Michele Bachmann For President

If the presidential election were held today conservative radio talk show host Glenn Beck would cast his vote for Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. For Beck, the choice was between Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the New York Daily News reported.


"Michele Bachmann is no lightweight. Neither is Rick Santorum. Neither one of them are going to give in the end on their principles. They'll go out in flames," he said on his radio show Thursday according the paper.


Beck was torn between the Tea Party favorite and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.


"Michele Bachmann is no lightweight. Neither is Rick Santorum. Neither one of them are going to give in the end on their principles. They'll go out in flames," he said on his radio show Thursday, where he asked his co-hosts who they'd vote for if they had a "gun to your head."


The Fox News host then blasted the mainstream media for what he said was unfair treatment of Bachmann, including allegations that her family-owned Christian counseling clinic urged patients to "pray away the gay."


The media "needs to take anybody that is going to change course, they need to take them out," the ex-Fox News host said. "...Nobody is going to be talking about praying the gay away in 12 months from now when our economy is in absolute shambles."


Beck also weighed in on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.


"I think he's an honorable man, but I don't trust him," said Beck, acknowledging that Romney would "decimate" Obama in the debates.


He then gave an ominous warning, predicting "race riots are on the way."


"The next president needs to prepare to be Abraham Lincoln, be willing to fall on his sword. The next president needs to be willing to sacrifice his life because the choices that this next president will have to face are going to be awful," he said.


"I firmly believe race riots are on the way. They are being encouraged. The Obama administration will take this country down. If it looks like they are losing - the uber-left - they will take it down.

Michele Bachmann 'Submissive' Wife Idea a Matter of Interpretation

At Thursday’s GOP Presidential debate, many believed Michele Bachmann’s answer regarding the question of submitting to her husband as showing weakness. Many critics questioned her perspective on leadership and authority.

Yet the idea of submission turns out to be central to what the President of the United States must do in order to lead our country.

Bachmann answered by saying submission equals respect. “I respect my husband,” she responded. “He’s a wonderful godly man. We respect each other and we love each other.”

The words respect and love would not be found as synonyms for submission in any thesaurus. Submission is often used as a negative connotation dealing with slavery, abuse or manipulation. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines submission as “an act of submitting to the authority or control of another.”

It appears that submission lacks freedom.

Bachmann’s belief of submission differs from what has been ingrained in today’s culture. How could it be that submission equals respect or even love?

Take for example a marriage proposal. Popping the question is the ultimate expression of love and in return asking, “Do you love me enough to spend your life with me?” The man is disposing his power by showing vulnerability and giving the option up to the woman. She has the choice to say yes, no, or even make a dramatic exit by running away in tears not being able to decide. It is a risk he is taking; a risk that exudes love.

Granted that the woman says yes, marriage ensues and the concept of submission again comes into play. In the context of the question Bachmann answered, submission meant putting her husband ahead of herself. Sacrificial love is another name for it. While it is a foreign concept for most of us, sacrificial love aims to help others—submission by serving.

In another way, take the perspective from two parents who see their grown child make choices that ruin his or her life and while they may try to direct their child in the right path, out of love they must ultimately surrender their will and let the child decide for him or herself.

Love does not impose.

Biblically, the story of submission is shown by God sending Jesus down to the earth to become human. He submits himself to death in order for the curse of sin to be broken for all of mankind.

Submission is the greatest act of love and respect.

Finally, take the President of the United States. While the president leads, guides and aims to be the stabilizer of the nation, ultimately he or she must grant the power to the people of the country to decide for themselves. It is in their power to vote, to live however they choose and to exercise their innate rights. We are a country of freedom, not dictatorship.

As the presidential election grows closer, the candidates must learn more and more the art of submission. Submitting to the mercy of the media through every step they take, every trip they make and too often than not, every persona they fake is part of the deal. Their ability to submit and respond with grace weeds out the weak from the strong.

Following the chorus of boos after the submission question was asked during Thursday’s debate, Bachmann’s answer followed with a celebratory cheer from the crowd. Her answer on the surface dealt with the way she treats her husband, but it also had larger implications. It expressed the way she looks at the world, the lens she views our country out of.

