Early Wednesday morning, embattled Rep. Michele Bachmann announced that she won't seek re-election to Congress in 2014.
Instead, she will return to Minnesota, and the loving embrace of her husband Marcus, who holds a PhD in heterosexuality (not that there's anything wrong with that).
No doubt this is a tragic development for the teabaggers who've entrusted her with repealing Obamacare, but they can't really argue with the science behind her decision; the Bible clearly states that a woman's place is in the home (making dinner and babies), not the House of Representatives.
Bachmann will leave behind a legislative record which rivals that of anyone who's never held elected office, but that's probably not what she'll be most remembered for; her legacy is much more likely to be in the spirit of serial wordsmith William Shakespeare.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Roundtable: Former Senior Adviser to President Obama David Axelrod, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Author Jonathan Alter, GOP Strategist Ana Navarro and Tom Friedman (New York Times).
Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI); Roundtable: Bob Woodward (Washington Post), Jill Abramson (New York Times), David Ignatius (Washington Post), Dan Klaidman (Daily Beast) and John Dickerson (CBS News).
This Week: Former Senior Adviser to President Obama David Plouffe; GOP Strategist Karl Rove; Rep. John Dingell (D-MI); Political Roundtable: Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post), Gwen Ifill (PBS) and Paul Gigot (Wall Street Journal); Foreign Policy Roundtable: Christiane Amanpour (ABC News), Bobby Ghosh (TIME) and Aaron David Miller (The Wilson Center).
Fox News Sunday: Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA); Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD); RNC Chair Reince Priebus; Roundtable: Radio Host Laura Ingraham, Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post) and Amy Walter (Cook Political Report).
State of the Union: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA); Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-FL); Democratic Strategist Paul Begala; GOP Strategist Kevin Madden; Jackie Calmes (New York Times); Corey Dade (TheRoot.com); Reliable Sources: Dana Milbank (Washington Post); Lois Romano (Politico); Debra Saunders (San Francisco Chronicle); John Stackhouse (Toronto's Globe & Mail).
On Comedy Central...
"The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" were in reruns this week, so there are no new videos to share. Instead, here's Jon taking issue with some of Michele Bachmann's positions during her presidential campaign.
The Daily Show
Monday: Documentary Filmmakers Maxim Pozdorovkin & Mike Lerner
Tuesday: Brian Williams (NBC News)
Wednesday: Former Head Speechwriter for President Obama Jon Favreau
Thursday: TBA
And Stephen's report on CBS News' dismissal of the then-candidate's chances.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Rep. John Dingell (D-MI)
Tuesday: Documentary Filmmaker Alex Gibney
Wednesday: Author Jonathan Alter
Thursday: Stephen King, John Mellencamp & T-Bone Burnett (Ghost Brothers of Darkland County)
Elsewhere...
The big "gun rights" march on Washington, DC that was planned for the Fourth of July may have been cancelled, but apparently the Tree of Liberty is still thirsty.
"A new American revolution is long overdue. This revolution has been brewing in the hearts and minds of the people for many years, but this Independence Day, it shall take a new form as the American Revolutionary Army will march on each state capital to demand that the governors of these 50 states immediately initiate the process of an orderly dissolution of the federal government through secession and reclamation of federally held property. Should one whole year from this July 4th pass while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible."
Meanwhile...
An Ohio school district is courting controversy with their plan to use a curriculum seemingly based on Glenn Beck's teachings.
The Springboro Community City School District officials is considering a policy that would encourage students to "think critically" about "controversial" issues like evolution, abortion, climate change, UN Agenda 21 and sustainable development. The policy directs teachers to fully explore “all sides” of these issues. [...]
The proposal presumably requires teachers to bring up creationism during discussions of evolution and conservative conspiracy theories regarding the United Nations when discussing environmental initiatives.
"This policy appears to explicitly permit the teaching of creationism because ‘evolution’ is on the 'controversial issues' list and equal facts for the opposing viewpoint means classroom time spent on the religious theory of intelligent design (or creation science)," ACLU legal director James L. Hardiman explained in a letter to the school board. "It has been firmly established that this practice is unconstitutional, in violation of the Establishment Clause."
And, in other legal news...
Sen. Chuck Grassley accused President Obama of trying to pack the courts with judges.
Republican senators are fuming about President Barack Obama's attempt to fill empty seats on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, charging him with "court-packing" and alleging that his push to confirm nominees is all politics.
But not only is Obama not "court-packing" — a term describing an attempt to add judges to a court with the goal of shifting the balance, not filling existing vacancies -- but Republicans' efforts to prevent Obama from appointing judges amount to their own attempt to tip the scales in their favor. [...]
"I'm concerned about the caseload of this circuit and the efforts to pack it," Grassley complained during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, charging the administration — six times — with court-packing. Of course, Grassley was quickly corrected by a colleague, who said that court-packing isn't about filling existing vacancies.
Overruled!
- Trix