Congressional firebrand, Republican presidential hopeful, would-be Swiss resident – what were Bachmann's best bits?
Michele Bachmann announced on Wednesday morning that she will not be running for re-election to Congress next year. For a brief moment, the world was surprised – then it sighed, shrugged and moved on.
That said, the one-time Republican presidential hopeful who wasn't Sarah Palin but who was a darling of the Tea Party has had some outstanding moments in her seven years in the national spotlight. So let's take a look back at some of the best:
She was the first woman to win an Iowa straw poll
It's not exactly the White House, we know, and no, it wasn't the actual Iowa caucuses either. But Bachmann did beat Mitt Romney in August 2011, and whoever ends up writing the history of women and the US presidency will surely give her a mention for this genuinely glass-ceiling-shattering achievement … which turned out to be the pinnacle of Bachmann's political career.
She became a Republican while reading a Gore Vidal novel
She told an interviewer that while reading Vidal's 1973 novel, Burr, she realised: "He was kind of mocking the founding fathers and I just thought, I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking: 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican."
She founded the House Tea Party caucus
In 2010, Bachmann single-handedly launched the caucus. Today, 66 Republican members of Congress have joined, three of them among the House leadership. However, in what might now be seen as an indication that Bachmann was on the way out, the caucus has effectively been inactive for the past several months. A couple of weeks ago, Bachmann declined to be interviewed about it.
She became the definition of an 'evangelical feminist'
Just don't call her that to her face. She hates the f-word. Still, it's become the go-to description for a certain type of professional or political woman who is staunchly conservative and Christian. Bachmann believes life begins at conception and is 100% against a woman's right to have an abortion. She's also the kind of gal who believes you're only really a woman once you're a mom. On the stump, her maternal qualifications were always as important to her as her political positions.
Remember 'pray the gay away'?
Yup that was her. Or what about the counselors trying to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality at a clinic she owned with her therapist husband?
For good measure, here are some other memorable Bachmann quotes on homosexuality:
'It's part of Satan I think to say that this is 'gay'. It's anything but gay.'
'A judge will say to little children that you can't say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it.'
'A teacher might say: 'Do you know that the music for this movie [The Lion King] was written by a gay man?' The message is: 'I'm better at what I do, because I'm gay'.'
'Unfortunately she [singer Melissa Etheridge] is now suffering from breast cancer, so keep her in your prayers. This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.'
She went to Iraq
But she won't be remembered for her unflinching support of the war there. Instead, it's this comment about Saddam Hussein's palace that still echoes, six years after she made it:
It's absolutely huge. I turned to my colleagues and said: 'There's a commonality with the Mall of America, in that it's on that proportion.'
She was on the cover of Newsweek
This was one of those Tina Brown buzz-filled moments, where a "controversial" (ie: unflattering) photograph with a dramatic headline ("The Queen of Rage") led to a brief hullabaloo. (Unfair! Sexist! Liberal!) before ending up where it should – parodied by Funny or Die.
She had a weird husband
Many comedians had a field day with the is-he-isn't-he question of Marcus Bachmann's sexuality. Beyond that, there was a Denis Thatcher-like buffoonish quality to Bachmann's appearances with his wife.
The weirdest moment came in a totally unexpected move last year, when the Bachmanns said they wanted to became Swiss nationals "as a family", like latter-day Von Trapps. (She changed her mind two days later.)
"It's tough not to find a place to like in Switzerland," Bachmann told an interviewer, reeling off an impressive list of her favorite places there.
And finally …
She won't be running for office in Switzerland. Her political life is over. Will her influence linger? Probably not, but the memory of her will.
After all, we'll always have this clip: