Michele Bachmann: Can She Survive Being Taken Seriously? - Ed Kilgore

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/90900/michele-bachmann-iowa-republican-nomination-speech-gop

There are two things to keep in mind about Bachmann in the next 90 days or so:

1) A lot of the momentum that she is getting in the polls could just as easily be the share that, up to this point, has been whipsawing between candidates like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin. In other words, this might just be a function of the protest vote and a message that the Republican base likes people who talk tough. In other words, nothing new to see here.
2) This is Bachmann's introduction to the nation. A lot of people outside of the Christian right voters in the midwest that she has already won over simply don't know who she is. She has a history of oddball positions and statements, the least of which are her garblings of American history, and once these theocratic and homophobic posititions become widely known she is going to plummet in the polls or drag a ticket down with her.

Kilgore also notes something really interesting when he states that Bachmann has been fitted into the template that has been cut for Sarah Palin. She will be given civics tests at every turn, waiting for her to flub relatively easy history questions, as she has already shown a propensity to do. To me, this is fair game. Bachmann built her candidacy on questioning the "Americaness" of others and often the mistatements are unforced errors, not questions that were posed to her "gotcha" style. She and Sarah Palin do fit into the same mental space on a lot of issues and a lot of behavior, and fairly or not, they represent and even seem to relish representing a certain archetype that is present in many communities: the brainless, beautiful, judgmental, shallow Christian with her own house not quite in order.

You tell me how well those archetypes do when forced to go outside their comfort zone, and there you have the answer on how well Michele will do.