Michele Bachmann Tells Iowa Church Why She Entered Politics
Rep. Michele Bachmann told a church in Iowa Sunday that she got into politics after her foster children brought home objectionable materials given in school.
“They brought some very questionable materials home in their backpack and I didn’t want to just go and grip to my school, I wanted to go and do something positive,” Bachmann told a group of about 55 people at First Church of the Nazarene in Des Moines, according to The Des Moines Register.
The presidential candidate from Minnesota did not specify what the questionable materials said, but she told the gathering that she opposed putting “politically correct attitudes, values and beliefs into schools.”
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Bachmann said her five-year struggle against schools led her to push the Minnesota legislature in 1999 and 2000 to reject provisions in the National Education Goals set by Congress in the 1990s. These goals were seen by many as a predecessor to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which requires states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to students in certain grades as a precondition to receiving federal funding for schools.
“We became the state in the country that repealed a federal government program that had the federal government taking over the local government classroom and essentially pushing high academics out and then putting politically correct attitudes, values and beliefs into schools,” the Tea Party supporter, explained.
Bachmann and her husband Marcus have five children, who were either home schooled or educated in private Christian schools. In addition, they have 23 foster children, who had to attend public schools because of state laws.
After leading prayer in the First Church, Bachmann left to attend another service at Point of Grace Church in Waukee, although the second stop was not planned.
Bachmann’s church visits came a day after Texas Gov. Rick Perry led a massive prayer rally in Houston. However, Bachmann, whose campaign last week released a list of over 100 pastors and Christian leaders from Iowa endorsing her presidential run, is likely to give a tough competition to Perry for evangelical vote in the GOP primaries.
Perry is expected to announce his candidacy for president this month, but for Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll Bachmann will face former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is also eyeing evangelical votes. Pawlenty told a Christian gathering Saturday that solution to America’s economic and other woes lied in the country’s return to God.
The Ames Straw Poll may be the last chance for presidential candidates to prove their mettle in the state before Rick Perry decides to launch his presidential campaign, Business Insider said.
Bachmann, the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota, said she is running for president “to bring a new voice to the White House… a voice of constitutional conservatism, limited government, and a safe and secure America.”
