted on 06/08/2011 7:16:23 AM PDT by jerseyrocks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

What did Rollins say about Frank?


20 posted on 06/08/2011 7:16:54 AM PDT by PaleoBob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson