Bachmann Has No Connection To Reality

Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign has been full of mistakes and outright gaffes. She has placed the battle at Lexington (which started the Revolutionary War) in a state other than Massachusetts, claimed that the Founding Fathers "worked tirelessly to end slavery" (they didn't), and placed John Quincy Adams as a Founding Father (even though he was only 9 years-old when the Declaration of Independence was signed).

And her gaffes are not just limited to American History. She is just as mistake-prone when it comes to current events. When she visited Waterloo (Iowa) she remarked that it was the home of actor John Wayne. But the only "John Wayne" from Waterloo was serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

And in just the last week she has committed a couple of new gaffes. She wished Elvis Presley a happy birthday on the anniversary of his death, and told a right-wing radio show host that the American people are afraid of "the rise of the Soviet Union". Evidently she's not aware that the Soviet Union ceased to exist twenty years ago (in 1991).

I have been wondering whether she is really that dumb (a definite possibility) or if she's just too lazy to check her facts (or have her staff do that). But after her recent pronouncement about the price of gasoline, which shows she is as ignorant about economics as American History and current events, I am beginning to believe she has no connection to reality. She lives in her own little world where the facts are what she wants them to be.

Last Tuesday Bachmann told a South Carolina crowd, "Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen." Of course, she didn't bother to explain how she would accomplish that extraordinary feat. Maybe she's a witch like Christine O'Donnell and will do it by casting a magic spell., because it won't be accomplished any other way.

Her website has said that she will ease the restrictions on oil drilling, but that would at best only produce another 500,000 barrels of oil a day by the year 2030 -- and the world already uses 89 million barrels a day (and that would be over 100 million by 2030). More U.S. drilling would be a drop in the bucket and highly unlikely to affect the market price of oil in any way. Even if America could produce enough to affect the market price, the OPEC countries would just cut their production to make up for it (since they have a vested interest in keeping the price high).

This is just one more example of why it was so easy for Bachmann to jump on the teabagger bandwagon. She simply has no idea how economic theory works or the real world operates. She lives in a dream world.