May 30, 2013 09:11 AM UTC

Hell Yes, We're Going To Miss Michele Bachmann

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• by: Colorado Pols

The New York Times' report yesterday, after the fun we've had over the years we're obliged to note:

Representative Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Republican whose status as a leading Tea Party voice in Congress has faded in the wake of a failed bid for president and a widening investigation into her campaign spending, said Wednesday that she would not seek re-election.

Mrs. Bachmann, defiant as ever as she insisted that she would have won re-election had she tried, said the legal inquiries had nothing to do with her decision. She vowed to continue to fight for the principles she said she holds dear: religious liberty, traditional marriage, family values and opposition to abortion.

“I fully anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term,” she said in a gauzy network-television quality video posted on her campaign Web site. “They always seemed to attempt to find a dishonest way to disparage me. But I take being the focus of their attention and disparagement as a true compliment of my public service effectiveness.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann will be missed by many on both sides of the aisle, for very different reasons. Despite her regular embarrassment of anyone intelligent with an (R) after their name, her cultlike popularity on the hard right, and perpetual readiness to "go there" in response to just about any question–there being "completely crazy"–made her a national star. Democrats likewise were happy to see Bachmann's profile elevated, as she projects to most well-adjusted, literate adults an image that cannot help but damage the Republican brand as a whole.

As for Bachmann's legacy, it can be found in armies of similarly looney Tea Partiers grateful for the validation.

What's your favorite Bachmannism? We keep coming back to the Carter/Obama swine flu conspiracy, but we expect readers will have their own personal favorites. And we wonder–who will be the next Bachmann?