While Michele Bachmann seemed to get the better of poor Seth Myers Tim Pawlenty in last night’s Republican debate, I suspect her moment in the sun is about to wane. If you wish to be President, you just can’t get away with the gratuitous hooey she was slinging (which, indeed, is a well-established Bachmann pattern). No, Pawlenty did not implement a cap-and-trade program in Minnesota. He merely favored one (it was, after all, a Republican idea back when the party was relatively sane).
Far more damaging, though, was her idiotic mischaracterization of the Standard & Poor’s downgrade. Greg Sargent has the full story here. This may not impede her path through the cornfields, but sooner or later it will catch up with her–you simply can’t get away with such blatant nonsense in a presidential campaign. Your opponents are too vigilant. The scrutiny is too great. Say g’night, Michele.