Michele Bachmann’s Political Headache

I wrote yesterday about a hit piece leaked via the Daily Caller that raised questions about Michele Bachmann's fitness for the presidency because of her supposedly "incapacitating" migraines. The story, of course, ignored the myriad other reasons why Bachmann is utterly unfit for the office of president, starting with her religious extremism and the fact that she's totally untethered from objective reality (she makes the Chimperator look well grounded). The fact that she's married to an outwardly lisping, mincing queen only adds to the spectator sport aspects of her campaign. The clear unspoken message from the leaked story is that mainline Republicans want to kill her campaign since they realize that in a general election Obama would massacre Bachmann as thinking moderates and independents fled to the Democrat standard bearing - possibly taking down GOP members of Congress in the process. The Daily Beast looks at Bachmann's headache problem and other machinations likely going on behind the scenes. Here are some highlights:
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When is a migraine more than a migraine? When the person afflicted is a leading presidential candidate who also happens to be a woman. The same day she moved into first place for the first time in a national poll of Republican primary voters, Michele Bachmann faced a potentially game-changing story about her personal health. Coincidence? Who knows, but with success comes heightened scrutiny. She’s in the big leagues now.
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In its explosive story, The Daily Caller described Bachmann’s migraines as weekly and incapacitating, requiring heavy medication and at least three hospitalizations. . . . An unnamed adviser is quoted as saying, “When she gets ’em, frankly, she can’t function at all.”
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The Minnesota congresswoman issued a statement that pointedly did not address her hospitalizations or the possible role of stress. She said her migraines are “easily controlled with medication” and suggested that the proof lies in her busy life as a wife, mother, lawyer, Minnesota state senator, congresswoman, and—now—a White House candidate constantly on the road.
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Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, called Bachmann’s response a good start but only that. “We have learned that we need transparency — medical records, information about the medication, and preferably access to her health provider,” he said. “Being president is too important for a ‘trust me.’”
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The questions raised about Bachmann’s migraines have potentially major political implications. If her supporters are unsure about her health, some may look at other candidates.
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Bachmann’s migraines never came up in her campaigns for the House or the state Senate, according to Jacobs. But the consensus is they are fair game in a presidential campaign. The job has become so global, so demanding, that it requires not simply good health but also enormous stamina.
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In the end, Bachmann may need to release more medical information and grant access to her doctors. If her condition is anywhere close to as serious as depicted by her former aides, her campaign will be in trouble. For now the greater challenge seems to stem from the unusually rapid turnover rate in Bachmann’s congressional staff. She has a slew of former aides, and some of them, apparently, have lots to say.
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I don't wish Michele Bachmann any ill will. That said, I do think she's a menace to the country and we need her out of politics, not occupying the White House.