Michele Bachmann announced she will retire in 2014 in a late-night video, insisting to the strains of a stirringly upbeat soundtrack that her decision was not made because of the
investigations into possible wrongdoing on her presidential campaign or because of the challenge from Jim Graves:
Be assured: My decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to Congress. I've always in the past defeated candidates who were capable, qualified, and well-funded, and I have every confidence that if I ran, I would again defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced that he is once again running. And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff.
Because a late night/early morning video is exactly the way to convey that a decision was made after great thought and without any pressure.
Bachmann offered a long list of things for which she had fought and would continue to fight ("to protect innocent human life, traditional marriage, family values ..."), a list that was noticeably short of actual legislative accomplishments, and insisted she was not ruling out possible future public or political roles, saying "my future full, it is limitless ... there is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation."
No Bachmann retirement message would be complete without a little discussion of what a martyr she is, and so: "I fully anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term," Bachmann said, going on to say "but I take being the focus of their attention and disparagement as a true compliment to my public service effectiveness."
In fact, Bachmann's retirement may make her strongly Republican district harder for a Democrat to win, a scandal-plagued incumbent who was seen as having more interest in national television than the people of the district potentially being easier to defeat than a local Republican with a clean slate.
For more discussion, see MovieJay's diary.