Michele Bachmann

Presidential aspirant Michele Bachmann has a reputation for being gaffe-prone, but her latest comments so incensed University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan that he has challenged her to put her money where her mouth is. Bachmann told Fox News and the Today Show earlier this week that she had heard from a distraught mother whose daughter "suffered mental retardation" as a result of receiving the Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine....

By Richard Weikart In a recent New Yorker article and NPR interview, Ryan Lizza tries to evoke fear of Michele Bachmann by alleging that she has been heavily influenced by "dominionism. " The two chief culprits in allegedly spreading this pernicious ideology to Bachmann and others are the prominent Christian intellectuals Francis Schaeffer and Nancy Pearcey. Accusing Schaeffer and Pearcey of peddling dominionism - and associating Bachmann with it - is a serious charge, since Lizza defines it as those who believe that "Christians, and Christians alone, are biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns.

Michele Bachmann, who is basically Sarah Palin with better articulation, appears to be mapping a 2012 Republican presidential bid. Swell. This means we'll be hearing a lot more about how the socialists are coming to take away our incandescent lightbulbs. Seriously, this is one of Bachmann's big causes. She happens to be flat wrong on the facts, but people who pay attention to facts probably wouldn't vote for her anyway. Besides, she's interested in being visceral, not empirical, and the lightbulb shtick is a wonderful way to quicken tea party pulses.

AMES, Iowa - At Rep. Michele Bachmann's encampment Saturday, people lined up for corn dogs, Frisbee-size cinnamon rolls, and a chance to slip into an air-conditioned circus tent to listen to country music star Randy Travis play for an hour. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum drew them in with homemade peach preserves; Buddy Holly's old band, the Crickets; and bagpipers who played stirring airs right out of Braveheart . Texas Rep. Ron Paul had a massive tent city right next to the bus parking lot and served barbecue in a battalion-size mess hall.

Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) - Actor Ashton Kutcher ( Two and a Half Men ); tennis' Rafael Nadal; drummer Stewart Copeland. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) - Actor Jason Statham; U.S. Rep Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.); Lady Antebellum. Jimmy Kimmel Live (Midnight, 6ABC) - Khloe Kardashian Odom; Ron Artest ( Dancing With the Stars) ; musical guest Gabe Dixon.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The event was over, but many of the 75 or so people who crammed the hotel conference room Thursday for the monthly gathering of the Williamsport Tea Party lingered, clustering around two guests from Bucks County. Anastasia Przybylski doled out bumper magnets sporting the "Don't Tread on Me" flag while Ana Puig cradled an infant and urged his mother, an immigrant like Puig, to join the fight against President Obama and the Marxist blueprint she said he was following.

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann asked for an apology from NBC on Wednesday after the Roots, the house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon , played the song "Lyin' Ass B-" as she went on the show Monday night. Although the lyrics were not heard, the Philadelphia band's drummer, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, challenged his Twitter followers to figure out the title of the song, originally recorded by the California ska-punk band Fishbone. Many did, including one who gave Thompson "huge ups . . . perfect entry song for her!"

ST. PAUL Minn. - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is losing her pollster and senior adviser in a staff exodus that raises questions about the viability of her White House bid and her campaign finances. Pollster Ed Goeas plans to leave the campaign after debates in New Hampshire and Nevada, and senior adviser Andy Parrish is returning to the Minnesota congresswoman's office where he served as chief of staff. "Given the changing caucus and primary schedule, we will not be utilizing full-time polling consultants and [will]

RE THE LETTER from Todd S. Cohen, "Eat the Rich, Too?": Are you a tea-party member, "Faux Snooze" watcher? Because you sound typically brainwashed! Try usa.gov and other credible sites of truth before you back such morons as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. The so-called "job creators" are the very ones sending our jobs overseas! They've had 11 years of GWB's tax breaks but created zero jobs. During the '70s, the top 1 percent of Americans held about 8 percent of the wealth because of taxes.

