MSNBC's Chris Matthews Wonders if Conservative Rep Michele Bachmann (R-WI) is a Willing Tool of a Conservative Conspiracy or Just a 'Zombie?'

(By Geoffrey Dickens, NewsBusters.org) - Leave it to Chris Matthews to look at a typical, by the book, recitation of talking points appearance by Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and describe it as a sign of conspiracy or lunacy. On Monday's 'Hardball', after Matthews played clips of Bachmann on NBC's 'Meet the Press', he wondered if she was trained by "a group in Virginia that teaches right wing people" to "use the most wild language" and repeat it or was she simply "behaving like a zombie?"

Matthews, who is prone to make cinematic comparisons, went on to say the conservative congresswoman's appearance reminded him of The Manchurian Candidate as he questioned Democratic Representative Loretta Sanchez: "Is there some kind of playing card...A queen of diamonds, like in The Manchurian Candidate, where you flash the queen of diamonds and this congresswoman colleague of yours goes into that trance like repetition of those words?"