Michele Bachmann: Flying the ‘Barbie jet’ to 2012

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Replay
By Kase Wickman

Though Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) won her first congressional race in 2006, it wasn't until the past year that she burst into the collective national consciousness. Now, the tea party darling and contender for the 2012 GOP nomination can't be avoided. This week, The New Yorker and Newsweek published features about the Bachmann, each showcasing very different sides of the candidate: woman of steel, and blusterer-in-chief.

Newsweek's story, "The Queen of Rage", highlights the tougher side of Bachmann as she rallies across Iowa.

“You use the word ‘anger.’ It’s not anger,” Bachmann told Newsweek. Instead of showing "unhinged anger," she said, “people are saying the country is not working.”

Though Bachmann has gained in popularity, the movement that catapulted her to the spotlight is losing steam: A New York Times/CBS poll released this week showed that 40 percent of those surveyed have a "not favorable" view of the tea party. That negative sentiment has doubled since the question was first asked in April 2010. Bachmann herself has surged in popularity, and July poll results showed her second in the GOP field, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/08/michelebachmann-w... /

[Blue Owl]

1. President Barbie is just not gonna happen.

No way, no how.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. More like the Idiot Jet. The woman is a buffoon. nt

[Blue Owl]

3. Jethro Jet

Just what the country needs -- dumbed down to Jethro levels.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. That's exactly it. nt

[loyalsister]

4. scary, obnoxious, hateful.....

Sure. But I think gender specific insults are unintentionally misogynistic. Applying the word "barbie" generalizes and carries a mental image of any number of women. Using that mental image as an insult imposes the offensiveness that is Michelle Bachman upon them. I am not claiming that it is malicious only that there are unintended consequences that encourage negative perceptions of women.