Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

'Cause Michele Bachmann sure as hell isn't.

Bachmann is jumping on a claim yesterday by Tim Geithner, who temporarily seemed to suggest yesterday that he’s open to a Chinese proposal to replace the dollar as the global currency, before walking it back. She blasted out a release demanding that Obama come clean about his intentions and say whether he agrees with Geithner:

Bachmann Demands Truth: Will Obama Administration Abandon Dollar for a Multi-National Currency?

The thing is, though, is that Geithner has already clarified that he doesn’t foresee a change in the dollar’s centrality. And Obama himself flatly declared that he’s not open to such a change at his presser the other night.

Undeterred, Bachmann has even “introduced a resolution that would bar the dollar from being replaced by any foreign currency,” as her release puts it.

It appears Bachmann may have thought that Geithner was talking about being open to a change in U.S. currency, rather than the world’s reserve currency, which is what the China proposal was about. And as Matthew Yglesias notes, foreign countries partake in decisions about the world reserve currency.

Not only does the woman herself fail the apparently rigorous intellectual qualifications to successfully operate a pair of safety scissors, most of her staff should be immediately fired for the cardinal political sin of not preventing her constituents from having their reasonable suspicions about Bachmann's qualifications to legislate anything instantly transformed into the ghastly realization that she actually is that ignorant.

So is Bachmann proposing legislation that would ban foreign countries from doing this? Can Congress really legislate the behavior of foreign countries?

No, it turns out. I checked in with Bachmann’s spokesperson, Debbee Keller, who reassures that this is only about American currency.

“She’s talking about the United States,” Keller said. “This legislation would ensure that the U.S. dollar remain the currency of the United States.” Of course, no one had been discussing any change in U.S. currency in the first place….

Nobody except the stupidest politician in Congress (which is like saying the hottest section of the sun or the wettest part of the ocean, I know).

Take comfort in the fact that you are smarter than she is. All of you.