The Conservative Fool Of The Day is...Michele Bachmann!

If you were on the edge of your seat waiting for some right-wing brainiac to blame Obama for the swine flu outbreak, you can now hoist yourself back onto your easy chair.

And you can thank right-wing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) for saving you from slipping off your seat and conking your head on your monitor.

Bachmann was one of the first Conservative Fool Of The Day entries on the old blog - due to her bizarre public behavior. Like Stacey Campfield, Bachmann hasn't gotten any saner in the years since.

Now, in reference to the 1976 swine flu outbreak, Bachmann said, "I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat President, Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama. I just think it's an interesting coincidence."

One problem with that, Michele: Carter wasn't President yet in 1976. That fell under the period of Gerald Ford, a Republican.

I'm sure the '76 flu wasn't Ford's fault either. There's a very famous photo out there of Ford getting a flu shot (with a goofy grin on his face), so at least he did his part to contain the misery. But Michele Bachmann's claim of Carter having secret retroactive infection powers is unfounded.

I find it interesting, Michele, that I almost never got sick until I was in grade school, when Reagan took office. And that I stopped getting sick right when Clinton took office. I didn't have a common cold again until the younger Bush seized power.

Isn't that an interesting coinky-dink, Michele?

Isn't it odd, Michele, that in every new article about common colds from the Reagan era into the younger Bush years, the average number of colds per year seemed to inch higher and higher?

Going to blame Obama for that too?

There's plenty of evidence proving that Republican ineptness led to an increase in colds and flu from the '80s onward. But since conservaworld is a parallel universe where up is down, war is peace, and 2 plus 2 is 5, you can always count on the likes of Michele Bachmann to keep repeating the exact opposite - as if repeating it makes it true.

One of the most underreported stories in America in recent years is the rise of common illnesses that began in the '80s. Search high and low, and you won't find one word about it. Maybe the media should spend more time investigating this, and less time probing the sex lives of political opponents.

Ignoring this phenomenon is dangerous.