| Politics The Two Faces of Michele Bachmann The Minnesota Republican and Tea Party favorite was a master of the direct appeal—and the misdirection. By John Dickerson
Posted Wednesday, May 29, 2013, at 07:58 PM ET  Michele Bachmann's national career has been marked by wild swings between directness and misdirection. At times, the Minnesota representative is the embodiment of Tea Party clarity. At other times, she breaks new ground minting fact-free claims that make it hard to trust politicians. One of the fact-checkers that she has kept so busy joked that her departure from Congress should be declared a national day of mourning. In announcing that she will not be seeking re-election, both of Bachmann's personalities were on display. As a political correspondent you find yourself on a lot of email lists without asking. This can be disorienting. Suddenly you are bombarded with accusations from one person about another person and you aren't familiar with either of them. It's like looking at the magazine covers at the grocery store checkout: Celebrities you've never heard of are reconciling from breakups you didn't know ever happened. In this genre, Michele Bachmann's email blasts achieved a special art. They had a peculiar mix of chatty subject lines and desperate conspiracy peddling. "Can I mail you something?" read the subject line from one this weekend. "Listen to this!" reads another recent one, which then pleaded, "John Dickerson—Please—if you can—stop what you are doing right now and listen to my message immediately." Another fretted, "I need your advice ... I sent you the below email last week, and I'm concerned that I haven't heard back from you." She's been ... To continue reading, click here.
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