I rarely comment, but this is a brilliant move on the part of Republican House leadership.  What better way to shut up and shut down someone who makes embarrassing comments on behalf of the Republican  party.

Assignment to the Intelligence Committee will allow for Madame Bachmann to actively engage in a substance quite foreign to her, intelligence, in hopes the education of the assignment will end the trend of fear mongering.

Then, the other brilliant facet to the assignment is that Madame Bachmann will be sworn to secrecy.  This means the Madame may not make public comments, not even the slightest bitter spew of hate.

I wonder if Las Vegas is taking bets on the date of her removal from committee for breaching her oath to secrecy.

Bachmann to Intelligence Committee

Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Republican who helped create a tea party caucus of House members is getting a seat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Speaker-designate John Boehner (R, Ohio) named Ms. Bachmann, a favorite with tea party activists, to the panel a few weeks after she bowed out of a potentially combative race for the job of Republican Conference chairman, the no. 4 slot in the party’s leadership hierarchy.

Ms. Bachmann has become a prolific fundraiser and influential voice for the party’s conservative base. She raised more than $13 million in the last two.

She also has a record of making sparks fly with her comments on a wide array of issues.

In 2008, she caused an uproar after she suggested President Barack Obama and his wife,Michelle, were “anti-American” and called on the media to investigate whether members of Congress are “pro-American or anti-America.” Last month, she said the White House was spending $200 million-a-day for the president’s trip to Asia – a figure the White House dismissed as “a long trip from reality.”

Ms. Bachmann, in a statement, said it “was a leading desire of mine to serve on this panel because of the key role it plays in keeping our nation safe.”

Members of the Intelligence Committee receive regular classified briefings from various intelligence agencies in a secure site in the Capitol complex. Lawmakers are sworn to secrecy.

Other new Republicans on the panel next year include incoming Nevada Rep. Joe Heck and Reps. Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, Devin Nunes of California, Tom Rooney of Florida andLynn Westmoreland of Georgia.