Bachmann’s 10 most memorable moments

Congress will lose one of its most prominent conservative firebrands in January with the departure of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). 

Bachmann became a household name in recent years for her controversial statements about President Obama and the healthcare law. Her penchant for the spotlight only heightened during her quixotic run for president in 2012. 

{mosads}Bachmann has indicated she’ll remain in politics as a commentator and activist after deciding not to run for reelection this year. But she ruled out another presidential campaign in an interview with The Hill this October.

Here, in chronological order, are Bachmann’s 10 most memorable moments while serving as a member of Congress.

1. President Obama has ‘anti-American views.’

Bachmann’s first major media firestorm was in October 2008 during her freshman House term after an appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” She said that she was “very concerned” that the Illinois senator and 2008 Democratic presidential nominee held “anti-American views” due to his associations with activist Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. 

Pressed by Matthews if she thought other members of Congress were “anti-American,” Bachmann called on the news media to conduct a “penetrating exposé.” “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?” Bachmann said.  

She later backed away from her comments, saying she made a “misstatement.”

2. The Obama administration is a ‘gangster government.’

In 2009, Bachmann used a term coined by The Washington Examiner’s Michael Barone describing the Obama administration as 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,” Bachmann said on the House floor while discussing the auto bailout. She refused to back down from her comments.

3. ObamaCare opponents should be ‘blood brothers.’

Bachmann called on opponents of the healthcare law to do whatever it took to defeat it in 2009 — including blood sacrifices. “This cannot pass,” Bachmann said. “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.” 

Bachmann didn’t stop there with the violence metaphors. “Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom,” she said. “And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up and take this one on.”

4. ‘Tea Party response’ to President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union. 

Bachmann delivered a “Tea Party response” to the 2011 State of the Union separate from the official GOP response from then-House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Her remarks were streamed online and aired on CNN. 

Bachmann claimed the Obama administration had brought on an “unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt” and decried the healthcare overhaul. “In the end, unless we fully repeal ObamaCare, a nation that currently enjoys the world’s best healthcare may be forced to rely on government-run coverage that will have a devastating impact on our national debt for generations to come,” she said. 

But her remarks were partially lost on CNN viewers who were distracted by Bachmann speaking slightly off screen. As it turned out, Bachmann had been addressing the Tea Party Express camera.

 5. John Wayne vs. John Wayne Gacy. 

In a June 2011 interview with Fox News as she kicked off her presidential campaign, Bachmann tried to compare herself to cowboy John Wayne as a fellow native of Waterloo, Iowa. 

“Well what I want them to know is just like John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too,” Bachmann said. 

But she had accidentally mixed up Wayne, whose parents met in Waterloo but was actually born in Winterset, for serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who is from Waterloo.

6. HPV vaccine causes ‘mental retardation.’

Bachmann criticized fellow GOP presidential contender and Texas Gov. Rick Perry during a September 2011 debate for mandating a vaccine against the HPV virus, which can cause cervical cancer. She then did a tour of interviews on Fox News and NBC’s “Today Show” claiming that the HPV vaccine caused mental retardation. 

“There’s a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that vaccine. She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine. There are very dangerous consequences,” Bachmann said. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical experts quickly denounced the claim as false.

7. Hurricane Irene and East Coast earthquake were messages from God. 

Bachmann suggested at a campaign event in August 2011 that the natural disasters were actually God trying to give the nation’s capital a hint. 

“Washington, D.C., you’d think by now they’d get the message,” Bachmann said at a town hall to laughter. “An earthquake, a hurricane, are you listening? The American people have done everything they possibly can, now it’s time for an act of God and we’re getting it.” 

A Bachmann spokeswoman clarified the comments were meant “in jest.”

8. Accusing Huma Abedin of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Bachmann and four other House Republicans claimed that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s family had connections with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. They further suggested Abedin, who is married to disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), was part of a conspiracy by trying to use her influence at the State Department. Bachmann said in a statement that she would “not be silent as this administration appeases our enemies.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) even took to the Senate floor to denounce the accusations as “sinister,” saying they had “no logic, no basis and no merit.”

9. ObamaCare ‘literally kills’ people. 

Bachmann claimed in a June 2013 House floor speech that the healthcare overhaul would have lethal consequences. 

“That’s why we’re here: Because we’re saying let’s repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens,” Bachmann said. “Let’s not do that. Let’s love people. Let’s care about people. Let’s repeal it now while we can.”

10. Lobbying President Obama to bomb Iran. 

The Minnesota Republican tried to get the most out of her brief — and final — interaction with the president at the 2014 White House Christmas party for members of Congress. 

Bachmann urged President Obama to bomb Iran after standing for a picture with him and her family. “I turned to the president and I said something to the effect of, ‘Mr. President, you need to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, because if you don’t, Iran will have a nuclear weapon on your watch, and the course of world history will change,’” she told The Washington Free Beacon. 

But she apparently didn’t persuade Obama. According to Bachmann, Obama laughed with a “condescending” air and said, ‘Well, Michele, it’s just not that easy.’ ” Bachmann said she responded with, “And I said to him, ‘No, Mr. President, you’re the president. It will happen on your watch, and you’ll have to answer to the world for this.’ And that was it, and then I left. Merry Christmas.”