July 12, 2010 06:57 PM UTC

Michele Bachmann Frees "The Slaves"

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Colorado Independent’s Joseph Boven reported Saturday on conservative firebrand Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) keynote speech at the Western Conservative Summit:

In a room of 600 conservative voters brought together by former Colorado Senate president John Andrews’ Centennial Institute, along with Liberty on the Rocks and Colorado Christian University, Bachmann brought the crowd to its feet more than once as she called for an end to the progressive agenda she said has taken over Washington.

“‘We are determined to live free or not at all. And we are resolved that posterity shall never reproach us with having brought slaves into the world,'” Bachmann read from founding father John Jay , ending her reading with the statement, “We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves.” [Pols emphasis]

She reiterated her concern more forcefully toward the end of the program.

“I think this describes so well where we are right now,” Bachmann said before reading an excerpt from C.S. Lewis…

Of course, even if Republicans do win it all this November, having people like Bachmann and the “Tea Party” to thank for their resurgence, there’s still the problem that a substantial percentage Republicans think she and the ‘Tea Party” is crazy–even if they are happy to get their votes.

Bachmann urged the room to not only vote in constitutional conservatives like herself but also to make certain to implore their congressional delegation to vote them into leadership positions.

“I am not in leadership, but that is why I said in my remarks that it is extremely important that if the gavel turns, the leadership is made up of constitutional conservatives. All of you can put that pressure on them.”

The thing is, there’s a reason why not even her own Republican colleagues will give Michele Bachmann and her ilk actual congressional power. It’s because Bachmann is objectively crazy and they all know it. We’re not talking about simply embarrassing, like Rep. Joe Barton apologizing to BP, we’re talking full-on erratic and unpredictable, and not particularly competent either. Responsible people, regardless of party affiliation, tend not to put this kind of representative in a position where they could do real damage. No matter how good they are on the stump.

And for all the stark raving madness we’re seeing as “mainstream” Republican campaigns try to outdo one another in appealing to the fringe–perhaps a winning strategy, this being a year where the fringe is the darling of the press–after November, we’re pretty confident the Bachmanns of the GOP will be unceremoniously put out to pasture until the next election cycle as in previous years; when their embarrassments once again become temporary assets. You’ll know we’re right when the winner of the Colorado GOP Senate primary, whichever it is, drops the “Tea Party” they’ve been tripping over themselves to embrace like a hot brick.

If we’re wrong, and the lunatics–not necessarily Republicans, mind you, but Bachmann and the “Tea Party” fringe–take control of the asylum next year, the majority of well-adjusted Republicans and Democrats alike will soon afterward have a common cause.