Ron Carey, the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party during Tim Pawlenty's governorship and the former chief of staff to Rep. Michele Bachmann, has a message for Iowans and Americans, alike: Bachmann isn't ready to assume the American presidency. In an op-ed for the Des Moines Register, he wrote the following:

I have watched both candidates from behind the public scene. I've seen how they handle the pressures of the job; I've seen how they lead a staff; and I've seen how they would govern if elected to the most powerful office in the world.

Having seen the two of them, up close and over a long period of time, it is clear to me that while Tim Pawlenty possesses the judgment, the demeanor, and the readiness to serve as president, Michele Bachmann decidedly does not.

Carey describes Bachmann's campaign and congressional offices as "wildly out of control." He claims that unopened contributions and envelopes filled the offices and that the congresswoman left citizens waiting for answers to communications they had sent. This in mind, he asks, "...how could she possibly manage the magnitude of the presidency?"

Later in the piece, he says he cannot support his former boss, because the Party is too important to him and she is not "not seasoned and ready to lead."

CityPages.com writes that Carey, who left in July 2010, lasted only five months as Bachmann's chief of staff. At the time, no one knew why he was making a grand exit, especially considering the success in fundraising that she was experiencing at the time.

(h/t Business Insider)