Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announced Tuesday that she would not seek re-election in 2014, depriving Congress of one of its more colorful figures in recent memory. Bachmann, who is still the subject of an ethics investigation relating to her failed presidential campaign, said she felt she'd done all she could in the House, but added that she may return to politics in another capacity.
While there is some debate over her political legacy, there is no doubt that she will leave behind a long record of verbal miscues and downright puzzling sound-bites.
Here, some of her more memorable quotes:
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On global warming
"Life on planet Earth can't even exist without carbon dioxide. So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that's on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental life cycle of Earth... There isn't even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas" [YouTube]
"The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax." [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
On the minimum wage
"Literally, if we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level." [Businessweek]
On social issues
"The Lord says, 'Be submissive.' Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands." [ABC]
"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." [The New Yorker]
On patriotism
"Absolutely. I'm very concerned that [Obama] may have anti-American views. That's what the American people are concerned about." [YouTube]
"The news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would, I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they are pro-America or anti-America." [National Journal]
On medical science
"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." [City Pages]
"There's a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that [HPV] vaccine. She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result. There are very dangerous consequences." [National Journal]
On foreign policy
"Cutting back on foreign aid is one thing. Being reimbursed by nations that we have liberated is another. We should look to Iraq, and Libya, to reimburse us for part of what we have done to liberate these nations." [Talking Points Memo]
"The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking 2,000 people with him. He will be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are five-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel." [CBS]
On history
"We know there was slavery that was still tolerated when the nation began. We know that was an evil and it was a scourge and a blot and a stain upon our history. But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States." [New York Magazine]
"What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty. You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord." [Talking Points Memo]
On religion
"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake. We've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." [The Nation]
"Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There’s a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species. That's where it's difficult to prove" [Mother Jones]
On ObamaCare
"Does that mean that someone's 13-year old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night?" [MinnPost]
"This cannot pass. 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." [Think Progress]
"I take my first political breath every morning with one thought in mind: Repeal Obamacare. That's my motivation in life. This bill is something else. It is the crown jewel of socialism. President Obama, and I'm willing to say it, ushered in socialism under his watch." [Talking Points Memo]
BONUS: ???
"Michael Steele, you be da man! You be da man!" [City Pages]
