America: The making of a president...Michele Bachmann, cold to humanity

I love Americans, so democratic, you allow anyone with money make a pitch for the presidency. Mad or dangerous, you give them a chance and it is something to admire, even if the rest of us worry for your sanity. No disrespect, I'm just saying.

Fortunately, you usually select the right one, even if at first we non-Americans raise our eyes to heaven. Look at Ronald Reagan. Who would have thought that he would become a much-admired and under-rated occupant of the White House? There's George W. Bush of course, who had a penchant for going to war, but had excellent table manners, as befits someone from his well-heeled background. Obama was the world's choice and you accepted our desire to elect him as the first black president, although the jury is now out on his ability to rescue America from its economic doldrums, but somehow his election made up for all those years of racism and slavery and we thanked you for it.

The next presidential election is nearly upon us and Sarah Palin is doing her "maybe I will, maybe I won't" thing, but we all hope the latter, although it worries us a little that she is even thought of as a possible contender. The woman is an ignorant nut.

Now you are frightening us even more with the emergence of Michele Bachmann, a woman of steely extreme right-wing bigotry who was applauded when she announced her intention to become a candidate for the 2012 election. Surely her audience was just humouring the woman, allowing her a moment of self-delusion?

She is anti-tolerance, except when it comes to fostering needy children, even if her sums about how many are somewhat suspect. Her anti-gay stance is sad, especially as it disowns her own step-sister who is openly lesbian and has lived with her partner for many years. The fact that Bachmann believes in what she says is a frightening portrayal of a woman cold to humanity and the rights of others who do not share her beliefs. It is hoped that her presidential ambitions will be dashed. You usually, well, sometimes, get it right.....