If Michele Bachmann were to become president, her act of submission would not be the kind that is weak. It would not be the kind of submission that gives up. To her, submission is showing complete sacrifice to the nation.

One of the most talked about moments at Thursday night's GOP debate on the Fox News Channel came when Bachmann of Minnesota was asked a question that raised some eyebrows. The question stemmed from a speech she gave in 2006 when she was running for Congress.

Bachmann told a church in Brooklyn Park, Minn., that she hated taxes, but went on to study tax law in order to be "submissive" to her husband.

"My husband said, now you need to go and get a post-doctorate degree in tax law. Tax law, I hate taxes. Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, 'Be submissive.' Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands," Bachmann told the crowd at the Living Word Christian Center. "Never had a tax course in my background, never had a desire for it, but by faith, I was going to be faithful to what I thought God was calling me to do through my husband, and I finished that course of that study."

Her response Thursday night to the Washington Examiner's Byron York was broader but no less faithful. Bachmann said she loved her husband and was "so proud of him."

"What submission means to us, if that's what your question is, it means respect. I respect my husband. He's a wonderful, Godly man and a great father, and he respects me as his wife," she told York and the millions watching. "That's how we operate our marriage. We respect each other, we love each other, and I've been so grateful that we've been able to build a home together."

The teaching is rooted in the fifth chapter of Ephesians in the New Testament: "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

The mainstream media and others are trying to wrap their arms around the concept they don't understand," Brody said. "Even though tens of millions not just evangelicals, but Christians around the country understand they are being put on the spot to explain.

Although Brody thought the question was unfair, Bachmann's spokeswoman Alice Stewart said she saw it "as an opportunity for her to clear up any concerns people may have had about that word. Clearly, people view that word differently. But for Michele and her husband that's the way they describe their relationship in terms of having a mutual respect for each other; and they do, they have a fantastic marriage, a very loving couple, and when they're using that term it's their expression of how they have a mutual respect and love for each other."

And Bachmann's Iowa campaign chairman Kent Sorenson agreed, also saying it was a "great opportunity."

"Anybody can ask any question they want. I don't think she's afraid to answer those questions. The audience sounded like they had a little different response," Sorenson said.

Bachmann's husband didn't shy away from commenting today at the Iowa State fair. "I think the fact that she is talking about two people who respect, honor, and communicate to each other about decisions just makes a lot of sense," Marcus Bachmann told ABC News. "I think the American people can see that that makes for a good marriage.

Michele Bachmann Wins! Scenes from the Ames Straw Poll Circus

AMES, Iowa — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann scored a victory in the GOP Ames Straw Poll on Saturday, a win likely to provide her considerable momentum as the 2012 race ramps up.


“What we saw happen today is this is the very first step toward taking the White House in 2012, and you have just sent a message that Barack Obama will be a one-term president,” said Bachmann (R-Minn.) after her victory was announced.


Bachmann took 4,823 votes, narrowly escaping a major upset at the hand of Texas Rep. Ron Paul who won 4,671 votes. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty placed third with 2,293, a showing that is likely to raise questions about his ability to continue in the contest.


The order of finish beyond the top three: former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (1,567), businessman Herman Cain (1,456), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (718), former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (567), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (385), former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (69) and Rep. Thad McCotter (Mich.) (35).


Perry, Romney, Gingrich and Huntsman did not actively campaign in Ames. Nearly 17,000 vote were cast, the second-largest turnout in the history of the Straw Poll.


For Bachmann, the victory solidifies her as the frontrunner in the Iowa caucuses which are set to kick off the presidential balloting process in early February 2012.


Bachmann entered the poll as the favorite, as polling suggested that her popularity was surging in the state and Romney chose not to participate in an event he won in 2007.


Taking no chances, Bachmann saturated Iowa with television ads in the run-up to the Straw Poll and barnstormed across the state in the final days before the vote. (On Friday, she did five events, including an evening rally in which she threw cornballs into the crowd and jitterbugged with her husband, Marcus, onstage.)


On site at Ames, her operation had the whiff of disorganization in its early hours as people formed long lines to get into her tent — where country singer Randy Travis was performing.


Ultimately, more than 6,000 of the $30 tickets to vote were distributed by her campaign, according to a source inside her tent, giving her the edge and making her the first woman to ever win the Ames Straw Poll after 4,823 of them cast ballots for her.


