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Jun 9th, 2011


Bachmann, Palin Aides Go At Each Other

Prospective Bachmann campaign manager disparages Palin as ‘not serious’ … ‘vice presidential thing handed to her’


Advisers for Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are engaged in a war of words. (Photo credit: Robyn Beck / AFP — Getty Images)

By
The Fix blog
The Washington Post
June 8, 2011

Days after Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) snagged Ed Rollins as her presidential campaign manager, the high-profile strategist is engaged in a war of words with advisers to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

The spat began yesterday, when Rollins disparaged Palin in a radio interview. “Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years,” Rollins said. “She got the vice presidential thing handed to her. She didn’t go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance. She gave up her governorship.”

Rollins belabored the point in an interview with Politico. Bachmann will “be so much more substantive … People are going to say, ‘I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who’s every bit as attractive.’ ”

Today Michael Glassner, Palin’s chief of staff, responded with a statement of his own: “Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth.”

It’s a sign that Palin’s team is no longer willing to sit idly by while other Republicans take digs at their boss. That shift could signal the beginning of an ugly war between the high-profile former vice presidential nominee and lesser-known rivals? …

Bachmann is in a position to sell herself as the smart, serious alternative to Palin by increasing her focus on policy and process. But there’s a difference between subtly making that contrast and taking jabs in the national press. Bachmann has campaigned with Palin and said she considers the former governor a friend. …

Full story

Video

Palin vs. Bachmann: frenemies? (MSNBC “The Last Word,” June 8, 2011) — Tea Party favorites Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are beginning to trade blows. New York Magazine’s John Heilemann joins The Last Word to set the stage for the GOP in 2012. (06:24)

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Related reports on this site

Michele Bachmann vs. Sarah Palin (April 6, 2011)

Michele Bachmann Personality Profile (June 13, 2011)

Provisional Personality Profile -- Michele Bachmann (May 2011)
Click image for larger view

Sarah Palin Personality Profile (July 3, 2009)


Click image for larger view

Executive summary: Palin vs. Bachmann

Empirical analysis indicates that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have very similar personality types, with minor distinctions at the margins:

Sarah Palin has an ambitious competitor personality type, with a mixed Ambitious/self-serving and Dominant/asserting primary personality pattern and secondary features of the Outgoing/congenial and Dauntless/adventurous personality styles.

Michele Bachmann, similarly, has an ambitious competitor personality type, with a mixed Dominant/controlling and Ambitious/self-confident primary personality pattern and secondary features of the Dauntless/adventurous and Outgoing/congenial personality styles.

The differences at the margins are that Bachmann is more dominant and disciplined than Palin and that Palin is slightly more outgoing, self-centered, and attention-seeking than Bachmann.

The critical dispositional distinction between Bachmann and Palin is that Bachmann is substantially more ideological than Palin, with a strongly consolidated, deeply ingrained personal belief system.

Note: Sarah Palin’s personality profile has been more firmly established, based on an initial personality assessment conducted in 2009 and an independent follow-up study in 2010, which replicated the earlier findings. Michele Bachmann’s reported personality profile, in contrast, is based on a preliminary pilot study, conducted in spring 2011. A more intensive empirical analysis is currently in progress.

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7/12/11 Update: Related interest

Bill Maher on Palin vs. Bachmann

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — June 9, 2010

Iraq-Afghanistan Casualties

One year ago today, I provided my weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Marine Pfc. Jake W. Suter, 18, of Los Angeles, Calif., died May 29, 2010 at Patrol Base Jangeali while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, less than two weeks after he left Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, where he was based. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Pfc. Suter’s father said the 18-year-old may have been an average student at his Southern California high school, but he had a way with words.

“He could write essays and compositions and was an avid reader,” Suter’s father, Chris Unthank, told the Signal newspaper. A 15-page essay Suter wrote so impressed officials at Brown University that he was accepted into the top school, his father said. But Suter, a history buff who long had his sights set on joining the military, became a Marine, and he was excited about serving in Afghanistan.

“He loved the language and the culture, and was very excited to go over and help,” his father said. “He knew he was going into a war zone but also felt like he was on a mission of peace — not to just go in there as military but also to help the Afghan people do what they needed to do.”

Jake Suter is survived by his parents, Chris Unthank and Michelle Suter Unthank.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — June 9, 2009

Quo Vadis Iran?


Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, top, looks at judiciary chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, right, as he embraces Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he was sworn in for a second four-year term during a ceremony in parliament in Tehran on August 5, 2009. Ahmadinejad was sworn in as Iranian president as riot police broke up opposition protests over an election that triggered the worst turmoil in the Islamic republic’s history. Framed pictures are portraits of Iranian “martyrs.” (Photo credit: Behrouz Mehri / AFP — Getty Images)

Two years ago, on June 9, 2009, I reported that there were many domestic reasons voters handed an American-backed coalition a victory over a Hezbollah-led coalition in Lebanese parliamentary elections, but that political analysts attribute it in part to President Barack Obama’s campaign of outreach to the Arab and Muslim world.





4 Responses to “Dueling Divas: Bachmann vs. Palin”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Michele Bachmann vs. Sarah Palin Says:

    […] Dueling Divas: Bachmann vs. Palin (June 9, 2011) […]

  2. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Bill O’Reilly Opines on Bill Clinton, Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin Says:

    […] Dueling Divas: Bachmann vs. Palin (June 9, 2011) […]

  3. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Campaign for President Says:

    […] Dueling Divas: Michele Bachmann vs. Sarah Palin (June 9, 2011) […]

  4. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Rick Perry Hurts Michele Bachmann in GOP Primary Says:

    […] The perception grew that Bachmann was a diva, even though that was probably unfair, aides said. She earned a reputation for leaving events too early. Two examples: She never set foot in the hospitality room Iowa aides set up for her at the state party’s Reagan dinner on Nov. 4, 2011, and she also seemed to flee the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event Oct. 22, 2011. […]

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