Laughing at Bachmann Only Makes Her Stronger

"Michele Bachmann has found the flaw in the American Death Star," Matt Taibbi writes in a long and (typically) profane profile of the Tea Party queen for Rolling Stone. "She is a television camera's dream, a threat to do or say something insane at any time, the ultimate reality-show protagonist." But whatever you do, "Don't laugh," he cautions, "because the secret of Bachmann's success is that every time you laugh at her, she gets stronger."

That secret, says Taibbi, is to combine a "truly astonishing energy level and narcissistic tenacity" with white Christian resentment. Sure, it is easy to laugh at Bachmann's religious "craziness" and to shoot down her error-filled non-facts, but that doesn't teach her supporters that she's a bad candidate. "What they learn is that you're a dick, that they hate you more than ever," Taibbi writes. "All of those people out there aren't voting for Michele Bachmann. They're voting against us. And to them, it turns out, we suck enough to make anyone a contender."