In an exclusive interview, Rep. Michele Bachmann, who looks all but certain to run for President of the United States, tells The Brody File that she would be a “new and different” candidate who should not be written off by the mainstream media.
Most political prognosticators say she could do well in Iowa but can’t win the General Election.
Bachmann told me, “Those kinds of things were said about Ronald Reagan, weren’t they in ‘76? and ‘80? And he shocked the world.”
The Brody File interviewed Bachmann after her speech at Friday’s Faith and Freedom Coalition event. The discussion actually took place inside the car that drove Bachmann away from the D.C. event and back to Capitol Hill. You can watch some clips from the interview below.
Check The Brody File for other exclusive backstage interviews including Jon Huntsman, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Rep. Paul Ryan, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
Ralph Reed’s event is an important stop for prospective presidential candidates. They’re speaking to hundreds of key GOP Primary voters, made up of both Evangelicals and Tea Party members. The Brody File calls them, “Teavangelicals.”
His Faith and Freedom Coalition organization made a huge difference at the ballot box in 2010 and they’re expecting to make an even bigger splash in 2012.
Video Courtesy: CBN News/The Brody File
Michele Bachmann On What She Would Bring To The Table As A Presidential Candidate:
David Brody: You are so popular with the Tea Party and Evangelicals. What about this whole K street crowd? They're skeptical. The whole GOP establishment thing, but you probably don’t care about that too much, do you?
Rep. Michele Bachmann: I think that I bring a lot of unique features to the table. For one thing I understand the economy and I understand business. I’m a businesswoman. I’m a federal tax litigation attorney. I have a post doctorate degree.
And the other thing is my husband and I started a business from scratch. We own two clinics. So I get profit, I like profit. I think profit is a good thing for the United States. It creates jobs and so I understand all of that, how business runs, and I think that's part of what the establishment looks for is 'does a candidate really understand the economy? Do they really understand how business runs?
Yes I do because we've turned a profit and we've hired people and we get job creation. I think that's part of their main concern. Now, I’m not bought and paid for by special interests. That makes me very different, so if that's a threat to special interest, well, so be it.
Michele Bachmann on Mainstream Media Saying She Can’t Win General Election:
The mainstream media says well she can win Iowa but she has no shot at the nomination. When you hear all those reports, what do you think?
Bachmann: Well those kinds of things were said about Ronald Reagan weren’t they in ‘76? and ‘80? And he shocked the world then. I think the American people right now are looking for new and different. They want new and different. They want a principled reformer and that's one advantage that I have.
I have worked very hard when I was in the Minnesota state legislature. but also here in Congress in Washington, D.C., people know I’m a principled reformer. I stick to my beliefs and my principles, which are based upon the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
I stick with those but I also have been successful in finding solutions to problems and getting things done. So that’s what people want, a principled reformer who's going to stay true to their convictions and yet be able to accomplish something.
We have to turn around the economy. We have to start making things in the United States again. Even the Chinese communists have figured that out. If you want your country to grow, you have to make things in your own country. So we need to do that for American job creation. That’s going to be what i focus on.
Michele Bachman on Her Healthcare Solution:
Brody: Not a bad Mitt Romney situation but why isn't it good enough to a lot of the folks in the GOP where he says ‘look I was Governor of Massachusetts and I came up with a state solution, the 10th amendment, this whole idea that it’s a federalist position. Why isn’t that good enough for some Tea Party folks?
Bachmann: Well, you’d have to ask the voters what they think. I can’t comment on what they think. They have to, but I will tell you what I think and that is we need to have a president who has the foresight to know what’s going to work and be beneficial for the country and what won’t.
One thing I know I’m an unashamed apologist for free markets. I love free markets and I know the free market is what will help healthcare. Let me give you what the answer is in healthcare. We know what the problem is. The problem is cost, that the cost drivers are pushing up healthcare to be so expensive that a lot of average people can’t afford it anymore.
So we need to bring the cost down. In order to do that you let people buy any health insurance policy they want, anywhere in the country, no minimum mandate. Then you let people pay for it with their own tax-free money so the government doesn’t tax the money at all, that you pay for your health insurance premium, that you pay for your deductable, or your co-pay or your pharmaceutical drugs. Whatever it is, you don’t have to pay any taxes on it. That makes your money go further.
And the final thing you have to do is have medical malpractice reform. If you do that, everybody’s health insurance costs come down. Start with that. You don’t need a bureaucracy to do that because all Obamacare is is a government bureaucracy. No new doctors. No new nurses. No additional healthcare because all we’re going to get with Obamacare is this huge federal bureaucracy and a state bureaucracy and a local bureaucracy.
And these are people who their only job will be to say no, to say no to the consumer. And so we’re going to end up paying more and getting less. What a deal! (Sarcasm implied.)