If you like to poke fun at politicians, Congressional Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is a problem: she makes it way too easy.

First, indisputable facts:
Rep. Bachmann is a bona fide conservative:

• Progressive Rating: 0/100
• Conservative Rating: 72/100
• Votes with party on 93% of the time.
• She scored 100% on the American Conservative Union 2008 Ratings of Congress.
• She supported the George W. Bush bank bail-out scheme (yes, Bush; it was enacted before the November 2008 election)
  

Not that these are bad things. She has a set of core beliefs, and she legislates based on those beliefs. I'm not criticizing those beliefs. After all, many of my friends are conservatives. I was a Republican-type conservative, and still consider myself to be a fiscal conservative (unlike today's Republicans). I'm merely trying to make it clear that conservatives and liberals alike agree that she is a pure ideological conservative.

That said, I'm not convinced that she represents her district very well:

• Bills sponsored by Bachmann, 13
  Sponsored Bills Made Into Law, 0
  
  
• Bills Co-Sponsored by Bachmann, 223
  Co-Sponsored Bills Made Into Law, 0

That suggests to me that she doesn't pick her battles very well. She too busy being an idealogue, not serious about representing the people who elected her.

Shifting gears, Rep Bachmann is a practicing lawyer (let's hope she only practices). She got her law degree (Juris Doctor) from that fantastic 4th tier law school, Oral Roberts University (note: U.S. News surveyed 184 accredited programs to get the information used in the ranking of top law schools.) Yes, that's the same Oral Roberts University Law School that closed a few years after she got her degree (so one could say that ORU's Law School is no longer 4th tier). Yes, that's the same Oral Roberts University Law School that sent its library and students to Jerry Falwell's "Liberty University." Jerry's "law school" and its students and materials were sent to Regent University.

Regent U. Law School was a favorite recruiting ground for the Bush II administration. They got people with "law degrees" from a 4th tier law school ... plus ideological purity ... and a healthy dose of incompetence.

Now the good stuff about Michele Bachmann:

• She told Americans they should slit their wrists is any kind of health care reform were enacted.
• She called for an investigation into the patriotism of members of Congress.
• She claimed that Americorps training facilities were "re-education camps" to indoctrinate Americans in something (damphyno what).
  
• She said she would - and that everyone should - refuse to participate in the 2010 US Census. After all, the census gives the government information that it can use against you.
  
• Her voice was one of the most prominent among those who spread the "death camps" myth.
• She claimed (through a proxy at Faux News) that House Speaker Pelosi was trying to prevent one of Bachmann's rallies.
• She publicly called for an 'orderly revolution' at a time when many in her target audience are strongly implying that blood must be shed to get rid of elected officials.

The list goes on, but you get the idea (I hope).

I've saved the best for the last. As a 100% true red-white-and-blue conservative, she favors free markets and opposes government subsides. Unless, of course, the free markets are a problem for her business, and the subsidies are given to her business.

Why does the US government subsidize some farmers? The subsidies are used to prop up farmers who can't succeed in free markets. That's a fact, Jack. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. So what would a true free-market advocate say about subverting free markets with subsidies?

Data compiled from federal records by Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks the recipients of agricultural subsidies in the United States, shows that Bachmann has an inner Marxist that is perfectly at ease with profiting from taxpayer largesse. According to the organization’s records, Bachmann’s family farm received $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006.

Now for the quiz:

Michele Bachmann
() nut case
() a dense version of Sarah Palin
() Socialist
() Marxist (socialism for the rich)
() welfare queen
() hypocrite
() pretty, conservative, and a taco shy of the combo plate at El Cazador

Choose all that apply.

Note: I've cited very few references in the above material. However, you can do what I did: Google it, and throw out all of the unreliable sources and all of the unverifiable 'information.'