WATCH: Rachel Maddow Eviscerates Michele Bachmann's Inaccuracies, Warns Against Her Influence

Out MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow dedicated a sizable segment on Wednesday to Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's announcement that she will not seek reelection. While Maddow's coverage of Bachmann's Tea Party antics and absurd antigay rhetoric have provided material for several blistering segments on the representative's incompetence, in summarizing her political career, Maddow cautioned against dismissing Bachmann entirely.

"It is easy to not just dismiss Michele Bachmann, but to enjoy Michele Bachmann as the sort of living, breathing embodiment of 'the crazy' in American politics," said Maddow. "Michele Bachmann, over the course of her career in Congress, has been like an exploratory probe to find the edge of the possible in Republican party politics. Even though it seems like she is constantly failing or making a fool of herself, what she is actually doing is clearing ideological space behind her for other, less kooky-seeming Republicans to come along and take the same stance that she takes, without the winky-winky eyes."

Watch Maddow's brilliant take-down, complete with a litany of factual inaccuracies the Congresswoman made a habit of inserting, as well as a frighteningly well-reasoned argument about the enormous influence Bachmann has had in shoving Republican politics even further to the right.