"Thank you everyone for being here," Bachmann said to cheers, emerging briefly from her campaign bus to shake hands and thank supporters after being declared the victor. "This is the very first step toward taking the White House in 2012 and sending the message that Barack Obama will be a one-term president." The one-term president line has become a signature in her stump speech, so much so that the coliseum audience chanted it along with her when she used it in while addressing them earlier in the day.


"We love you. Thank you so much. It's your victory," she told supporters.


It's not totally clear what happened to the rest of the distributed Bachmann tickets, some 1,200 of which did not turn into votes. What was clear was that not everyone in Bachmann's long lines was an eligible voter -- there were a slew of people from Minnesota still waiting for beef sundaes toward the end of the balloting period, for example. Among them was Pat Konkleir, 58, who came down from Blaine, Minn., in Bachmann's district to help organize straw poll activities. "We brought down a bus of 40 or 50 or so," she said.


Even so, with 16,892 ballots cast, it was highest number of votes at a straw poll since 1999.


Bachmann's Iowa faith-based coalitions organizer credited her win to the churches. "I've not ever seen anything like this," he said, strolling the floor in the press center after it was clear she'd won but before the results were announced -- and before realizing he wasn't supposed to give out his name. They were "extraordinary numbers."


"At the end of the day, the story is going to be the faith-based turnout," he said. That, and Ed Rollins, Bachmann's top political adviser, who was "really an inspiration. He told us how to do it."


But in talking to volunteers wearing orange Michele Bachmann T-shirts or wilting in line for her tent, Bachmann's social conservatism stood out as only one aspect of what appeared to be a coalition that's gathered around her.


"She's a constitutionalist," observed volunteer Paul Dayton of Boone. "She's fiscally conservative. She votes the way she says she will."


"She's firm, she's solid. I love her enthusiasm. I love everything she is," effused Shirley Ripley, 70, of Charles City, a self-described "tea party person." Pressed for specifics, she pointed to "regulations up the ying yang," "how they're trying to tell us how we can't have salt, can't have potato chips, can't have pop" and what is being taught to children.


In addition to religious conservatives, fiscal conservatives and constitutionalists (which usually means people with a libertarian stance toward federal government regulations), Bachmann appeals to conservative women. Even if they are so conservative they can't always vote for her.


Dea Davenport, 73, of Diagonal, Iowa, said she was a Bachmann supporter but hadn't cast her straw poll vote for her. "If she were a man I would have voted for her," Davenport said. "I feel like a man ought to be running the country, but she'd be my second choice."


"I think she's a good candidate, though, I really do," she sighed. "I just wish she were a man."


A STALLED PAUL


Texas Rep. Ron Paul is waging his third presidential bid and has said he won't run for the House again so he can focus all his energies on it. The fact that he won as many votes as he did, 4,671, and that Bachmann could put together an operation that bested his years-long effort in just 48 days -- a number she mentioned repeatedly during her speech in the coliseum Saturday afternoon -- suggests both how narrow and deep his base of support is.


Paul has tended to win straw polls wherever he goes, but the critical difference between the Ames Straw Poll and the ones at the Conservative Political Action Conference and the Republican Leadership Conference earlier this year -- both of which he won -- is that this poll was limited to people from a circumscribed geographic area.


It's easy for Paul to gather his impassioned supporters from around the country at a conference; it's harder for him to muster support within a single locale. That was the case for him last cycle as well, when he was able to build enormous presence at GOP and conservative events throughout Iowa by drawing supporters from around the region but came in fifth in the straw poll.


This time, Paul did a better job turning out his local backers, but there was little to suggest he'd significantly broadened his appeal. His Hawkeye-State backers in Ames by and large seemed to have been with him for the long haul, rather than new supporters, raising questions about how much more backing he can gain before the caucuses. Sure, he had a dunk-tank near his tents for little kids, to compete with Bachmann's entertainingly tiny yellow blimp, which floated above her campaign bus all day to signal where her tent was, but the people who turned out for him weren't there for that or the hot dogs or his giant inflatable "Sliding Dollar" slide game.


Ray Bures, 69, of Ely, Iowa, had been a supporter of Paul's "going all the way back probably 20 years, when I first became aware of him." Tony Stuntz, 30, of Council Bluffs, had been backing him "since 2007" and says he'd "met a couple of guys who voted for him in '88." Mark Hansen, 30 and also of Council Bluffs, described himself as "a strong supporter for the last four years."


Paul's consistency has kept these voters and others like them with him, even as new candidates have entered the field. "He's always been doing the same thing," said Bill Hofmeister, 39, of Cedar Rapids, a Paul supporter since 2009. "He's not a flip-flopper.

Michele Bachmann And Tim Pawlenty Go Head-To-Head

Tim Pawlenty acknowledged Friday that he “may not have any choice” but to dramatically scale back the size of his campaign organization if he falls flat at the Iowa straw poll this weekend.

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In response to a question from Jonathan Martin at POLITICO’s Playbook Breakfast in Des Moines, Pawlenty said he was “confident” his efforts in Iowa would pay off in Ames.

“We’re seeing some nice movement in the numbers. I can’t tell you that we’re gonna win it tomorrow or that we need to win it,” he said. “I think it’ll be a good result.”

Still, Pawlenty said that he’d “probably” have to cut back on his national campaign organization if he fails to score the kind of straw poll result he’s looking for.

“Would we have to retrench in some fashion? Probably, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Pawlenty said. “I think we’re gonna do very well.”

The key exchanges were between Bachmann, a congresswoman from Minnesota, and Pawlenty, Minnesota's former governor, who are in a battle to see who can come out ahead of the other in a key straw poll vote Saturday in Ames.

For weeks, the two had been bashing one another, mostly on the campaign trail here in Iowa. Bachmann has claimed the title of Iowa frontrunner, while Pawlenty has been playing catch up in advance of Saturday's straw poll. Fox News' Chris Wallace was quick to give the two an opportunity to fight it out in person.

Pawlenty, whose argument has been that he has the executive experience as a governor that Bachmann lacks, said the congresswoman has "done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it's an indisputable fact that in Congress her record of accomplishments and results is nonexistent. That's not going to be good enough."

As Pawlenty, whose fiber was questioned after he failed to take on Mitt Romney in the last debate, delivered his rebuke, he turned to face Bachmann, but turned away after a few moments. Bachmann, in her response, faced Pawlenty the entire time she spoke. She blasted his record as governor.

The two went back and forth for a few more minutes, with Bachmann lauding her own record of fighting Democratic proposals, such as President Obama's health care overhaul as well as cap and trade legislation. But Pawlenty, growing more animated, said that she had failed to stop the health care bill, as well as increases in spending and the 2008 bailout of Wall Street banks, which was actually implemented under Republican President George W. Bush.

"She said she's got a titanium spine. It's not your spine we're worried about, it's your record of results," Pawlenty said. "If that's your view of effective results and leadership, then please stop because you're killing us."

The two sparred again minutes later over a cigarette tax passed in 2005 that Bachmann voted in favor of and Pawlenty signed. Bachmann said she voted for it only because it was attached to an anti-abortion measure. She accused Pawlenty of cutting deals with special interests, while Pawlenty said her statements were "illogical."

The consensus afterward among the pundits and campaign operatives was that Bachmann came out on top, in part because her response was so strong and in part because Pawlenty came across as too negative. Kent Sorensen, a Republican state legislator who is supporting Bachmann, certainly felt that way.

"She exposed [Pawlenty] for the phony that he is," Sorensen said. "He came out with the first punch and she came back with a roundhouse."

Moments after each exchange, Bachmann campaign staff circulated through the press room, handing out detailed press releases attacking Pawlenty's record and detailing why Bachmann voted for the cigarette tax.

Clearly, Bachmann was prepared for the incoming fire. She entered the night in a dramatically different position than she had nearly two months ago at her first debate. That night, in New Hampshire, she announced her candidacy, introduced herself and her biography to voters and impressed observers with her poise.

Thursday night she had a large target on her back and much more to lose.

Before the debate began, some Iowa Republican insiders expressed doubt about the extent to which she has had time to organize for the straw poll, and said expectations for her performance Saturday may be too high. Her debate performance will likely do nothing to dampen her support and could give her more.

