Mixed feelings.
She was right on many issues, and attracted all the right enemies.
But her primary performance was disappointing, to put it mildly. No need to rehash all that now.
I wish her well.
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I suspect shes as tired of fighting the gop as she is of fighting the democrats.
That is probably true.
Yup. The GOPe hate her guts. Boehner ensures that she only serves on mostly insignificant committees and will never become a chairwoman.
Michele Bachmann is not leaving politics – she said she did not want to represent an individual district for more than eight years. She will be running for the U.S. Senate against Franken(stein) to represent the entire state.
I’m sure the Libs/Dems/MSM (yeah redundant) will wish her well…/s
they such classy people . why of course they’ll wish her well . and i see a bad moon a rising .
I’m not a fan of Bachmann’s and I am a long-standing and faithful Republican but(to me)she represents what a lot of us northeast corridor fiscal conservatives don’t like – she presides over a moral authority some of us more socially liberal Republicans find unattractive in the party.
She’s smart and articulate, no doubt, but doesn’t represent any portion of the Republican party that appeals to me.
Socially liberal policies are what put us into the fiscal mess we’re in now, so I don’t subscribe to the socially liberal/fiscally conservative meme. Perhaps that’s why I left the Republican party and became an independent after 33 years.
New York doesn’t give me an option of being an Independent. And I’m really not socially liberal. But I’m not as conservative in my mindset as Bachmann. Hence, my conundrum.
Paul — please explain. My understanding of “socially liberal” is that people are responsible for their own conditions — it’s not up to the government to provide a safety net for any but the truly helpless, nor interfere much in our lives. “Liberal” in the classic sense.
If by “socially liberal” you mean programs that encourage dependency on government — e.g. the sharp rise in unwed mothers on government support — I agree. The Republican Party hasn’t looked much different from the Democratic Party until Paul, Cruz, etc. and the Tea Party came along.
Social liberalism (libertinism) is VERY expensive. Takes a lotta money to treat STDs…esp. HIV ($600,000 for one patient per lifetime). That’s just one example.
Give me a million thumbs down if you will but I represent one heck of a lot of Republicans who struggle to find an appealing candidate. I would venture to say the majority of my Republican friends feel lost.
For me, maybe Christie, if he runs, who knows how to play nice with Democrats and who can balance a budget and get things done. I don’t see it in Ted Cruz, nor Marco Rubio, nor Michelle Bachmann. All good people, but don’t speak to me, for what I want next for the country.
This is what bugs me about people from the East Coast: You have to understand that in the grand scheme you are just not that important. Your states never go red. They do not have the potential to go red. Yet the party repeatedly demands that we prioritize policies favored by Republicans in those areas. I see absolutely no reason not to prioritize national policies that play well in Texas and to heck with New Yorkers. (And although I once lived in Connecticut, I have never lived anywhere near Texas.)
I can’t freaking stand Michele Bachmann. I believe she is completely fake and self-absorbed, and has learned that she can make money by throwing red meat to the base, which leads her farther into a lot of conspiracy theories than I am comfortable with. But the problem is not her accent, or her voice, or her eyes, or any of the other stupid catty comments about essentially cultural markers that the East Coast seems obligated to b!tch about. Its her policies and beliefs and whether her actions match up with her words. You’re supposed to be liberal out East, but you’re not. You’re all very narrow-minded about what is and is not acceptable and you care about all the wrong things.
And more ot: I am not interested in “playing nice with Democrats”, they’ve been screwing us for 5 years. I have no patience with anyone who does.
I had a pretty favorable opinion of her right up to the ‘Tardacil debacle. It was….dude, it was just awful. And then she kept going at it.
I don’t really care how it made her look, but it made the party look bad, and given how much she’d become a spokesman for them, especially the Tea Party.
Mixed feelings is a good way to describe it. I wish her well too.
Whatever reason she decided to base her decision upon, it was the correct decision. We do not need career politicians, and if Michele can lead by example, then she is a rare breed of politician in Washington D.C. these days.
