With Michele Bachmann not pursuing another seat in the House, one can’t help but wonder what that means for the Tea Party. Will it persist or will it over stuff itself on its own rhetoric and stance on policy?
Bachmann is under probe by the FBI, the Federal Elections Committee, and the Office of Congressional Ethics, among many other investigatory groups for alleged ethics violations during her 2012 presidential run. Bachmann made her decision to not to pursue a House seat in the wake of all this, so that leaves much speculation to her reasoning behind calling it quits in the House.
Bachmann has also foolishly tried to make claims of Biblical proportions by asserting that Melissa Etheridge’s breast cancer was “God’s punishment” for her “sinful, lesbian lifestyle.” After a debate with Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), Bachmann was claiming that the HPV vaccine, something that Perry was pushing, caused “mental retardation.”
These blemishes on Bachmann are merely the tip of the iceberg of her career mishaps and controversies. Unfortunately, despite the less-than 30 percent approval rating of the GOP and less than seven percent of voters who claim themselves as Tea Partiers, Bachmann’s departure won’t slay the tea party. As long as there are corporate donations and news outlets like Fox News, the Tea Party will still be around, says Farron Cousins, Executive Editor of The Trial Lawyer Magazine.
Joshua de Leon is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire
