Michele Bachmann’s Craziest Moments

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‘Hundreds and Hundreds’ of Scientists Support Intelligent Design
Speaking on a panel in October 2006, Bachmann espoused her views on evolution – in short, that it hasn't been scientifically proven. "Hundreds and hundreds" of Nobel Prize-winning scientists, she says, believe in intelligent design instead.
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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I’m ‘Hot for Jesus Christ!’
Bachmann got hot and bothered while giving a lecture at Minneapolis megachurch Living World Christian Center in 2006. She talked about getting "hot for God" at age 16 and how, "when you are fellowshipping with white-hot believers, He turns your life around."
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Abolish Minimum Wage: Solve Unemployment!
Image Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images While arguing in 2005 against a bill to raise the minimum wage in Minnesota, Bachmann had a great idea: get rid of it altogether! With the minimum wage gone, she said, "we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Cancer-Ridden Singer Should Mend Her Lesbian Ways
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for The Recording Academy Singer Melissa Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 – but don't worry about her, said Bachmann. The "physical disease" should allow Etheridge, who is a lesbian, to "now be open to some spiritual things" including, ideally, going straight. [Listen: Edwatch]
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Iran Plotting to Partition Iraq
Image Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images In 2007, Bachmann offered a fresh take on the situation in Iraq: Iran, she said, had "already decided that they’re going to partition Iraq… And half of Iraq, the western, northern portion of Iraq, is going to be called…. the Iraq State of Islam, something like that. And I’m sorry, I don’t have the official name, but it’s meant to be the training ground for the terrorists. There’s already an agreement made." [ThinkProgress]
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Calls for Probe of Anti-American Democrats in Congress
Weeks before the 2008 election, Bachmann appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. Bachmann voiced her dissatisfaction with soon-to-be-President Obama's "anti-American" associations, which prompted Matthews to ask if there were members of Congress she found to be "anti-American" as well. She responded: "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they are pro-America or anti-America."
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Slams Michelle Obama’s ‘Hard-Left’ Breastfeeding Agenda
Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton Bachmann took to the Laura Ingraham radio show in early 2011 to rail against Michelle Obama's support for a tax break on breast pumps, a move that Bachmann said was "very consistent with where the hard left is coming from." "For them," she said, "government is the answer to every problem. I've given birth to five babies and I breast fed every single one of these babies. To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition." [NY Daily News]
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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‘CO2 Is A Natural Byproduct of Nature!’
Bachmann argued on the House floor – on Earth Day 2009, no less – against regulating carbon dioxide, since it's "natural." She said, "Carbon dioxide, Mister Speaker, is a natural byproduct of nature… It occurs in Earth. … So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that’s on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that – that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental lifecycle of Earth."
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Obama Runs a ‘Gangster Government’
Bachmann wasn't too fond of the government bailouts of GM and Chrysler, slamming President Obama for presiding over a "gangster government." "We have gangster government when the Federal Government has set up a new cartel and private businesses now have to go begging with their hand-out to their local – hopefully well politically connected – Congressman or their Senator so they can buy a peace offering for that local business."
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Democrats and Swine Flu: ‘An Interesting Coincidence’
In an April 2009 interview, Bachmann said: "It was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." Unfortunately for Bachmann, the earlier swine flu outbreak she mentioned occurred in 1976 – under Republican President Gerald Ford. [Politifact]
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Obamacare Critics Could Be Denied Treatment
"In Japan, people have stopped voicing their opinion on health care," said Bachmann in February 2010. There are things that are wrong with Japanese health care, but people are afraid of voiciing … [because] they know that would get on a list and they wouldn’t get health care. They wouldn’t get in. They wouldn’t get seen. And so people are afraid. They’re afraid to speak back to government. They’re afraid to say anything.’ Is that what we want for our future? That takes us to gangster government at that point and absolute abject corruption." [Minnesota Independent]
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi
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Big Brother’s Lightbulb Ban
Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Bachmann thinks that "Thomas Edison did a pretty patriotic thing for this country by inventing the lightbulb," and she'll be damned if the government gets in the way of you buying one. The government will mandate that lightbulb manufacturers create more energy-efficient bulbs beginning in 2012 and, to Bachmann, this bipartisan-supported bill is unacceptable. In a speech earlier this year, Bachmann said, "I think darn well, you New Hampshirites, if you want to buy Thomas Edison’s wonderful invention, you should be able to! The government has no business telling an individual what kind of lightbulb to buy." [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Related: Michele Bachmann's Holy War: Why her presidential candidacy is no joke by Matt Taibbi