GOP leadership: Michele who?

But Bachmann is more than just a limelight-hungry tea partier — she represents an anti-establishment tension simmering just below the surface of a unified Republican front. If Boehner and his allies don’t keep a close eye on Bachmann and her base, those divisions could flare up — especially if she loudly dissents from leadership on shaky legislation, like the impending vote on the debt ceiling…

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And the reality is that Bachmann’s actual message isn’t substantively different. In her speech, she echoed many of the same themes that GOP leaders push on a daily basis. And a collective sigh of relief was heard around Capitol Hill when Bachmann didn’t advocate a vote against the debt limit or slap around other leadership priorities…

Republican leadership has also begun to use the Bachmann speech to turn its ire toward the media. The GOP is particularly peeved at CNN, which turned the Bachmann speech from a Web-based video to a national spectacle.

“She is one member of Congress,” a top GOP aide said, bemoaning the decision to air the speech prime time.

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