Bachmann to join Pawlenty at controversial religious right rally

Rep. Michele Bachmann will join Gov. Tim Pawlenty at the biggest religious right event of the year. The Sept. 18 Values Voter Summit, hosted by Focus on the Family and several other groups opposed to gay rights, generates controversy just about every year it’s held. In 2006, a speaker decried “faggots” and a gay-rights movement that was born in the “pit of hell itself.” In 2007, birther Janet Folger claimed that Mitt Romney thought Satan is Jesus’ brother. The buzz in 2008 was the racist “Obama waffles” stand.

The summit announced Pawlenty as a speaker in June. Bachmann’s name was missing from the roster until this week, and on Thursday Focus on the Family urged supporters to attend, using the 6th District Republican as a top selling point.

“Each year, the Values Voter Summit rallies together those citizens who are deeply concerned with the policies that impact our families and our religious liberties,” Sonja Swiatkiewicz of Focus on the Family Action wrote in an email to supporters. “But this event is more than just a discussion of what’s wrong in our country – it’s a chance to be equipped to make a difference in our communities, to make our voices heard and to realize that we’re not alone in our desire to preserve the values upon which our nation was founded.”

“Attendees will have the chance to hear from some of the nation’s top social conservatives, including Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., on issues such as health-care reform,” the email read.

Last year, Bachmann stumped for the GOP’s presidential candidate at the summit, coining a phrase that failed to take off: “McCain is McBrilliant!”

Here are her full remarks from last year .