All this crazy talk is driving me nuts

There's no denying it. Michele Bachmann, Republican representative for Minnesota's 6th congressional district, is an embarrassment to Minnesotans. Those of us who are not rabid right-wing Christian Republicans intent on banning abortion and equal rights for gay couples have known this for quite some time. Her clingy behavior at Bush's recent State of the Union Address gave the nation a taste of who she is. And her most recent pronouncements about her secret knowledge of Iran annexing the eastern half of Iraq must certainly be leaving some who voted for her wondering about their own judgment. And our safety, so long as she is a government official making decisions on our behalf.

But.

Unless Bachmann makes some announcement that she is bipolar or schizophrenic or has some other mental condition that causes her to behave in ways we all fail to understand, she is not "crazy." Or "wackadoo." Or "nuts." Or "insane." Or riding the "crazy train." (And even then, those terms -- not so helpful.) I'm not thrilled with the oft-used term "wingnut" either, by the way. There are medications for those real problems, which have nothing to do with being a scary and untrustworthy politician. Bachmann just appears to be bigoted, unreliable, inappropriate and really, really incurably weird.

Update: Mark Gisleson of Norwegianity writes on how he sees Bachmann's recent pronouncements as part of her extreme religious agenda. While I surely understand everyone's incredulity with Bachmann, Mark's analysis seems accurate and much more useful to me.