Oops! She did it again!

The following entry reminds me of an old fable:

A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too."

The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp, "Why?"

Replies the scorpion: "Its my nature..."

If there's one thing we can probably all agree on, it's that we can always count on Michele Bachmann, the gaffe-prone extremist congressperson from Minnesota, to be Michele Bachmann. And no matter how much she tries to avoid it, she just can't help who she is, or what she truly believes in.

Last week, on an appearance on MSNBC's “Hardball,” Bachmann let it all out, accusing Barack Obama and other Democrats of fostering “anti-American” ideas, and that they should be investigated. Well, that motivated Democrats and supporters to take action. Immediately, roughly $1.3 million dollars in donations were made online to the campaign of her rival, El Tinklenberg. The Democratic Party made the race a high priority, funneling even more support to defeat her. And House Speaker Nance Pelosi visited the district to stump and was able to round up another $1 million dollars to help send Bachmann packing.

Sensing doom (and they've been sensing a lot of doom lately), the Republican Party decided to cut her off, pulling all their financial and advertising support for the candidate who was once assured of victory in the heavily-red area she represents. She led in the polls for awhile, but the latest Survey USA poll shows Tinklenberg leading 47-44 percent. The newest University of Minnesota poll shows a similar result, 45-43 percent in Tinklenberg's favor.

Yes, Bachmann really screwed up this time.

Sensing the hornets nest that she just upset, Bachmann went into damage control mode, issuing a few half-hearted apologies, and claiming that her words were twisted (though it was she who said them on nationwide television). She also claimed that she did not mean to call Obama or any other Democrat “un-American.” And she even taped an apology ad, to begin airing this weekend. Only thing is, everyone knows who Bachmann really is. And they really know that in the end, Bachmann will always be Bachmann.

And much as it's impossible for a zebra to change its stripes, it's likewise difficult for Bachmann to move away from her nasty ultra-partisan demeanor. Thinking nobody else would find out, on Tuesday, Bachmann went on the ultra-right-wing radio talk shows of Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher to plead her case. She evidently felt she could safely preach to the choir of mouth-breathing liberal-haters that could possibly help a sister out. And if she had been apologetic in the mainstream spotlight, she didn't show it here. What she said on these shows was much different than the damage control she's been doing in the mainstream media.

From Hewitt's show:

BACHMANN: All I did on Chris Matthews is I questioned Chris Matthews and said, "look, if John McCain had friends like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Father Pfleger, you’d be all over him Chris, but you’ve laid off of Barack Obama." And so, he was using the word “Anti-American” and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama’s views. Because Barack Obama’s views are against America. They won’t be good for our country.

Bachmann did not specify the difference between “anti-American” and “against America,” however. And she expanded her attacks to include Chicago religious figures such as Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger, a rather animated and outspoken white Catholic priest who is renowned for his work in mostly African-American parishes.

Here is what she said on Mike Gallagher’s radio show the same day:

BACHMANN: And they can’t take it because the point is what are Barack Obama’s policies? Are they for America or will they be against traditional American ideals and values? And I’ll tell you what. Punishing tax rates, redistribution of wealth, socialized medicine, inputing censorship in the form of the un-Fairness Doctrine and taking away the secret ballot from the worker has nothing to do with traditional American values. That’s why your listeners need to know. Otherwise the United States may be literally changed forever.

Of course, she also hit up listeners for money to take on the suddenly expanded coffers of her rival, in a desperate plea to fight undesirables like Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

She also blasted NBC's “Today” show and MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, accusing them of conspiring to raise money for her opponent. While claiming to 'call Matthews on the carpet,” she pulled the 'blame the media' card, claiming elsewhere that Matthews and others twisted her words and goaded her into making ridiculous statements.

And that's why the 'blame the liberal media' card is faltering so badly for the reactionary crowd. It's one that's been used for decades by right-wingers in their feeble attempts to blame everyone else for their problems. Sarah Palin and others with the McCain campaign have been using the same excuse to cover for her ineptitude with reporters, and that's why most of Palin's rare interviews have been with friendly suck-ups such as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson. But let's be real here – Palin couldn't even stand up to scrutiny from Katie Couric, and she even held Palin's hand throughout their interview together, asking her at one point, "you do realize we're taping this, right?"

Palin and company lashed out at the media for asking questions she deemed none of their business. Meaning that it's all right to exploit her son who's serving in Iraq or the newborn with Down Syndrome, but that her 17-year-old daughter who got knocked up is off-limits. Let's get real here.

No, it is not the media's fault that these morons can't stand up to a talking head when they don't get the puff pieces they want. And the media not there to ask cupcake questions about hair styles and moose hunting. If they want their assess kissed by media personalities, stick to the overly partisan media that is FOX News, Hannity and Hugh Hewitt. The news media is supposed to ask challenging questions, especially to someone who could potentially lead this country. Because if someone like Palin can't stand up to Katie Couric, of all people, how the hell is she going to sit across the table from an intimidating force like Vladimir Putin? Putin doesn't partake in small talk about moose hunting and hockey. Regardless of your opinion of him, he's a hard-ass and a brutal negotiator. Obama at least seems to understand this.

With the likelihood of a President Obama coming closer and closer to fruition, and a filibuster-proof Democrat-controlled senate occurring for the first time since the Carter Administration, perhaps we are seeing a changing tide. People are starting to tire of the divisive culture of 'patriotic correctness,' which seems to stipulate that the majority of Americans are 'un-American.' They are finally starting to see right-wingers for who they really are – a bunch of obnoxious crybabies who wrap themselves in the flag and sing “God Bless The USA” to cover for the fact that their ideas are ruining the very country they claim to love. People are tired of this 'divide and conquer' strategy that's turning the red and the blue into the Bloods and the Crips, especially when the McCain campaign is claiming that some areas of the country are more 'American' than others.

Hate to break it to all of you, but this country belongs to all of us. And if it takes the defeats of people like John McCain and Michele Bachmann to finally drum it into everyone's heads, then so be it.

You can donate to El Tinklenberg's campaign, if you so choose, at this link.