Michele Bachmann and John Wayne Gacy, a Tale of Two Iowans
Great reporting from the Washington Times:
Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo's own John Wayne.
The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo's John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer.
Mrs. Bachmann grew up in Waterloo, and used the town as the backdrop for her campaign announcement, where she told Fox News: "Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too."
While not from Waterloo, Gacy lived and committed crimes there as a young man. John Wayne the actor is from Winterset, three hours from Waterloo.
UPDATE: Alexander Burns of POLITICO quotes an autobiography of Wayne (the actor) which says that Clyde, Wayne's father, lived briefly in Waterloo with John Wayne's mother; hated being so far away from family; and therefore moved to Winterset, where Wayne was born.
