America's favorite presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann, is the subject of what appears to be a hit piece today! Various former aides tell the Daily Caller that she suffers from "stress-induced medical episodes" that we on Planet Earth know as "migraines." But not just any migraines! Destructive, hospitalizing migraines that occur about once a week and can leave her "incapacitated" for days at a time. Ouch! Sounds miserable. But should it matter, for our electoral purposes?

Jonathan Strong at the Caller writes:

"She has terrible migraine headaches. And they put her out of commission for a day or more at a time. They come out of nowhere, and they're unpredictable," says an adviser to Bachmann who was involved in her 2010 congressional campaign. "They level her. They put her down. It's actually sad. It's very painful."

Bachmann's medical condition wouldn't merit public attention, but for the fact she is running for president. Some close to Bachmann fear she won't be equal to the stress of the campaign, much less the presidency itself.

"When she gets ‘em, frankly, she can't function at all. It's not like a little thing with a couple Advils. It's bad," the adviser says. "The migraines are so bad and so intense, she carries and takes all sorts of pills. Prevention pills. Pills during the migraine. Pills after the migraine, to keep them under control. She has to take these pills wherever she goes."

The story mentions that she had to cancel an appearance at a rally last year with Missouri Senate candidate Roy Blunt, due to these Migraines From Hell. In other appearances, she's worked through the pain, but she's in constant contact with her doctors to "tweak" the medication.

There's a grimy air to all of this — former aides and people who have "worked closely" with Bachmann portraying her as too weak to handle the stress without becoming "incapacitated." It's not like she would be the first president to have health problems.

Still, it's fair to bring her medical history into the public arena. A little clarification from the Bachmann campaign and her doctors would be nice. But it doesn't disqualify her from the presidency any more than the other 500 billion reasons that we already knew about.

[Image via AP]