Now, if only relics like Dick Durbin, John McCain, Peter King, Carl Levin, and anyone else who’s been in office for more than 12 years would make way for citizen legislators, then we might have a chance to salvage our republic.
Down with incumbents with over 12 years in Washington D.C. Don’t want ’em, don’t need ’em.
I think one of the problems is that they get too friendly with each other. In the end, they try to please each other rather than their constituents.
Not much of a surprise. She was not very effective as a legislator and was shunned at her attempts to gain a role in Republican leadership. Her performance in the debates really turned me off to her.
She’s a very vocal woman so perhaps public life will be best served as a private citizen. I wish her well.
I admired her for trying to expose Hillary’s assistant, Huma. I trust Huma as far as I could throw her. Unfortunately, Bachmann had to fight the GOP in that endeavor. With friends like that, who needs enemies.
Retiring or running for Senate?
Whenever a politician announces without a clear cut reason, you wonder if scandal is on the horizon (and BTW, when an admin like Obama’s is awash in scandals, they start looking for opposition scandals to exploit, creating them if they must), but Bachmann doesn’t seem the scandal type, assuming those rumors about her and Mark Sanford skinny-dipping in Lake Bemidji are not true.
I think she’s going down the Sarah Palin path – into media, into speaking tours, talk show circuit, fund-raising, helping local conservative candidates, writing books, FOX News gig, etc.
While I want good people in politics, it’s easy to understand good people wanting out of politics.
For me, Bachmann’s defining moment came when she stabbed Sarah Palin in the back after Palin had supported her. After that, politically, Bachmann was dead to me.
I’m not familiar with Bachmann stabbing Palin in the back. Details, please.
When Bachmann was running for POTUS and Palin was still contemplating whether to run, Bachmann’s people set it out there that Bachmann was like Palin, with brains. She did not rein them in, and if she apologized, it was weaselly. That sort of snide attack on Palin was very much part of Bachmann’s strategy, and it came right after Palin had gone to Bachmann’s rescue and rallied troops to help re-elect her. Bachmann alienated a lot of Palinistas because her attack against Palin was never issue based but followed the LSM’s line. If Bachmann had had half of Sarah Palin’s smarts, she would’ve won the nomination.
Two words- Ed Rollins. You lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
My first thought was that I hope this isn’t a Barbara Jordan situation — no scandal, but illness. However, this announcement is long and packed with political issues and positions. I think she’s going on the lecture circuit or turning talking head. I hope she makes a bundle.
She’s nuckin’ futz, never actually accomplished anything, and brought only ridicule to the conservative movement.
I expect she will next appear on some reality show.
You can blame the RINO’s for her lack of accomplishment. She was prevented from accomplishing anything because of the RINO bid to stifle Conservatives in theHouse. Quite frankly, Bachmann would have made a better speaker than the one the GOP has now, and she would’ve been taking the fight to Obama. There are things I don’t like about Bachmann, but she is a fighter and she has stood for the Conservative cause. So, no need to diss her by calling her nucking futs and a discredit to the movement. Would that the RINO’s had the balls she has to stand up for positions knowing they are unpopular.
Whether you like her style or not IMO she got shafted by the GOP beltway boys who thought her too brash and unladylike. So you had her in your face personality to her TP social conserve inclinations, of course the perpetual politicians who want to play nice and be statesmanlike. JMO
No one was more sincere & committed to preventing Obamacare from passing. She understood how it would change our country forever. I only became engaged politically because of Obamacare and I attended a rally in DC where she spoke and I saw & felt her passion to try to save our nation.
There were things I didn’t like that she said and did but on the the threats posed by both Obamacare & radical Islam she was tops. I believe, like Palin, she was harassed, ridiculed and received no support from her own party.
All in all, I believe Michele is a true patriot and she will be missed.
One problem with Bachmann – she formed the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, then let it sink into torpor. Where was it during the IRS probes? See “A Cardboard Cutout of a Caucus” http://www.nationalreview.com/article/349010/cardboard-cutout-caucus-james-v-delong
Her retirement clears the road for someone to start a serious congressional caucus to defend the Tea Party movement against in enemies in both parties.