IS IT BUSH-VS.-McCAIN-2000 IN HERE, OR IS IT ME?

I don't know how bad Michele Bachmann's migraines are, but this Daily Caller story, clearly based primarily on the account of one disgruntled ex-staffer and one disgruntled presumably-soon-to-be-ex-adviser, is obviously intended to cast them in the worst possible light:

... "She has terrible migraine headaches. And they put her out of commission for a day or more at a time. They come out of nowhere, and they're unpredictable," says an adviser to Bachmann who was involved in her 2010 congressional campaign. "They level her. They put her down. It’s actually sad. It's very painful." ...

"When she gets 'em, frankly, she can't function at all. It's not like a little thing with a couple Advils. It's bad," the adviser says. "The migraines are so bad and so intense, she carries and takes all sorts of pills. Prevention pills. Pills during the migraine. Pills after the migraine, to keep them under control. She has to take these pills wherever she goes."

... Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for Bachmann, said "she suffers from migraines and they’re under control with medicine." Stewart contested descriptions of the episodes as "incapacitating" ...

The former aide says Bachmann's congressional staff is "constantly" in contact with her doctors to tweak the types and amounts of medicine she is taking....

"It's a careful choice of words I used: 'incapacitated,'" the adviser says.

"As president, when she's in crisis management mode, is she going to have the physical ability to withstand the most difficult challenges facing America?" the former aide asks....

(Emphasis added.)

By my standards, a lot of things disqualify Bachmann to be president. I'm just not sure this is one of them. It's awfully reminiscent of what was said about McCain by Bush backers in 2000:

... Bush surrogates (several later involved in the Kerry swiftboating effort) ... planted stories that the torture McCain suffered as a POW had brought about mental instability, including rumors that he had been programmed as a "Manchurian candidate" who "collaborated with the enemy." ...

In the 2000 South Carolina Presidential primary Bush surrogates circulated stories that McCain's five years as a POW had made him "mentally unstable," gave him a "loose screw" ... The stories also ... called his wife a drug addict....

Robert Stacy McCain (a Herman Cain backer who admires Bachmann) wonders aloud whether Foster Friess, the big-time GOP donor who's given Tucker Carlson $3 million to keep the Daily Caller afloat, is getting what he paid for. Friess did give Rick Perry $100,000 for his last gubernatorial campaign.

On the other hand, Bachmann does seem to have a problem with staff turnover, and the ex-staffers are often not very friendly to her (e.g., Ron Carey, her former chief of staff, who's endorsed Tim Pawlenty and described Bachmann as unqualified to be president). Whatever's going on, this is red-on-red sniping, and it's fun to watch (although I'd rather have the unelectable Bachmann at the top of the ticket than the regrettably electable Mitt Romney).