Michele Bachmann announced her decision via YouTube video on Wednesday
Michele Bachmann released a video Wednesday announcing her decision not to run for a fifth term as the representative of Minnesota’s 6th district.
While her reason for not running again was not specified, her speech was littered with several statements that are worth mentioning.
“I have every confidence that if I ran, I would again defeat the individual that I defeated last year, who recently announced that he is once again running,” she stated. While there is no way of knowing this for sure, this pretentious statement seems ridiculous, especially when looking at the facts of last year’s election. Her opposition, Democrat Jim Graves, not only had less time to organize his campaign, but also had much less money to spend; Bachmann outspent him 12-1, and she still only managed to defeat him by 1 percentage point. A recent poll showed Graves at 47 percent, just slightly above Bachmann’s 45 percent. It’s true, the polls are biased and these percentages are well within the margin of error, but the race would still be a tough one for Bachmann to win, especially based on last year’s near-loss.
“And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign,” she goes on to say. Currently, Michele Bachmann is being investigated for misuse of funds during her presidential campaign. She has had far too much negative press in recent months because of this, and it’s hard to believe that this wouldn’t affect her campaign in a bad way. The inquisitions could likely be her downfall during another campaign.
Further, Michele Bachmann her speech continues to include a rail of criticism against the Obama Administration. “My core of conviction on these principal issues and more will continue, in a steadfast manner, during the remainder of my term and beyond,” she said. “On so many issues, we’re clearly on the wrong track.” What’s baffling is that someone who ran for the presidency of the United States, and who has the chance to run (and a semi-decent chance of winning) for another term in Congress, would back down from the opportunity when she clearly has such strong opinions about the future of the country. One would think that running for a fifth term would be the best way that she could present her ideas and elicit the change that she so desires.
“I fully anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term. Since I was first elected to Congress many years ago, they always seem to attempt to find a dishonest way to disparage me,” she said. Unfortunately, Bachmann has become infamous for her uneducated and untrue remarks, so it seems that she has become quite used to disparaging herself.
Overall, her announcement was a huge shock to everyone, as Michele had already started heavily campaigning for the next election, but there is no doubt that the shock was a good one for the Republican Party and the nation as a whole. Now all that remains to be seen is who will take her place as representative, and what she will do now that she is not holding office. Only time will tell.
