Bachmann Crazy Overdrive

November 23, 2009: In an recent interview with the St. Cloud Times, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) expressed bewilderment that the Democrats don't like her. "I grew up a Democrat in a Democrat family," she said, and "in some ways I don't understand why the Democratic Party would be opposed to me, because I stand for the same values that my parents stood for when we were Democrats." Here at TPM, we take pride in our exhaustive coverage of Michele Bachmann and her long and antagonistic history with Democrats, so we can only conclude that she's simply forgotten. So consider this a friendly reminder...

November 5: Viva La Revolución! Bachmann makes a speech at her Capitol Hill Tea Party against health care reform: "It was Thomas Jefferson who said a revolution every now and then is a good thing. What do you think?" This is not the first time Bachmann has touted revolution. Back in March, she called for "orderly revolution" because "we can't let the Democrats achieve their ends any longer." She continued: "Where freedom is tried, the people rejoice. But where tyranny is enforced upon the people, as Barack Obama is doing, the people suffer and mourn." In response, the Minnesota DFL chairman said: "Michele Bachmann must have missed the memo: The revolution already happened. The old way of doing business -- her way of doing business -- lost."

October 8: On The O'Reilly Factor, Bachmann weighs in about why the left hates her so much: "It may bother them that conservative women are happy and don't need government in order to be successful in life." "I have a great husband, great kids. I had a great career as a federal tax attorney. And I don't need government to be successful. And it seems like they have a stereotype for women and I don't fit in their stereotype."

September 16: In a House floor speech, Bachmann suggests that since President Obama has pushed to curb energy use, the next logical step is...limiting food consumption: "President Obama said we can't eat as much food as we want and think the rest of the world will be okay about that -- as if that matters to freedom-loving Americans. Well, we just heard last week that the Federal Government now under the Obama administration is calling for a re-ordering of America's food supply. What's that going to mean? Now will the White House decide how many calories we consume, or what types of food we consume?"

September 14: In the wake of Rep. Joe "You Lie" Wilson's outburst in a joint session of Congress, Bachmann comes to his defense, saying that he "spoke truth" on the House floor. She also defends the "death panel" meme that had created some controversy in the health care debate: "But there's been a confusion about death panels. 'Death panels' isn't just about end-of-life counseling. Death panels are the bureaucracies that President Obama is establishing, that will -- where bureaucrats will make the decision on who gets health care, and how much. Who will have access to doctors? How quickly? What will the delays be? Because we know, this bill will include rationing."

September 4: Saboteur! Bachmann accuses the Dems of undermining her because they're scared she might become the first female president: "They want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman, and so they're doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women, to make sure that we don't have a prominent national voice."

September 1: Bachmann gets kind of graphic on health care reform: "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." She continues: "Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom. And we may never be able to restore it if we don't man up and take this one on." Interestingly, on August 20, she appeared on Sean Hannity's radio show and declared that she was going to tell Democrats that "under no certain circumstances will I give the government control over my body." If Michele Bachmann wants to slit her wrists, the government had better stay out of it!

April 6: Here's a doozy: In response to a recently-passed national service bill that expands Americorps, Bachmann expresses concern that this could lead to mandatory service for young people, and what she describes as "re-education camps," where "young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go and work in some of these politically correct forums. It's very concerning. It appears that there's a philosophical agenda behind all of this, and especially if young people are mandated to go into this. As a parent, I would have a very, very difficult time seeing my children do this. Again, a huge power-grab, at a cost of billions of dollars."

March 23: Bachmann again whips out the violent rhetoric, this time about an energy tax. She calls herself "a foreign correspondent on enemy lines" just telling everyone about "nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington." Bachmann says she wants "people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue," because "we need to fight back." This continues Bachmann's, er, crusade against environmentalism. On August 12, 2008 she spoke out against Nancy Pelosi's "global warming fanaticism" that has come "to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet." According to Bachmann, "we all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that."

October 17, 2008: And of course, this classic: During the 2008 campaign, Bachmann appears on Hardball, rails against "leftist liberal views," and declares that she is "absolutely" concerned that Obama is Anti-American. She goes on to say that "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 find out are they pro-America or anti-America."