Bachmann resurrects dark Waterloo history

WATERLOO, Iowa, June 28 (UPI) -- Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., began her presidential bid in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, with a comment about John Wayne, who she said was from Waterloo.

Trouble was she meant the actor -- who was born about 100 miles away in Winterset -- not John Wayne Gacy, convicted infamous serial killer who lived in Waterloo for a time, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

In an interview with Fox News, Bachmann said Wayne, the actor, was from Waterloo.

"That's the kind of spirit I have, too," Bachmann said.

Gacy, who was born in Chicago but lived in Waterloo, was convicted of raping and killing 33 boys and young men in the 1970s in Chicago, and either throwing their bodies in a nearby river or burying them in the crawl space of his house or elsewhere on his property. He died in 1994.

Bachmann's campaign later pointed out that the parents of Wayne, the actor, lived in Waterloo for a time, the Times said.

The slip has fueled debate about the Minnesota conservative's attention to facts. She was called to task earlier this year for suggesting the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in New Hampshire, not Massachusetts.