However, even if she wins the straw poll, or finishes a close second, she will face a newly-formed threat in the form of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Perry's impending entry into the race was confirmed several hours before the debate by a spokesman in Texas. It was timed in such a way that it was almost impossible for the moderators of the debate to avoid asking the eight candidates on stage about the soon-to-be candidate.

But Bachmann was the only frontrunner asked about him, and that was only in passing.

"I think there is room in the race for Sarah Palin, Rick Perry or even Bret, you too," she said to Fox News' Bret Baier.

Perry has registered in second place in some national poll numbers out just this week, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Some have speculated that he will immediately become the frontrunner in the race, displacing or threatening Romney, who had a shaky moment on the stump at the Iowa State Fair earlier in the day on Thursday. Questioned aggressively by Iowans during his appearance at the Des Moines Register "soapbox," Romney grew agitated. His line that "corporations are people" was the moment that headlined news dispatches, but it was the level of emotional volatility -- the picture of him yelling at voters -- that might prove just as damaging.

At the very least, Perry has the potential to steal Bachmann's thunder with grassroots conservatives and Tea Party voters. He can match her charisma. And he has a lengthy track record in Texas that is certainly full of vulnerabilities but also boasts a topline achievement of having created more than a third of all new jobs in the U.S. since 2009.

Bachmann had already signaled earlier Thursday, before Perry's office made his entry semi-official, that she sees him as a direct competitor. Her campaign announced that she would attend the same Black Hawk County Republican dinner in Waterloo on Sunday afternoon where Perry is scheduled to make his debut in the Hawkeye State.

Perry's entrance, as complicating as it might be for Bachmann, is probably more troubling for Pawlenty -- another candidate who has been trying to catch up to Bachmann in Iowa and must do well in the straw poll Saturday to even sustain his campaign, at least in its current form and size.

It was the first debate for Jon Huntsman, the former U.S. ambassador to China and Utah governor. He entered the night needing, at the very least, to make a memorable first impression with Republican primary voters. But he did little to stand out.

Romney was in some ways an afterthought, in part because he has downplayed the importance of Iowa, and as a result expectations for him here are lower. But the other candidates were often so busy fighting with one another that, again, he went unscathed. Afterward, his campaign immediately announced that he had "won the debate."

Pawlenty was asked whether he still believes Romney's health care reform in Massachusetts was similar to Obama's federal plan, but the exchange lacked punch. It did spark a fascinating exchange about how each candidate views the extent to which states are sovereign and have the ability to impose things on their citizens. Paul, a Texas congressman, stated a broad view of states' rights, while Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, said that the 10th amendment discussion had "run amok."

Santorum said that if a state wanted to make polygamy legal, that should not be allowed.

"I respect the 10th Amendment, but we are a nation that has values," he said. "States don't have the right to tramp over those because of the 10th Amendment."

One of the other most intense exchanges was an extended back and forth between the same two men.

Paul said he did not have a problem with Iran trying to obtain nuclear weapons.

"Why wouldn't it be natural that they might want a weapon ... Why should we write people off?" he asked. "What's so terribly bad about this?"

Santorum was aghast.

"Iran is not Iceland, Ron. Iran is a country that has been at war with us since 1979," he said.

Paul said that the U.S. has meddled in Iran since the CIA was involved in the 1953 coup of Iran's democratically elected prime minister.

"We just plain don't mind our own business ... that's the problem," Paul said.

The two went another round, which ended with Paul nearly screaming about the "trillions" of dollars spent on foreign wars. As usual, a loud contingent of fans cheered him on.

Gingrich, the former House Speaker from Georgia, was also animated in denouncing the so-called "super committee" appointed by Congress to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion, calling it "as dumb an idea as Washington has come up with."

He also didn't like some of the questions thrown his way about the departure of large numbers of his staff earlier this year, and told Wallace so.

"I took seriously [fellow host] Bret [Baier]'s injunction to put aside the talking points. I wish you would put aside the gotcha questions," he said, to some ooos and ahhhs.

Gingrich then went on to compare himself twice to Ronald Reagan, who had staff departures during his run for the White House in 1980.

Wallace didn't take it lightly. "If you think questions about your record are Mickey Mouse, I'm sorry," he said, with disdain. "I think those are questions people want to hear answers to.