Bachmann’s Campaign Off to an Awkward Start
Tea party favorite Michele Bachmann made her second official presidential campaign announcement in the place of her birth — Waterloo, Iowa — on Monday, having made what was supposed to be an all-American cinematic reference that went a little off the rails.
The awkward mix-up occurred Sunday during an appearance on Fox News, when Bachmann gestured at screen star John Wayne, who she said also hailed from the same Midwestern town, but an inconsistency and an unfortunate instance of name-swapping made for a big PR mess. Might as well get to work on counter-spinning there, Rep. Bachmann. –KA
Wait, before you go…Los Angeles Times:
In an interview with Fox News Channel, Bachmann, the Minnesota conservative, pointed out that John Wayne, the actor, was from Waterloo. “That’s the kind of spirit I have, too,” Bachmann said.
Small problem: John Wayne didn’t hail from Waterloo. The former Marion Morrison was born in Winterset, Iowa, more than 100 miles to the south.
The most famous John Wayne from Waterloo is instead John Wayne Gacy, the infamous “killer clown” of Chicago, who was convicted of killing more than 30 young men in the 1970s and stashing their bodies in a crawlspace in his house.
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