Bioethicist Art Caplan said his challenge to Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann for proof that a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer caused mental retardation ended without Bachmann acknowledging it. Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, offered to pay $10,000 to a charity of Bachmann's choice if she could find such a person by noon Thursday. Bachman said in television interviews on Sept. 13 that a woman told her that the shot, usually given at age 12, triggered mental retardation in the woman's daughter.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama joked Saturday about his plans for a radical second-term evolution from a "strapping young Muslim Socialist" to retiree golfer, all with a new hairstyle like first lady Michelle's. Obama used this year's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner to poke fun at himself and some of his political adversaries, asking if it was still possible to be brought down a peg after 41/2 years as commander-in-chief. Entering to the rap track "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, Obama joked about how re-election would allow him to unleash a radical agenda.

A lie is a lie The editorial "Ryan marred his speech with misstatements" (Friday) found many ways to describe the vice presidential nominee's speech at the Republican National Convention. Examples include: "wasn't 100 percent true," "his legerdemain," "altered or omitted key information," and "revealed as misleading before he spoke. " Perhaps one reason politicians continue to manifest high levels of dishonesty is because the media attempts to remain above the fray and responds with exaggerated civility.

WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. John McCain on Wednesday strongly defended a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton against unsubstantiated allegations that her family has ties to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, repudiating charges leveled by another Republican, Rep. Michele Bachmann. In a speech on the Senate floor, McCain praised the work and patriotism of Huma Abedin, a State Department employee who has been a constant presence at Clinton's side. Without mentioning Bachmann by name, McCain assailed the attacks on Abedin, a Muslim, as an example of ignorance and fear that defames the spirit of the nation.

With warm weather bringing out swimsuits, it's time to think about fitness, and a return to the gym. So there I was at the gym, and there it was, up against the wall, a gleaming new machine I hit hard for half-an-hour. It had everything I wanted: Snickers, M&Ms, Three Musketeers, Babe Ruth, Butterfingers, Skittles, iced tea (uh-oh) ... Summer brings not only swimsuit (and Hawaiian shirt) weather, but also the Stu Bykofsky Candidates Comedy Night, steaming into its 22nd year in August.

WASHINGTON - At a time when his campaign is working to attract reluctant conservatives, Mitt Romney won the backing Thursday of onetime rival Michele Bachmann, who has vowed to use her connections in evangelical and tea party groups to help unite the party behind him. "This is what victory looks like," Rep. Bachmann of Minnesota declared Thursday in Portsmouth, Va., as she took the stage with the presumptive Republican nominee and Virginia Gov....

Rick Santorum's decision to quit the presidential race last week clarified a number of things: Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee; the general election will be closer; and for the second cycle in a row, the conservative activists who make up the GOP's base are going to get stiffed. This is not how the 2012 Republican primary was supposed to unfold. When the race unofficially got under way 18 months ago, the tea party was at the peak of its influence, having just handed Republicans control of the House.

I can easily see Chris Christie as the 2016 Republican nominee. Here's how I get there: Rick Santorum. Marco Rubio. Paul Ryan. John Thune. Maybe Sarah Palin. They're the "usual suspects" for 2016 should Mitt Romney lose to President Obama, which current polls suggest will be the case. There's lots of time on the clock, and anything can happen, but assuming that's the way the current presidential race ends, the seeds are already being sown for yet another battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

Heidi Klum has confirmed it to People. So it must be true, alas. She and Seal will divorce after almost seven years of bledded wiss. A statement from the couple says, sadly, that "we have grown apart. " That confirms TMZ reports over the weekend. She's been out of the house a lot, here and in Germany, doing her TV thing, and he's been out a lot, touring behind his CD Soul 2 - he was to tape Ellen DeGeneres ' show on Monday. Gosh, those two used to renew their vows every year at a special party.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Michele Bachmann's decision to end her presidential campaign leaves the Minnesota Republican with another big one: whether to seek a fourth term in the U.S. House or direct her newfound political celebrity elsewhere. Bachmann would be heavily favored to keep her seat in the Republican-leaning Sixth District unless it's significantly reshaped by redistricting early this year. But after months in the national spotlight of the presidential race, she could determine she would be more influential in a different role.

DES MOINES, Iowa - The struggle for votes in Tuesday's Iowa Republican presidential caucuses featured two different fights Thursday. One involved a top tier of candidates with clear momentum just before the nation's first caucuses. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum were optimistic Thursday about their prospects. Texas Rep. Ron Paul delivered his somber message to big audiences. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was confident enough to beef up his Iowa schedule, including a stay in Des Moines on Tuesday night to await results.