From a Bloomberg profile today of Michele Bachmann (headline: “Bachmann Rocks ‘Ruling Class’ With Amens From Tea Party, Presidential Talk”):
Dean Johnson, a Lutheran pastor and a former Republican leader of the state Senate, said he prayed before returning a reporter’s phone call to find strength to say something nice about his former colleague. He found no such inspiration.
“I don’t think I ever served with anybody who I mistrusted more, from either side of the aisle,” said Johnson, now a member of the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents. “She would tell you one thing and do another. She’s not a team player.”
I guess Pastor Johnson isn’t familiar with the widely-embraced variation on Thumper’s Rule that says: If you can’t say something nice…ask to say it anonymously.
A former Bachmann colleague who requested anonymity because he couldn’t think of something nice to say about her…
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.