In a feat of jujitsu-like contortion that combined a bunch of notions into one half-cocked Facebook statement, former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann offended just about everyone on Tuesday when she compared President Barack Obama to Andreas Lubitz, the troubled young German pilot who drove a Germanwings jetliner into a mountain last week, killing 150 people.
"With his Iran deal, Barack Obama is for the 300 million souls of the United States what Andreas Lubitz was for the 150 souls on the German Wings flight -- a deranged pilot flying his entire nation into the rocks," wrote Bachmann, who ran for president in 2012 and received just 5% of the vote in the 2012 Iowa Republican caucuses. "After the fact, among the smoldering remains of American cities, the shocked survivors will ask, why did he do it?"
Here's the post in all its glory:
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The condemnations on the post came quick.
"Pathetic. Probably the DUMBEST thing I've read all day," one man wrote.
"Michelle Bachmann is a lunatic without scruples or a shred of decency. She'd sell her soul for a few more minutes of attention," wrote another Facebook user.
"Way to politicize a tragedy, lady," said a third.
Lubitz, who is accused of intentionally flying Flight 9525 into an Alpine mountainside, had once received treatment for "suicidal tendencies," German prosecutors said on Monday. He also may have hid his illness from his employers.
Obama, meanwhile, is overseeing diplomatic talks in Switzerland aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. No deal has been reached, though negotiators on both sides have said they are getting close. A self-imposed deadline of March 31 was extended overnight.
"[Continue] to make progress; have not reached a [political] understanding," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf tweeted on Wednesday afternoon, adding that Secretary of State John Kerry would remain in Lausanne until at least Thursday morning local time to continue negotiations.