Bachmann: Ready for Her Closeup?

George Will on Michele Bachmann:

But she also has a deficiency — indiscipline — that can, if not promptly corrected, vitiate her assets. Unprepared for the intense scrutiny presidential campaigns receive, she trustingly repeats things told to her (confusing Concord, Mass., with Concord, N.H., and John Wayne with the mass murderer John Wayne Gacy), and she plunges into peripheral and utterly optional subjects she has not mastered (e.g., the Founders and slavery). Her staff, which is not ready for prime time, is not serving as a filter to protect her from eager but misinformed supporters, and from herself.

If she can overcome her indiscipline, she might just be the nominee. But Newt Gingrich has been a known sufferer of the same syndrome for almost 20 years now, and if anything he’s gotten worse, not better.

Bachmann is an fascinating personality, and the Tea Party’s current darling. But those aren’t enough to win the nomination.