Michele Bachmann

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/06/27/2011-06-27_michel_bachmann_confuses_actor_john_wayne_with_serial_killer_john_wayne_gacy_on_.html

Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann got her John Waynes badly confused Monday moments after she became the latest Republican to launch a bid for the White House.

"Well, what I want them to know is just like John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa, that's the kind of spirit I have too," the gaffe-prone Minnesota congresswoman told Fox News.

The iconic actor is actually from Winterset, Iowa, not Waterloo.

The only famous John Wayne who spent any time in Waterloo was serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who lived there before moving back to Chicago to commit his sordid crimes.

It's the second time Bachmann tripped over her own tongue in a key early primary state that she has to do well in to be considered a viable candidate.

While in New Hampshire recently, Bachmann told an audience, "You're the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord."

That 1775 battle was actually fought in Massachusetts.

Bachmann herself was born 55 years ago in Waterloo and had been promoting herself heavilly as a hometown girl.

In announcing her candidacy, Bachmann took her usual swipes against President Obama and blasted him for his "failed leadership."

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., talks about growing up in Waterloo, Iowa in front her childhood home on Sunday. (Charlie Riedel/AP)

Bachmann did not say how she would solve the economic problems or wind down the wars that Obama inherited from the Bush Administration.

Instead, Bachmann lambasted liberals and made a point of insisting that the Tea Party is not the "right wing of the Republican Party."

"We're people who simply want America back on the right track again," she said.

Bachmann also took a trip down memory lane, describing how her divorced mom raised her and her siblings in Waterloo with the help of neighbors and "not our government."

Bachmann, who once claimed God personally told her to run for Congress, did not say if The Almighty directed her to run for President.

But in a sign that they are either taking Bachmann's bid seriously – or think she'd be easy to beat – the Obama campaign paid her the compliment of responding to her attack.

Bachmann "talks about reclaiming the American Dream but her policies would erode the path to prosperity for middle-class families," their statement said.

The Obama camp did not comment when Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney, the supposed front runner, announced they were running for president.

They did have a statement when Jon Huntsman, who was Obama's ambassador to China, announced he was running for the White House.

While the gaffe-prone Bachmann has had to deal with the perception that she is, as FOX News's Chris Wallace put it, something of a "flake," she is a contender in Iowa.