I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. -- Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
Continuing the discussion, I don't think Michelle Bachmann (?-MN) is dumb, crazy, or kookie. On the contrary, I think she's a brilliant satirist whose motives are just misunderstood.
If I'm right, the question is whether she's on our side or on theirs.
By crafting her ingenious caricature of the fringe right, she could be setting herself up as the Republican Sister Souljah-- someone for the mainstream party of "no" to point to and say "see, that's the right wing. I'm a moderate!" If that's the case, the Republicans have failed thusfar to latch onto a winning strategy, instead clamoring to define themselves as the true conservatives, unlike George W. Bush.
Or, she could be on our side--maybe even a member of the vast George Soros network like Media Matters and the Great Orange Satan--whose job was to infiltrate the Republican establishment and define it as the far-right fringe. If that's the case, her strategy is working flawlessly. She, like Boss Limbaugh, is defining the Republican Party as the party of tinfoil hat paranoia and tin-pot extremism.
I'm leaning towards the latter. She's really a Democrat doing undercover work.