In a new ad, Michele Bachmann lumps George W. Bush with Pelosi and Obama. | AP Photos Bachmann throws Bush under bus

Michele Bachmann famously couldn’t let go of George W. Bush during an encounter with the president following his 2007 State of the Union address. Now, however, she can’t seem to get far enough away.

In a new ad out Wednesday, Bachmann distances herself from Bush and lumps him in with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama.


“That’s why fought and I voted against the Bush Wall Street bailout, the failed Pelosi trillion-dollar stimulus and Obama’s government takeover of healthcare,” she says in the ad.

It’s a far cry from Bachmann’s warm embrace of Bush after his annual SOTU address three years ago. After that speech, in a moment memorialized on YouTube, Bachmann took Bush’s arm and held on even as he shook another congresswoman’s hand—and continued to hang on for at least 30 seconds until she received a hug and kiss from the president as well.

The Wall Street bailouts — formally the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP — passed with some Republican support in 2008 at the end of Bush’s second term. The vote helped galvanize the tea party and has helped spell doom for several Republican House and Senate incumbents who have lost primaries, including South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis.

Bachmann is running against state Sen. Tarryl Clark in Minnesota’s 6th District. She’s raised more than $4.7 million this cycle, in a contest that ranks as one of the most expensive House races this year.