What's in a Name?

     This in from Popeater: on Naughty But Nice, Rob Shuter reports that Bristol Palin is accusing Michele Bachmann of stealing her mother’s look! Actually, this is old news – anyone who followed the 2010 mid-term elections witnessed the spawn of Sarah Palin across the country.  I call them Stepford Candidates. 

     Michele Bachmann positions herself as the Serious Sarah.  But I do detect something of the wannabe in her logo – yes, I’m talking about the sash across the H in Bachmann!  

     There seems to be a complete misunderstanding of symbolism in the Bachmann campaign.  I mean, really, who launches a campaign from Waterloo?

     Yesterday, in the Minneapolis StarTribune, Bachmann’s announcement to run for president was covered with the headline - Bachmann: ‘America is at a crucial moment’.  They refer to her as U.S. Rep. Michel Bachmann at the beginning of the article and then Bachmann throughout.  This is an article that is Minnesota Nice at its finest – focusing on the positive no matter the darkness lurking underneath. 

     I preferred the restrained, but ironic approach of the New York Times.  On the front page they refer to her as Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota – this is stripped of the gravitas of "U.S.", and has the embarrassing tag – "of Minnesota".  However, they primarily referred to her as Mrs. Bachmann and end an essentially respectful article with the following:

            “…But as she stood in her old neighborhood, she misstated a piece of Iowa lore as she explained the important role that Waterloo had in shaping her character.

            “John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa,” Mrs. Bachmann told Carl Cameron of Fox News in an interview.  “That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.”

            The actor was actually bon in Winterset, Iowa, which is about 150 miles southwest of Waterloo.  It was John Wayne Gacy, known as the killer clown who raped and murdered 33 teenage boys in the  1970’s, who lived in Waterloo.”

     Breathtaking, isn’t it?  What is she saying?  Is it remotely possible that Bachmann did not know that the town’s most famous citizen had been John Wayne Gacy?  According the Wikipedia, in 1967, John Wayne Gacy was named “outstanding vice-president of the Waterloo Jaycees.”  Is this what she is referring to?

     Ok, let’s make this perfectly clear: the ability to symbolize is absolutely crucial to complex thinking.  The newspapers both seem to be able to figure this out.  But what about Bachmann???