George Will: Michele Bachmann 'Not Among Serious' 2012 Contenders (VIDEO)

Conservative columnist George Will weighed in on the possibility Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) could mount a presidential campaign in 2012 during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday morning.

"She's not among the serious contenders," explained Will at the culmination of a roundtable discussion focused on Bachmann's political ambitions. "We know who settles presidential elections, they're independent voters. Independent voters are not inflamed, and not inflamed in the way that some of the marginal Republican candidates are."

Before making the remarks, Will along with several other guests on the weekly program addressed a gaffe made by Bachmann on Saturday as she took her message to the early primary state of New Hampshire. The AP relays the historical misstep that went down:

Before headlining a GOP fundraiser, the possible presidential hopeful told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, "You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord."

But those first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.

"So I misplaced the battles Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire," Bachmann posted on her Facebook page later. "It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!"

In sharing his take on the matter, Will quipped that his wife "occasionally advises" the Tea Party favorite, but "not on American history."

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Comments

[MichaelGuy]

11:38 PM on 03/15/2011

It appears the Republicans also have their wealthy aristocracy who, like the Democrats in office offer the ruse and guise of being plebeain but are in their own estimation Patrician. We know for example both Al Gore and George Bush were elie sons of senators whose ancestors Prescot Bush and Al Gore Sr worked for Armand Hammer and Occidental Petroleum. John Kerry, Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi have the wealth of Croesus, Crassus and Lepidus at their whim and disposal but portray themselves as the voice of the common worker. Just a sham and hypocricy, they are the one's who put tax breaks into the Codex of the Federal register for themselves and their affluent campaign contributors, and then blame it on republicans that the wealthy don't pay enough taxes.
but there are the self annointed republicans who also have given themselves patents of nobility and also claim to be of the second estate. And like their elite Democratic counerparts they too disdain any mere citizen or spokesmen supported by the mob and rabble. Much like he politically correct liberal elite and the progressive, "Ministry of Truth " media personnel, the RNC has its own leaders who disdain the common masses as too stupid to know what is good for them. .
Michelle Bachmann does have the support and respect of many. She has a vision for this country that many share. her argument are cogent, articulate and she invokes a sense of duty and patriotism in her followers.

[sonhenjz]

02:13 PM on 03/16/2011

Your comparison of Republicans and Democrats leaves a few facts out. ALL the laws for equal rights, civil rights, and any bills that will benefit the rest of us who aren't rich in the U.S. were created and brought to the floors of Congress by Democrats, NOT Republicans. You never hear the middle class EVER mentioned by Republicans because their belief is all about money and power, and they have ruined this country by allowing their corporate sponsors to ship all the jobs for working people to other countries and charge their tax breaks to the American people. When you call people "elite", you make it sound bad to be educated. Yes, Kerry and Pelosi come from wealthy backgrounds, but THEY are the ones who defend the rights that the GOP is attacking right now. There IS no comparison of which party represents average Americans in this country.

[Sahuaro]

11:05 PM on 03/15/2011

I recall a certain peanut farmer who wasn't a serious candidate all the way up to his election.

[whyus]

10:51 PM on 03/15/2011

George's hair looks green!

[zonker1586]

10:09 PM on 03/15/2011

Bachmann can see Russia from New Hampshire!

[Joshy X]

08:00 PM on 03/15/2011

she is really good looking

[RobtBrock]

10:31 PM on 03/15/2011

Ignorant women seem really homely to me.

[thetruthmustbetold]

07:49 PM on 03/15/2011

It may be we have to pass the old Republican Guard and move into the future.

[builderman55]

07:46 PM on 03/15/2011

Sorry to inform you Will, but ALL of the current crop of GOP hopefuls are marginal candidates. Bachman just happens to be the most marginal of all of them.

[MNUSA]

10:42 PM on 03/15/2011

They really don't have much to choose from, do they. It's actually kind of embarrassing that one entire major party in the United States can't come up with a viable option.

[builderman55]

12:24 AM on 03/16/2011

It is a very graphic example of a party that is searching for its soul. The GOP is so fragmented that no consensus candidate is going to work, especially due to the fanaticism of the Tea Party. Too bad--we need a party that has some constructive ideas about what our country needs...

[pander2647]

12:24 PM on 04/26/2011

I apologize for being remiss - I didn't realize the Republicans were so deparate for candidates, i.e. Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Donald Trump, and possibly Glenn Beck and Rush Lumbaugh. The more they open their mouth, the better Obama looks.

[builderman55]

01:15 PM on 04/26/2011

The first GOP debate may actually open upmthe field to new prospects, since the black hole, known as Palin's mouth might just suck all of the other candidates into it to disappear into another dimension, a place where truth, fairness and decency are not required. Notice how when Palin opens her mouth, even light bends and gets sucked into her throat?

[Annette Rubin]

05:00 PM on 03/15/2011

Palin/Bachmann 2012!!! Y'all can do it!! That's who I'd like to see heading up the republican ticket! Yay!

[Joshy X]

08:00 PM on 03/15/2011

Sharpton Sheen 2012

[pander2647]

12:27 PM on 04/26/2011

Good luck! Palin can't get voters in Alaska to vote for her and Bauchmann can't get anyone in Minnesota to vote for her. Wow! Thousands upon thousands of votes possibly going the the Demoncrats.

[camelias and sweet tea]

05:00 PM on 03/15/2011

I have yet to see any serious candidates. They all are a joke in one way or another..

[Pandora1]

04:30 PM on 03/15/2011

Geez -- I must be losing my grip, but in his own laconic way Will is absolutely right (pun intended) and I agree with him for the first time in known history. I wish we could just discount her inane rantings, but we must deal with the fact that many people voted for her and are out there lurking somewhere. sigh.

[Walter M Roberts III]

03:51 PM on 03/15/2011

Gosh, just how ignorant is this woman? Lexington and Concord in New Hampshire? Any 5th grader should know better!

[american-dolt]

03:36 PM on 03/15/2011

George Will needs only a Straw Hat and Cane for his ensemble to be complete.

He can then do a "Yankee Doodle Dandy" dance before every episode, or maybe at the end, time prevailing.

[paulwl]

03:22 PM on 03/15/2011

What did 'Archie' say to 'Edith' after he had married her and she gave her first opinion?
DING Bat!!!!

Joke: What do you get when you match together A 'Grizzle Momma' and a 'Tweetie-Pie', both from places where men look at 'faces' and not 'brains', because it all ways too cold to really CHECK OUT what you are hooking-up with? George Will at his best talking about electing the next POTUS and VPOTUS. I

Don't listen to him fellow Republicans, he does not know what he is saying, They would be in infamy, bar none! What a cruel joke on the U.S. and the world, to come to the end because one of these two had a bad cycle...SNAP!

[tuneone52]

03:11 PM on 03/15/2011

To err is human to forgive divine. We all make mistakes, Michele is no different, as for being qualified to be president? No way she can win to far -right!

[mediacrazed]

02:53 PM on 03/15/2011

"It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!"

Rep. Bachmann just doesn't get it. A correction laced with a gratuitous put-down of Massachusetts ain't cute, and wins her no votes from anyone jabbed for not passing her patriotism litmus tests.