As I’ve said before, I like Michele Bachmann.
Not surprisingly, Bachmann has come under the same types of snide attack as Sarah Palin from the mainstream media, entertainment industry and left-blogosphere. There is a special place reserved for conservative women in the Democratic toolkit of mockery and derision.
But Bachmann just made a big mistake. I’ll repeat what I wrote when Mike Huckabee was considering whether to run again with Ed Rollins as his campaign manager:
Sure enough, Rollins having just been hired by Bachmann, is at it again (via Ben Smith):
Michele Bachmann’s new top consultant, Ed Rollins, began his tenure with scathing criticism of potential Bachmann rival Sarah Palin.
“Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years,” Rollins told Brian Kilmeade on his radio show, Kilmeade and Friends. “She got the Vice Presidential thing handed to her, she didn’t go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance, she gave up her governorship.”
He suggested that the contrast would favor Bachmann.
“Michele Bachmann and others [have] worked hard, she has been a leader of the Tea Party which is a very important element here, she has been an attorney, she has done important things with family values.”
“She is probably the best communicator [in the GOP field] now that Mike Huckabee’s not in there,” he said.
Rollins has long been skeptical of Palin, but his new role with Bachmann suggests that criticism will become part of her campaign, though she has publicly praised the former Alaska governor
Hiring Rollins was a mistake. In order to have a chance, you will have to unite the non-establishment wing of the party behind you, and you lose a big chunk of that base when your campaign spokesman trashes Palin.
Additionally, the Democrats and their supporters are going to Palinize you, and already have started. Having your campaign spokesman engage in the same sort of rhetoric against Palin simply legitimizes the tactic, and will hurt your campaign.
Please take advice from someone who likes you. Dump Rollins overboard now, before it’s too late.
Update: Ed Rollins is on the Chris Matthews show as this update is being written, and is going out of his way to belittle Palin, including saying that Palin “”doesn’t matter if she doesn’t run.” Rollins also jumped on the Paul Revere controversy. According to Rollins, Palin “has the movie star quality but it doesn’t go very far.”
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.
Update 6-8-2011: Here’s how they will go after Bachmann, sounds like our resident troll talking about Palin:
Don’t get me wrong — Bachmann is neither a serious legislator nor a serious thinker. Her ideas are radical nearly to the point of being nuts, and the thought of her in the Oval Office is, well, unsettling. As a representative of the extreme right, she’d have almost no chance of beating Barack Obama in a general election. But the other candidates in the race could well find her to be more formidable than they expect.
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