Soon, Democrats won’t have Michele Bachmann to kick around in Congress anymore, but the outgoing Minnesota Republican isn’t disappearing completely.
In an interview with Fox News host Gretchen Carlson on Tuesday, Bachmann said she intends to “remain fully engaged on the national scene,” suggesting that a syndicated column and talk radio could both be in her future.
“And also I think I’ll have a media presence,” Bachmann added.
What does the retiring congresswoman intend to do with all that media saturation? Dispense the analysis and wisdom that come from her unique experiences, of course.
“My number one goal will be to talk as a former female presidential candidate on the Republican side,” she told Carlson. “I’m the only one who has occupied that space, and so what I want to be able to do is weigh in especially if there’s a female nominee on the Democrat side of the ticket. So I would want to be able to weigh in and talk about what it’s like to be there and do that and what it will mean for the country.”
With her congressional career drawing to a close, Bachmann has been busy talking up her quixotic 2012 presidential campaign, a spectacular flameout that peaked with a victory in the Iowa Straw Poll nearly five months before the primaries and caucuses began.
Bachmann touted those very credentials during an interview with Newsmax TV last week, claiming to be particularly well-suited to analyze a Hillary Clinton candidacy. She bragged that she is “the only woman who’s ever participated in televised presidential debates,” a distinction that has to sting Elizabeth Dole, whose 2000 presidential bid never got off the ground.
And Bachmann also hyped her victory in the straw poll, staking her claim as the only Republican woman to ever win “a presidential contest.”
Bachmann has addressed the prospect of a female President before. She said earlier this year that she doesn’t believe there is a “pent-up desire” to send a woman to the White House and that many voters “aren’t ready” to take that step.
“Bachman Will Use Her Failed Presidential Campaign to Stalk Hillary.”
(TPM header corrected for enhanced truthiness).
Hillary Clinton’s response:
“I appreciate her interest in my campaign and I ask for her vote.”
The GOP (Grifter Opportunist Program) is a true growth industry.
I want to congratulate Bachmann on getting the description of her bid just right…
These Republicans, Michele and Sarah, and many others, so full of themselves and so vivid an imagination as to their importance to the rest of the world.