It’s the word “authentic” that stands out here. I find Bachmann’s extremism reprehensible, but you’ve got to give her this: She’s genuine about it. She doesn’t favor empty publicity stunts over lawmaking. Bachmann is a believer in every sense of the word. She believes what the Bible says, and she believes what she says, including that Glenn Beck can solve the debt crisis. And even though she’s made it clear that she’s sought God’s counsel in every campaign she’s waged, she also hired legendary strategist Ed Rollins for this one.

That suggests a level of accountability for her views and personal choices that we’ve rarely seen from Palin, who gives the impression that she’s too down-home for fancy advisors. The Palin narrative, after all, is in the “gee whiz, how’d this happen?” vein. She’s a hockey mom first, not a mayor, governor or historian. Her teenage daughter’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy resulted not from inadequate parenting or a broken educational system but just because, the Palin camp seemed to imply, she was part of an ordinary imperfect American family with ordinary challenges.

I could be wrong, but something tells me that kind of rationale wouldn’t fly in the Bachmann household, which, as far as we know, has produced more than its share of upstanding young people (one of Bachmann’s son has taught with Teach for America; another just finished medical school).