Why We Hope Michele Bachmann Stays in Retirement
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the antigay Minnesota Tea Party darling and one-time GOP presidential hopeful, announced that she will not seek reelection late Tuesday night in a scripted video posted on her website.
In the eight-minute video, Bachmann never explicitly mentions why she won't be running, but she does promise constituents that her decision "was not influenced by any concerns about my being reelected," nor was it "impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign."
Bachmann's campaign, which ran an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, is being investigated for campaign finance law violations by the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Federal Elections Commission, and the FBI, according to MinnPost. But she contends that has nothing to do with her decision not to seek reelection.
With Bachmann's departure from Congress, LGBT activists will be crossing their fingers that one of the most antigay figures in Republican politics will be leaving the spotlight — although there's always the chance she could resurface by running again for president or by challenging Sen. Al Franken in Minnesota.
The litany of offensive statements papers over the real harm she has caused LGBT people in her state and nationwide:
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2013/05/29/watch-michele-bachmann-isnt-seeking-re-election
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