The congressional representative for Minnesota’s 6th District announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination during the second GOP debate on June 13th. A founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, she has drawn some comparisons to another Tea Party favorite and possible competitor, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
She is perhaps most well-known for her accusations against Barack Obama for holding anti-American views, during the 2008 presidential election, concerning his apparent association with "domestic terrorist" Bill Ayers. Appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews October 17th, she said, “I am very concerned that he [Barack Obama] may have anti-American views.” When asked by Matthews, “How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama, is he alone or are there others?” Bachmann responded: “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America?”
Her interview was cited as a reason why prominent Republicans, including Colin Powell and fellow Minnesotan Arne Carlson, decided to endorse, then Illinois junior Senator Barack Obama for president. On October 21st she seemed to backtrack saying, “I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism...I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American.”
A former Minnesota state senator, she holds favour with both the fiscally and socially conservative grassroots factions of the Republican party. She backs the idea of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages and legal equivalents. However her view on abortion is more nuanced; in the past, she has advocated the limited practice of abortion in instances of rape and incest.
The former Internal Revenue Service attorney is also a protagonist for the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as well as being one of many Republicans to lampoon it as Obamacare. She attempted to introduce a bill with fellow Republican Rep. Steve King, repealing the bill, as well as claiming in the national media that the Obama administration had hidden $105 billion in spending by fiddling the numbers contained in the healthcare bill.
Bachmann has been a long-standing critic of the Environmental Protection Agency, going so far as to suggest it be renamed “the job-killing organisation of America” in the June GOP debate. Similarly, she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to reduce the USA’s dependency on foreign oil as well as being a loud skeptic of global warming. On the floor of the House in 2009 she asserted, “Carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas.”
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - John Lake
The Republican Party today is a sad lot. If indeed Representative Bachmann referred to Barack Obama as “un-American” then we might consider some of HER positions:
• Eliminate, lower, or phase out the minimum wage for workers in America? That seems very un-American to me.
• Drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Also, very inconsistent with everything we hold dear.
• Severely downstructure Environmental Protection: if she is with the American people, imagine if she were against us!
• Here’s one I didn’t know about. She sees controversy in the theory of evolution.
She might write a passable blog, but as a politician, no sir.
2 - Clavos
...everything we hold dear.
Yeah, like giving all our money to saudis.
3 - Leroy
Bachmans readily apparent ignorance and poor education are very alarming to me. We already had one like that in 2000-2008 and it has nearly destroyed the USA.
Ignorance is very dangerous because there is a certain Special Interest that operates behind the scenes and finds it easy to manipulate and control the ignorant.
4 - Baronius
Leroy, it sounds like you've got a specific Special Interest in mind. Care to share?
5 - Baronius
I don't think Bachmann is any more of a contender than Trump was. She's a not-Romney, and that's enough to put you in first or second place in the polls.
6 - zingzing
baronius, even you must know bachmann is a trap. she's embarrassing. the whole john wayne gacy thing, the john quincy adams... she's always mixing up her johns... i didn't really do that on purpose. they're minor slip ups, i suppose, but telling about her research skills.
7 - zingzing
whoop. didn't see that last comment. even though it was there at least a few hours... sorry. yay! my knee works!
8 - zingzing
and "research"... my god. what a comment. meh. *block*
9 - Arch Conservative
Gee a couple of liberals on a website have declared Bachmann an uneducated ignoramus who would spell disaster for the country while idolizing a man who claimed to have campaigned in all 57 states, has added 3 trillion to our debt with his fellow party members in Congress in just 2 years and who's presided over a 25% rise in unemployment since taking office.
Yeah, the country should listen to you guys.
10 - Arch Conservative
Wait for it............
11 - Arch Conservative
Wait for it...............
12 - Arch Conservative
IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!
13 - George Sandeman
Whatever an individual's personal opinion of Bachmann there is no denying that for now she is ascending more than any other candidate. I think perhaps her biggest weakness will be her robustness in PROPER political debates rather than farce that was the CNN June GOP debate. In saying that she would probably fare better than Sarah Palin; who everyone likes to compare her to.
14 - Baronius
The thing you have to remember about her is that she was propelled forward by the drive to get rid of the old people in politics and bring in new ones. I like to call it the Bachmann Turnover Drive. Yeah, I don't have any real analysis. I just went for the pun.
15 - George Sandeman
Solid pun.
16 - Dr Dreadful
[throws eggs at Baronius]
17 - Clavos
[Throws tomatoes as well]
18 - Baronius
[prepares a delightful frittata]
19 - George Sandeman
[add potatoes for spanish omelette]
20 - zingzing
[gently places a small chunk of ear wax on the top while you're not looking]
21 - zingzing
archie: "Gee a couple of liberals on a website have declared Bachmann an uneducated ignoramus who would spell disaster for the country while idolizing a man blah blah blah, usual archie spiel (it was bush's fault)."
have you heard bachmann speak? she's a fucking loon who is either stupid or a liar. if you can't see that, i don't know what to say, but i'd just have to guess you've never heard her.
22 - zingzing
(and loon in the state bird of minnesota, if we're continuing our punathon...)
23 - George Sandeman
Her policies are bach to the future of American politics.
24 - Clavos
Oh mann, George, that last one was a reach and not representative of the quality of the thread.
25 - Arch Conservative
zing..the Obamessiah lies to us daily yet I don't see you jumping on him.