So, let’s review the bidding . . .

ACORN is on the ropes thanks to the fact that various ACORN branches were caught engaging in the business of facilitating the creation and running of prostitution rings.

And yet, House Democrats were able to ensure that ACORN–and similar organizations–could participate in government-sponsored financial protection boards, thanks to a badly crafted amendment by Rep. Michele Bachmann. The amendment was badly crafted because it failed to anticipate all of the various contingencies that could be followed by Democrats in giving ACORN a seat at the table. While Bachmann was successful at preventing ACORN from getting a seat at the table of a lesser financial protection board, the organization can now claim a place at a more important financial protection board because House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank played the parliamentary game better Bachmann did.

Why did Frank play the game better than Bachmann did? For one, he has more experience in Congress. For another, he is smarter than Bachmann is. By a lot, one might add.

David Frum is right: Brains matter. It would be nice if GOP Representatives had the brainpower to match up against–and beat–the likes of Barney Frank. But however many Republicans there are who can compete with Frank on an intellectual level, Michelle Bachmann is not one of them.

As such, maybe it would be a good idea to keep the ball out of Bachmann’s hands when a particular political game is on the line. She has shown that she is not smart enough to be trusted to deliver a win on policy grounds for the GOP, even in a circumstance where the win–against a discredited agency like ACORN–should have been ridiculously easy to obtain.