Bye Bye Batshit Bachmann

Tea Party wing-nut Michelle Bachmann announced today that she will not be running for reelection. In her nine-minute web video announcing the move, she denied that her decision had anything to do with her ongoing ethics inquiry nor the FBI investigation of her presidential campaign.  Maybe it was due to the lawsuit against her for the theft of an email list-- she forgot to mention that.

In any case, it doesn't matter much-- nor does it seem to matter to anyone in her party, as there was no accolades or public comment of any kind from her GOP colleagues.  But that's no surprise, as she was little more than a carnival act, having accomplished next to nothing during her eight-year congressional career. 

While in office, she sponsored 58 bills-- 53 of which were immediately referred to committee (in other words, went nowhere).  Of the remaining five, three were agreed to without a vote: HR 373 (support for designating "National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month") HR 923 (recognizing Minnesota's 150th anniversary) and HR 79 (honoring public child welfare agencies).  Another bill (HR 850, facilitating a proposed project in the lower St Croix river) got out of committee but failed to get any action in the full House.  HR 45 (repeal of "Obamacare") passed the house, but went nowhere further (as it has failed to do another 30 or so times since then).  Impressive!

Bachmann has never wielded a committee gavel (either at the full or subcommittee level) and her amendments have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control.  As lame as she was, she was certainly entertaining--- and for that, we'll miss her!