Michele Bachmann, the Village punditocracy and the Republican base

Heather at C&L is, for some reason, surprised to see a group of Establishment Beltway Village pundits discussing the 2012 Republican Presidential contest in horse-race terms and not being analytical (Chris Matthews Asks if Michele Bachmann is in Tune With the Republican Base 07/10/2011):

After showing a number of clips in the run up to the next segment where Michele Bachmann clearly showed she didn't have a lot of use for either facts or concern for flame throwing, the panel on The Chris Matthews Show pondered whether the now very "serious" and now "disciplined" Michele Bachmann somehow has her finger on the pulse of the Republican electorate in America.

What was amazing to me is that even after showing how off the cliff Bachmann is and that there is no way in hell she should be elected to lead this country, they pretty much calmly discussed how the Republican Party has gone off the rails, and without explaining just how dangerous someone like Bachmann would be should the American public actually turn out to be insane enough to elect her, and pondered whether Bachmann now represents the heart of the Republican Party.

I never thought I'd live see the day when our beltway Villagers were seriously discussing Michele Bachmann's potential road to the presidential nomination, but here we are.

Heather seems to be operating under two seriously flawed assumptions about our Pod Pundits. One, that they know who bad she would be. Two, that they care. There is very little in the history of our star pundits these last two years to validate either assumption.

Then there is the question of to what extent Bachmann reflects the state of mind of Republican base voters. She has a good shot at doing well in the Republican primaries. And all the other candidates will be appealing to the same Republicans base voters. Would a Michele Bachmann Administration be that different from a Mitt Romney Administration? I have serious doubts. But don't expect our Establishment pundits to explain that, either.

Tags: michele bachmann, republican party

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