Chris Wallace to Bachmann: "Are you a flake?"

Chris Wallace of Fox News has asked Michele Bachmann whether she's a "flake."

She replied that it would be "insulting" to say that- which it obviously would.

On the other hand, Ms. Bachmann is far enough from the mainstream of the American electorate that she can count on hearing that charge throughout her presidential campaign. Although one trusts that President Obama will be more polite than to actually use that word should Ms. Bachmann be nominated, you can count on the charge being the essence of a Democratic campaign desperately seeking to distract attention from the economy, and to make Ms. Bachmann the issue.

Personally, I think that handing the Democrats a way to try to wiggle out of taking responsibility for Barack Obama's disastrous presidency would be a very, very large mistake.

So in one sense, for Wallace to ask the question was inevitable. I don't think the fact that the issue was raised in itself is an indicator of journalistic bias. But I will say this: Wallace could have been a great deal more diplomatic about the way he asked it. Can you imagine a network reporter asking Barack Obama- who, despite the degree to which the media protected him from his own record and positions during the 2008 campaign, was arguably just as far ideologically from the average American voter as Ms. Bachmann is- whether he was a flake?

I can't either.

Here is a profile of Bachmann from the Weekly Standard.