WASHINGTON – The Bachmanns have been making a lot of news lately. The few women who have attempted the national ticket tango have all had spousal issues, but Michele Bachmann has had a tremendous start since announcing, including a potentially groundbreaking stance for conservative women versus feminism. But because of her husband, she breaks the mold for something Americans on the whole won’t accept. It was one thing when Geraldine Ferraro’s husband caused a scandal for her, or when Hillary’s former president husband became part of her campaign narrative. Marcus Bachmann is in a completely different category.

“It will hurt her… If voters see the Republican Party, if they see us as intolerant and attacking a certain population of fellow Americans, it’s not a winning combination. I’m not the only one who says this. There are many other strategists that, regardless of their orientation, are concerned that we could lose the voters that we gained in the 2010 election cycle.” – Religious right rushes to Bachmann’s defense following ‘ex-gay’ reports

Even if you don’t understand that homosexuality is who someone is, you’d think people would get that if you’re heterosexual and you didn’t choose to be that it has something to do beyond what you decide to be.

Supposed “Christian values” put beside judgments that proclaim a person needs “curing” from who they are make a mockery of spirituality itself and the very nature of someone’s God that is supposed to be perfect. How can any god create a person or thing that is inherently flawed? Different, perhaps. Something you struggle to accept, absolutely. But a human trait that you decide needs curing? But, of course, this theory is nothing new.

Mr. Bachmann is now a problem for candidate Bachmann, because he’s an embarrassment.

Problem is that the candidate for president is in cahoots with her crackpot mate.

The audio of Mr. Bachmann talking about gays and their alleged “sinful nature” says a lot more about him than it does anything. It’s not only creepy to hear a grown man talk like this, using the word “barbarian,” but there’s something about Mr. Bachmann that just doesn’t seem quite right and now he’s become the punchline.

The candidate better keep her hubby tucked away, because if this guy gets in front of a real reporter he’s going to be exposed for a lot more than a conversion therapy wacko. He just won’t pass the national ticket test. Because even those Americans who are still evolving on gay marriage and the reality that gays are who they are because, well, just like heterosexuals it’s who they are, don’t want their bigotry to have a standard bearer like Marcus Bachmann. There’s also something un-American about pretending to cure gayness, especially for conservatives who pander to people about “freedom.”

For a woman gaining real support from the Right, her husband has the potential of derailing her candidacy that has, for good reason, caused many in Washington to consider her as a contender, regardless of her baggage of crazy.

Michele Bachmann’s philosophy towards gays and lesbians isn’t a killer for the Republican party, but this episode played over and over again could be her campaign’s “Macaca.”

Taylor Marsh is a Washington based political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics, foreign policy, and women in power. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog.