Last weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) helped headline the Western Conservative Summit in Denver. Bachmann fired up attendees with an anger-filled speech repeatedly comparing America under President Obama to slavery, reports the Colorado Independent. “We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves,” thundered Bachmann at one point.
After her speech, Bachmann took questions from the audience, including one from a woman concerned that the Republican leadership does not share Bachmann’s dedication to “spreading the word.” Bachmann agreed that “Republicans need to have one voice on all of this.” She then argued that although she is “not in leadership,” it is “extremely important” that the Republican “leadership is made up of constitutional conservatives” if the GOP takes back Congress:
Q: Your colleagues are not out there spreading the word, not out there saying, ‘yes it’s going to be tough, we have to give up a lot that we have right now to move forward to do what we need to save this country.’ And, you’re good at it. There a couple of other people who are good about it, but there are an awful lot that are just quiet out there, especially on the state level. […]
BACHMANN: Right, what I think you’re saying is that Republicans need to have one voice on all of this. And I would agree with you. I’m not in leadership, but that why I made in my remarks that its extremely important that you know if the gavel turns, that the leadership is made up of constitutional conservatives. All of you can you put that pressure on. Because the people who send Congress, to the House, to the Senate, you put the pressure on them, you elect constitutional conservatives for your leadership, that’s what happens.
Watch it:
Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Bachmann’s closest ally in Congress, has similarly expressed frustration that the Republican leadership — Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) — are not sufficiently right-wing. At a rally in Iowa in April, King complained openly that Republicans, including members of the leadership, would not support his campaign to repeal health reform “100%.” At a St. Louis conference earlier this year, King complained that GOP leaders had warned him in the past against attacking the science of climate change, instead preferring for him to stick to the economic argument against clean energy reform.
Perhaps Bachmann would like to see “constitutional conservatives” like King and herself in leadership, rather than the current Republican leaders.