Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) campaigned in Iowa over the weekend, appearing at an annual fundraising event for her ally Rep. Steve King (R-IA). And while she was there, Bachmann said that maybe King should run for president — and he praised her for a “shoot from the hip” political style.
“We’ve got to shoot from the hip sometimes,” King said. “It’s not always ready, aim, fire. Sometimes it’s just time to fire and you’d better have good instincts so that you can shoot and it might look later like you didn’t shoot from the hip but you took careful aim. That’s ‘cause your instincts brought that about.”
“I truly believe that President Obama will be a one-term president. I have no doubt,” said Bachmann. “I’ve talked to Steve King many times and I’ve told Steve King, ‘Why don’t you run for president of the United States?’ I don’t know that our candidate has emerged yet for 2012.”
For his part, King responded: “I want to serve my country in the most effective way I can and I don’t know how that is…Whatever’s in store for me I want to be as effective as I can be. I want to be as clear a voice as I can be. I know presidential candidates will come to Iowa. Actually, I’m a person that can come to Iowa without starting rumors.”
In addition, Bachmann gave a standard line that is expected of political visitors to Iowa — a thorough praise and defense of its status as the first-in-the-nation caucus. Bachmann spoke of her own roots in Iowa — she was born there, and her family then moved to Minnesota when she was a child. “But I’m back here today to be here with all of you,” said Bachmann.
She added: “Just a great state (with) the best people, the most down-home people, family people and I think that’s why the Caucuses — the political Caucuses — need to always start here in Iowa because it’s kind of the center of the nation, but it’s also the heartbeat of the nation where the real people in this country are really at, what the real people think about Washington, D.C. is thinking. Don’t you think that’s true?”
Also, King said that he had a key realization while reading through socialist and progressive websites. “The question isn’t whether the president is a socialist,” King said. “It becomes what’s to the left of socialists.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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