People who only know Bachmann from her campaign ads and material might mistake her for a mainstream politician, a GOP conservative in the tradition of Ronald Reagan. Bachmann does not make her most “extreme” statements and charges when appearing before influential popular media. Her statements before other types of audiences are very different from the ones made before television cameras and newspaper reporters. These quotes will give the reader insight into Bachmann’s true political base, her worldview, and her powers of judgment.

This issue brief is divided into different sections:

General • • Bachmann on Same-Sex Marriage and Gay Americans • • Bachmann on her Career As A Tax Attorney • • Bachmann Charges that U.S. and Minnesota Are Imposing A New Order Opposed To Free Enterprise and Representative Government.

General.

“We’re in a state of crisis where our nation is literally ripping apart at the seams right now, and lawlessness is occurring from one ocean to the other. And we’re seeing the fulfillment of the Book of Judges here in our own time, where every man doing that which is right in his own eyes—in other words, anarchy.” – Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 6, 2004.

On her 2004 state capitol rally for a same-sex marriage ban amendment: “Listeners should rejoice right now, because there are believers all across your listening area that are praying now. And I would say that if you can’t attend the rally, you can pray. And God calls us to fall on our faces and our knees and cry out to Him and confess our sins. And I would just ask your listeners to do that now. Cry out to a Holy God. He wants to hear us, He will hear us if we will confess our sins and cry out to Him. Our children are worth it and obedience to God demands it.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 6, 2004.

“Spending comes just as natural to liberals in Minnesota and the Minnesota legislature as bashing decency comes to the editorial board of our major metropolitan newspapers.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, EdWatch conference, October 10-11, 2003

Bachmann on Same-Sex Marriage and Gay Americans.

On gay marriage: “This is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

On public education: “That’s my number one issue.” — Senator Michele Bachmann quoted in Stillwater Gazette, July 24, 2006. K. Janisch, “Rove stumps for Bachmann in Stillwater ”

“This really is the number one issue for our country right now, how are we going to deal with this threat of radical Islam.”—Senator Michele Bachmann, Northern Alliance Radio Network, September 9, 2006.

On her March 2004 rally against same-sex marriage: “It will be an awesome day. We are going to be beseeching the Lord.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

On what will happen if her same-sex marriage ban amendment fails to pass in 2004: “It isn’t that some gay will get some rights. It’s that everyone else in our state will lose rights. For instance, parents will lose the right to protect and direct the upbringing of their children. Because our K-12 public school system, of which ninety per cent of all youth are in the public school system, they will be required to learn that homosexuality is normal, equal and perhaps you should try it. And that will occur immediately, that all schools will begin teaching homosexuality.” -- Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 6, 2004.

On the gay community and same-sex marriage: “This is a very serious matter, because it is our children who are the prize for this community, they are specifically targeting our children.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

If her same-sex marriage ban amendment does not pass in 2004: “The sex curriculum will be essentially by taught by the local gay community.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

“And what a bizarre time we’re in, Jan, when a judge will say to little children that you can’t say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 6, 2004.

“And so people have to make this call now. They have to go to mn.voter.com, they need to contact in particular their Senator, and they need to demand that the people be allowed to vote on this in November (of 2004). Because otherwise, our children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal and natural and that perhaps they should try it, and that’ll be very soon in our public schools all across the state, beginning in kindergarten.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 6, 2004.

On same-sex marriage: “… This is an earthquake issue. This will change our state forever. Because the immediate consequence, if gay marriage goes through, is that K-12 little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal, natural and perhaps they should try it.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

On her March 2004 rally against same-sex marriage: “We need to have the phone lines melted this week. We need people to melt the phone lines. Not to the House members, you don’t need to call them, and you don’t need to call the Republican Senators. It’s the Democrat Senators that we need to melt their phone lines. Even more important, if anyone can come to the rally on Monday, they need to come, and we will give them maps with the offices of where the Democrat Senators are.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

“We are wide open and vulnerable and in all likelihood an activist judge will strike down our Defense of Marriage Act, our state law against gay marriage, this year. And in all likelihood, we will have gay marriage in 2004 in Minnesota , if we don’t get this amendment on the ballot for November.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

“We can only bring a constitutional amendment up (to ban same-sex marriage) in election years. That means we’d have to wait two more years. By that time, Jan, thousands of gays would legally be married in Minnesota .” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

On her same-sex marriage ban amendment: “We only have until May 17 (2004) at the latest. But really, it is this next week that the DFL is going to try to kill this bill. It’s within the Christian community’s hands to get face to face, in front of these Democrats.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004. This is important because it's a State Senator organizing religious demonstrators to go down to the Capitol, into the Rotunda, into the very offices of elected officials and intimidate the elected officials until they do their bidding. This quote is likely to upset other elected officials and people who believe in representative government. It's okay for you or me or some pastor to call for demonstrators to come down and get into the faces of legislators, but it's NOT okay for an elected official to organize a group of demonstrators to come down to the capitol, enter the capitol building and disrupt the business of the Senate and House.

Host: Now Michele, my understanding, I also got an email very early this morning, correct me if this is not true, that, let’s see here, your phone number has been given to members of the gay community and that they are to blitz you and harass you, is that correct? MB: That’s correct. We got a call yesterday, that at the Capitol brochures were being handed out with my photo on it, and I believe the photo of Representative Mary Liz Holberg. Our names, and the word “Shame” was written across my face, and my home phone number was put on that brochure, and people were instructed to call and make threatening calls to my personal home phone. Host: Alright, has that happened? MB: Uh, well, I have called Capitol Security, and I have called Washington County Sheriff, which is where we live, and they are on alert, and I can just tell you that precautions are being taken. I probably can’t tell your listeners any more than that, but precautions are being taken.” —Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

“It’s part of Satan I think to say that this is “gay.” It’s anything but gay.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

“If you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

On her March 2004 rally against same-sex marriage: “And I want to tell you, that was probably the most loving, warm-spirited, most beautiful rally that I have ever seen at the Capitol.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

“They aren’t just kind of gay-friendly, they are gay advocates at Proctor and Gamble… Here’s just a few other companies that support the pro-homosexual agenda. They include Levi-Strauss, American Airlines, Sarah Lee Bakery, Jaguar and LandRover.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

“You have a teacher talking about his gayness. (The elementary school student) goes home then and says “Mom! What’s gayness? We had a teacher talking about this today.” The mother says “Well, that’s when a man likes other men, and they don’t like girls.” The boy’s eight. He’s thinking, “Hmm. I don’t like girls. I like boys. Maybe I’m gay.” And you think, “Oh, that’s, that’s way out there. The kid isn’t gonna think that.” Are you kidding? That happens all the time. You don’t think that this is intentional, the message that’s being given to these kids? That’s child abuse.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

On a leader of a teacher training workshop who cites discrimination as a cause of suicide among homosexual youth: “(He) also fails to acknowledge other psychological factors that could contribute to homosexual youth committing suicide, like family problems or abuse or maybe the fact of what they’re doing.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

“Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of “The Lion King” for instance, and a teacher might say, “Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?” The message is: I’m better at what I do, because I’m gay.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

On homosexuality as a mental disorder: “Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.

“Two homosexuals that were holding up my picture this week at the Capitol and shouting that I want to hate people, I walked up to them and said: “I don’t hate you. I love you and the Savior who created you. He loves you, too, can I tell you why? This is not about hating them, this is about loving them into the Kingdom.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

“This is not about hating homosexuals. I don’t. I love homosexuals.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004.

Interviewer: “Answer the question, do you hate homos?” MB: “No, but ask my kids! (laughter)” — Senator Michele Bachmann, Tom Barnard Morning Show, KQRS, broadcast May 12, 2005.

Bachmann On Her Career As Tax Attorney.

“I am a tax attorney. I have to warn you, this is not a pretty sight. You have a tax attorney who’s also a politician. So if there’s anyone who needs sanctification, it is me.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, EdWatch conference, October 10-11, 2003 (This is a self-deprecating joke by Bachmann which an audience of Evangelical Christians would understand. The most common use of the term “sanctification” within Christian theology is in reference to the change brought about by God in a believer, begun at the point of salvation or justification and continuing throughout the life of the believer. Bachmann’s joke lies in the notion that tax attorneys and politicians are so suspect that they would need sanctification more than people in other professions.)

“I’m a federal tax lawyer, that’s what I do for a living. And I litigate tax cases in the Federal Tax Court here in St. Paul, criminal cases, civil cases, that’s what I do…” — Senator Michele Bachmann, Tom Barnard Morning Show, KQRS, broadcast May 12, 2005. (Note the date of this statement.)

Bachmann Charges that U.S. and Minnesota Are Imposing A New Order Opposed To Free Enterprise and Representative Government.

On education reforms laws passed by the GOP-controlled US Congress: “Federal law forms a new governance structure that opposes both free enterprise and representative government…A new national curriculum is used that embraces a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America.”. — Michael J. Chapman and Senator Michele Bachmann, “How New U.S. Policy Embraces a State-Planned Economy” © 2001.

“Goals 2000, of which we’ve heard quite a bit, is a partnership between government and your local public schools to radically transform and change our public education system, as you’ve learned today, to train children to accept not freedom, but to accept and anticipate government central planning of our economy and our way of life.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, EdWatch conference, October 10-11, 2003.

On Governor Pawlenty’s “Tax-Free Zones” initiative: “Tax-free zones are meant to be the catalyst to put the final nail in this system to have a state-planned economy.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, EdWatch conference, October 10-11, 2003.

On Governor Pawlenty’s “Tax-Free Zones” initiative: “…it’s all for the planned redistribution of wealth which is also stated in this document, the redistribution of wealth which is based on a new concept called equity. And it says this: we must not lose sight of equity, or fairness based on need. Where have you heard that here, today? From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, EdWatch conference, October 10-11, 2003.

“This is how the government proposes to govern and run centrally-planned economies in our state. Through an organization and entity called MELT (Minnesota Economic and Leadership Team)…Today it’s called MELT, which is exactly, by the way, exactly what will happen to our economy if we put this system into place.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, Edwatch conference, October 10-11, 2003 (Note: The Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT) was an advisory board on economic and workforce policy chaired by Governor Pawlenty.)

"This has nothing to do with you the people and who you elect. We’re chumps, you see. It is MELT who’s going to control the world.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, Edwatch conference, October 10-11, 2003.

On whether GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota elected officials are restructuring school curriculum to replace a free market economy with a state-controlled economy: "I don’t believe for a minute our Governor wants eighth graders choosing careers, I don’t believe for a minute our elected officials want that. But you know what? Everything that I read, all the documents, point otherwise." — Senator Michele Bachmann, Edwatch conference, October 10-11, 2003.