What Obama said last night:

“The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy; whether we can restore some of the fairness and security that has defined this nation since our beginning.”

What Michele Bachmann heard:

“It was interesting to me that if you look at the president’s remarks, almost out of the gate, the president began by insulting members of Congress. He invited them to be a part of this address this evening…And yet he began with an insult — for a circus tent. That isn’t what this is. I don’t consider the greatest, most deliberative body in the United States, the House of Representatives, a circus, a political circus. It isn’t at all.”

I suppose we should give Bachmann a break — it can’t be easy to focus on one thing at a time with all the shouting voices and train sounds in her head. Sometimes she also hears a dial tone or a door bell in between the shouting but… no wonder!