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.

Bachmann, Pawlenty tensions boil over in Iowa debate

Preamble: Welcome to tonight's Republican presidential candidates debate in Iowa – or, if you prefer, the competition to decide who will get beaten by Rick Perry for the 2012 Republican nomination.

On stage at Iowa University in Ames tonight are the eight people battling for the nomination. But not on stage – and looming over proceedings like that guy in No Country For Old Men – is Perry, the governor of Texas.

It now appears certain that Perry will announce that he's a candidate as of Saturday in Charleston. And that changes everything, since Perry is a bigger presence than any of the puny earthlings at tonight's debate.

So it kind of makes you wonder what the point of this is. Except that for the eight on stage, it's their last chance to make an impression before Perry enters the race. They should, therefore, go at it like rats in a sacks. (And by that I mean fighting, not having sex.)

Apart from Perry there is another absent figure haunting this debate like Banquo's ghost – St Sarah of Wasila, the patron saint of pipelines. The former governor of Alaska was said to be running for the nomination. But then during a bus trip across America in June she disappeared and has not been seen since.

Mitt Romney, meanwhile, faced questions about the universal health care plan he enacted as governor of Massachusetts, but for the second debate in a row, the Republican frontrunner escaped without suffering a campaign-altering blow.

The nationally televised forum, sponsored by Fox News and The Washington Examiner and held in an arena at Iowa State University, took place only hours after news broke that Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to officially join the presidential fray on Saturday.

With a respectable jobs record, deeply-held Christian beliefs and an ability to raise millions for his campaign, Perry has the potential to fundamentally alter the shape of the Republican race.

The eight candidates on stage - Romney, Pawlenty, Bachmann, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and businessman Herman Cain - were largely complimentary when questioned about Perry.

The kind words were a departure from a series of sharp exchanges between Bachmann and Pawlenty that dominated the first half of the debate.

Pawlenty, a former two-term governor, said Bachmann's record in the House is "non-existent."

"She has said she has a titanium spine," Pawlenty said. "It's not her spine we are worried about, it's her record of results."

He went on, calling her an ineffective member of Congress, naming several laws that President Barack Obama and Democrats have passed since taking 2009.

"If that's your view of effective results, please stop," Pawlenty said. "You're killing us."

A stone-faced Bachmann shot back, accusing Pawlenty of having abandoned his conservative principles while serving in St. Paul.

She said he supported a cap-and-trade plan to cut carbon emissions and once expressing support for a mandate that individuals purchase health insurance, though neither idea became law during his administration.

"That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me," Bachmann said.

The two Republicans have engaged in long-distance sniping for weeks as both have raced across the state hunting for votes ahead of the potentially pivotal Ames Straw Poll on Saturday.

Bachmann has surged to the front of Iowa polls by appealing to a coalition of tea party activists and social conservatives, while Pawlenty has struggled to gain traction despite staking his campaign on a strong showing in the caucuses, the opening act of the 2012 Republican nomination fight.

Pawlenty's aggressive posture was an eye-opening departure from the last Republican debate in June, when he shied away from attacking his opponents, subsequently raising questions about his toughness and ability to take on President Obama in a general election.

His performance Thursday was an acknowledgment that his campaign needs to do more to raise doubts about his rivals if he hopes to boost his standing among Republican voters and donors.

Palin's supporters have been out in force and many claim that she will appear among them in Iowa, for so it has been prophesised on Palin's Facebook page.

So who is actually on stage tonight? Here's a quick run-down:

Mitt Romney: currently the Front-Runner In Name Only (FRINO), the former Massachusetts governor leads the polls. But if you've got a poll, throw it away, it's worthless. After Saturday the polls will just say: "Rick Perry. The end."

Michele Bachmann: Bachmann was said to be the winner of the last debate, which was roughly a million years ago in June, so no-one cares. Currently on the cover of Newsweek looking a bit mad.

Jon Huntsman: A first appearance for the former governor of Utah, who graciously left his governor's mansion to serve his country as the US ambassador to China. Naturally he's as popular as anthrax.

Newt Gingrich: Less popular than anthrax.

Ron Paul: Iconic, veteran congressman, principled, intelligent. He has no chance. Quite the libertarian, except for abortion and gays. Then he's not. Seriously, he would win the nomination but for a secret alliance of the Mainstream Media, Wall Street and Republican voters who insist on not voting for him in large numbers.

Rick Santorum: Is he still running? I forget.

Herman Cain: Pizza guy. Meh.

Gary Johnson: According to NPR: "the former New Mexico governor will be a curiosity since most people still don't know who he is". I know he was governor of Mexico. Sorry, New Mexico. (Actually, he'd have more chance of becoming president of Mexico. Maybe he should try?) In fact Johnson is smart, sensible, was a very good governor and seems like a nice guy. Obviously: zero chance. Update: No, Gary Johnson's not in this debate. Whoops. I blame the internet.

Tim Pawlenty: Still running. May as well not bother. Seriously, have you seen his latest poll ratings? He's now less well-known than when he started. That's quite an achievement: negative publicity.

But Romney dismissed the charge and offered a familiar response, arguing that his health care law was right for Massachusetts and appropriate under the Tenth Amendment that reserves powers not granted under the Constitution to the states.

He called the health care law signed by President Obama a federal takeover and said that as president he would grant states health care waivers.

Later in the debate, Santorum and Paul battled over foreign policy and what they would do about Iran if elected to the White House.

Paul, a libertarian and longtime critic of American efforts overseas, said the United States should engage in diplomacy with Iran.

That prompted a fiery response from Santorum, who has long advocated for regime change in Iran. He told Paul that Americans should be wary of the Iranian nuclear threat.

"Anyone that suggests that Iran is not a threat to this country or is not a threat to stability in the Middle East is obviously not seeing the world very clearly," he said, jumping at the chance to highlight his foreign policy record from his time in the Senate.

Santorum, also a staunch social conservative, raised eyebrows by criticizing Iran's treatment of gays.

The regime, he said, "tramples the rights of women, tramples the rights of gays, tramples the rights of people all throughout their society."

Gingrich won applause with a punchy performance laced with attacks against the media, including the debate hosts.

He accused one debate moderator, Fox News host Bret Baier, of asking "gotcha questions."

The national media is obsessed with political process rather than "basic ideas that distinguish us from Barack Obama," he said.

The debate also presented Huntsman, who returned from his post as ambassador to China in April, with his first chance to address a national audience.

He avoided criticizing his rivals and instead set his sights on introducing himself to voters, touting his record of cutting taxes and fostering a strong business climate in Utah, which had a AAA bond rating during his tenure.