Rep. Michele Bachmann has the potential to become a Vice Presidential nominee if she runs a very good campaign and avoids embarrassing missteps. However, she keeps running into to “fact problems”, which diminish her credibility and make the Minnesota Republican appear not ready for Prime Time.
Given Bachmann’s anti-intellectual style, it is not surprising that she either makes things up or fudges the facts. But, one would think that by now — the day she launches her presidential bid in Waterloo, Iowa — she would have hired competent staff to fact check her speeches and public statements.
The New York Times reported on her latest screw-up:
Mrs. Bachmann, who rose to prominence with her evocative quips and spirited presence in television interviews and appearances at Tea Party rallies last year, has also experienced a string of gaffes. She added a new one to the list during her visit back to Waterloo, a city that she left in 1968…As she stood in her old neighborhood, she misstated a piece of Iowa lore as she explained the important role that Waterloo had in shaping her character.”John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa,” Mrs. Bachmann told Carl Cameron of Fox News in an interview. “That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.”
The actor was actually born in Winterset, Iowa, which is about 150 miles southwest of Waterloo. It was John Wayne Gacy, known as the killer clown who raped and murdered 33 teenage boys in the 1970s, who lived in Waterloo.
A few more gaffes, such as this one, and Bachmann’s political career will dead end as a punchline on Saturday Night Live.
