From Muddling Towards Maturity.
I liked her better when she was more excitable and passionate, but I guess she has to be like this if she’s going to be President. Oh well.
By the way, if you’d like to see Michele Bachmann talk about her faith, faith and politics, homeschooling, school choice, and free speech, then head over to Caffeinated Thoughts and watch the video interview. She’s just herself all the time like that.
Excerpt:
Congresswoman Bachmann was next. She took time to introduce herself as a native Iowan and that she is a 7th generation Iowan. She noted that she is also 100% Norwegian, so that makes her “Iowegian.” She and her husband Marcus also homeschooled. They have five natural born children, and were the foster parents for 23 kids, she said that makes her “the old lady in the shoe.”
She congratulated Iowans on ousting three of the Iowa Supreme Court justices calling them “black-robed masters.” She was appalled at their audacity to redefine marriage, and said that as State Senator she offered a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man, one woman in Minnesota. That was sparked by what she saw happening in Massachusetts when their supreme court dictated to the Legislature what law they must pass to make gay marriage legal in that state.
She said that she was the first Republican woman to be elected to go to Washington out of Minnesota. She qualified that, “I’m not just a Republican, I’m a way conservative.” She joked that Washington still doesn’t know what to do with her.
She said that she has been prolife since she was 19 having been impacted by the teaching of Francis Schaeffer in college. She also said that exercises her 2nd Amendment rights, and has a carry permit. She noted that she grew up in a house where they made their own shotgun shells in the basement, and took her first gun safety course when she was 12.
She said, “I may be 5-foot-2 and wearing a yellow suit, but I am one tough lady when it comes to protecting our freedoms.” To great applause she said, “we will make Barack Obama a one-term president. We will repeal Obamacare. She said that we have a brief window of opportunity in 2012. She said we need to run up to 60 seats in the Senate. She proclaimed, “I am in for 2012 to make sure that torch of liberty is not extinguished on our watch.”
She explained after the speech that she meant she’s “in it for 2012” to help beat Obama, it wasn’t an announcement of a presidential run. She said that she’ll decide in June whether or not to run. State Senator Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) is an early supporter, and he said, “I hope she does run. I think she will.” Another homeschooling parent that I spoke with said, “she’s the real deal,” but was quick to mention that she like aspects of what each candidate who spoke.
Personally, after listening to Congresswoman Bachmann’s speech I felt that was the first true campaign speech I heard today. Cain’s was good, but Bachmann’s covered a wider range and you definitely had the feel that she was selling herself to the group. She does have the potential to do very well among homeschoolers specifically, and evangelicals in particular.
I have the chance to ask her about her 2012 intentions today in a one-to-one exclusive interview, so be sure to check back.
I hope she runs in 2012.
By the way, I think I mentioned before that Michele is into Christian apologetics. It’s not just Francis Schaefffer, she likes Ravi Zacharias, too. She’s a home-schooling apologetics mom!
Related posts
First, Megyn Kelly explains the Wisconsin union crisis.
Michele Bachmann interviewed by Megyn Kelly:
Paul Ryan interviewed by Greta Van Susteren.
Paul Ryan also talks about Obama’s latest budget.
Ladies and gentlemen, the grown-up party.
UPDATE: Here’s a story for those who are Youtube-impaired.
Excerpt:
Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.
In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”
The test also showed that the reading abilities of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders had not improved at all between 1998 and 2009 despite a significant inflation-adjusted increase in the amount of money Wisconsin public schools spent per pupil each year.
This is an issue we can win on.
WINTERY KNIGHT 