Rep. Michele Bachmann’s remarks to the Colorado-based Independence Institute on Monday generated plenty of interest because of her lurid imagery: She said Democrats are “reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom,” and that anti-reformists need to “make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers.” (Don’t miss where she claims Nancy Pelosi will break arms and backs of Democrats to get health care reform passed.)
But her speech — now posted in two videos by the Independence Institute (which Bachmann once accidentally called the Liberty Institute) — also covered other issues. She said “insurance companies are evil” (before immediately retracting it), likened the government to Al Capone and the mob, and dubbed Minnesota “Franken country.”
At 15:00 in the first video, she presents her solution for health care:
Government creates cartels… They are very much like the mob in Washington, D.C. That’s Washington. It’s Capone. You pay your protection money and you get it and then government creates a cartel for you. It’s a great business, if you can get it. That’s how the joint works. That’s what they’ve done with insurance companies. They’ve created partial monopolies in each state, so that really — Insurance companies are evil. And don’t take it that I’m saying that; I am not saying that. But what I’m saying in terms of free market is if we have true competition across all state lines then you can have insurance companies creating products that people truly want to have. From there you increase the tax-free accounts that people can set up to pay for whatever their health care expenses is…
At 18:00 on the second video, she gives a rousing finale to her comments:
You can win these seats back. Don’t feel defeated. Hey, I got elected in Franken country! Just think, in Minnesota we elected Eugene McCarthy, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, Paul Wellstone, Al Franken, Jesse Ventura and me. How did that happen? It’s possible!
The Independence Institute presents… Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann – Q & A Session
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