Factbox: Presidential candidate Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann addresses a gathering of supporters to formally launch her campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, in her childhood hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, June 27, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Jeff Haynes
(Reuters) - Michele Bachmann, a member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota, officially declared on Monday she is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
Here are a few facts about her:
* Bachmann, 55, is founder and head of the House Tea Party Caucus. The Tea Party is a loosely organized conservative political movement that emerged after President Barack Obama, a Democrat, took office in 2009. She was one of the first elected officials to court the Tea Party, which helped fuel Republican gains in the 2010 congressional elections with calls for spending cuts and reduced government and denunciations of Obama's 2010 healthcare law.
* Bachmann was once a Democrat and worked on Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign. "The first time I ever went to Washington, D.C., I went to dance at Jimmy Carter's inaugural ball," Bachmann said last year. She says the turning point came while she was reading a "snotty" Gore Vidal novel, "Burr," that she says mocked the founding fathers and made her realize that she must be a Republican. She had also become disillusioned at Democrats' support for abortion rights and their economic policies.
* A mother of five who has been a foster parent to 23 other children, Bachmann launched her political career as an advocate for charter schools and a critic of high taxes.
* Bachmann's views, heated rhetoric and fiery attacks on Obama have won her fans among conservative activists and donors. She raised more than $13 million for her 2010 House campaign, more than any other House candidate.
* Before deciding to pursue the presidency, Bachmann, a born-again Christian, said she had been praying for guidance on whether to run.
* Although she is seen as having done well at the Republican debate in New Hampshire on June 13, she has a history of gaffes and over-the-top rhetoric. Bachmann's long stare into the wrong camera while giving the Tea Party's response to Obama's State of the Union address in January was widely lampooned.
* Before the 2008 election she said Obama "may have anti-American views" and suggested that "anti-American" members of Congress be investigated.
(Compiled by JoAnne Allen and Alistair Bell; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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If these two were the only two running for president, I would have to vote none of the above.
She believes that a pregnant woman only has a right to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy if the pregnant woman agrees with Michele Bachmann and God.
She is opposed to stem cell research on embryonic cells.
At the church she attended for many years, speaking in tongues is commonplace and she believes that the translation that inevitably follows, is the Word of God.
She believes that prayer to her God should be allowed in public schools, that public schools should teach the Christian Biblical view of Creation right along side scientific theory during science class, giving it equal time and standing with evolution.
She believes that sex education in public schools should primarily promote abstinence, that topics like homosexuality, safe sex, masturbation, condoms, various birth control methods promote unholy sexual activity.
I am quite convinced that if she was ever faced with considering the deployment of nuclear weapons, she would pray and let “God” make the decision about what to do.
She believes in eliminating the minimum wage to mitigate the unemployment problem.
I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. Don’t just take my word for it. i encourage you to check it out for yourselves.
BTW, you can rest assured that not everyone in Minnesota sees reality in the same way as Michele Bachmann. I think she is a Minnesota embarrassment parading around on a national stage.
It’s scary to think she might get elected … and that the people at CNN like her…
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