Michele Bachmann to Fox News in Waterloo, Iowa today:
“Well, what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too.”
In an interview with the Conservative site, Newsmaxx, Bachmann made a similar pronouncement, saying “We're seeing the nation move into decline. I'm not willing to do that. I'm not satisfied. I grew up with John Wayne’s America. I was proud that you grew up in John Wayne’s America: Proud to be an American, thrilled to be a patriot."
In both instances, Bachmann meant, of course, the John Wayne, the movie star. Only one tiny little problem. John Wayne the movie star was born in Winterset, Iowa—no connection to Waterloo.
There was, however, a “John Wayne [Gacy]” who lived in Waterloo, Iowa where he evolved in to a serial killer. Gacy was executed in 1994, after his conviction for 33 murders.
Either Michele Bachmann is no more up on American folk history than she is on the Constitution, or she really does see herself as embodying the spirit of a sociopathic serial killer.
