Bachmann Needs A History Tutor

How Minnesotans in Bachmann's district re-elected her is absolutely amazing. Not only is the Congresswoman a lying Republican gasbag, she's seriously lacking in her American history. One would hope that the people who represent us know a little something about what has gone on in Congress and the economic policies passed before them, but not Bachmann. She showed off her ignorance in front of her fellow legislators Monday night.

From TPM:

On Monday night, our friends at Dump Bachmann reported, Bachmann took to the House floor and paid tribute to the economic policies of Calvin Coolidge and the "Roaring 20s" (the era that ended with a massive monetary contraction and the Great Depression). One particular line really does stand out, though -- saying Franklin Roosevelt turned a recession into a depression through the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs.

Hoot-Smalley? What the hell is that? Oh, perhaps she was talking about this:

Here's what really happened: When Franklin Roosevelt took office, unemployment was already about 25%. And the tariff referred to here was actually the Smoot-Hawley bill, co-authored by Republicans Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon, and signed into law by President Herbert Hoover.

Interestingly, this speech also happened on the same day as when Bachmann connected the 1970s swine flu outbreak to Democrat Jimmy Carter being president, even though it was actually Gerald Ford in office at the time.

Bachmann either is flying blind down there on the Hill or else she's trying to look like a complete fool on purpose. Maybe her motivation is to win some sort of award that makes her most likely to resemble the lunacy of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Or she might just like to see her name in the paper as the blogs (and sometimes the traditional media) lambast her for behaving like a moron.

Whatever the reason, I hope her constituents take a long hard look at their Congresswoman before deciding to re-elect her again next year. Even if they only replace her with another Republican, as long as they passed history class in high school, they'll be far better than Bachmann.