I got this from the comments section at Ace of Spades (Headlines thread). It's a great breakdown of her positions on Cap and Trade, Gun Control, small government, taxes, border control, abortion, and others. It's from Vic, and I hope he doesn't mind me posting it as an extra here.

Take a look below the fold, it's long, but broken out nicely.

Thanks Vic!

added this link from clintbird at Uncivil Peasants: Wall Street Journal (Stephen Moore): On the Beach, I bring Von Mises (Bachmann article)

Michele Bachmann

Cap and Trade/AGW

Bachmann has always been a very outspoken opponent of Crap and Tax and she hasn’t minced words on it either. Her deeds also match the words as she voted against the crap and tax bill. (Note there were 8 Republican DIABLO traitors who crossed the aisle to vote for that bill allowing it to pass. 50 Democrats voted against it)

Although AGW itself wasn’t mentioned in the last debate she threw this little bit of red meat out there:

Here’s the other thing. Every time the liberals get into office, they pass an omnibus bill of big spending projects. What we need to do is pass the mother of all repeal bills, but it’s the repeal bill that will get a job killing regulations. And I would begin with the EPA, because there is no other agency like the EPA. It should really be renamed the job-killing organization of America .

She isn’t afraid to attack the things conservatives hate. This is probably her biggest strength with conservatives.

She gets a big plus on this score

Gun Control

Bachmann is solidly pro-second amendment in words and votes. She has received the endorsement of the NRA and has an "A” rating from them.

She gets a plus here

Small government in general (spending and regulation)

On taxes, what can you say, she set up the Tea Party Caucus in the House. She is also a former tax lawyer so you could say she is an expert on taxes. She has been roundly attacked for her call to repeal ALL capital gains taxes. She has consistently voted to lower taxes and to try to make them more fair. From what I can tell from the On the Issues site she would like a flat tax:

Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words--the length of the original Constitution.

On spending she is mostly good. She voted against the original porkulous package but she voted for the "additional stimulus” later in July. She voted no on the GM/Chrysler bailouts, she voted no on cash for clunkers, she voted no on the 60B "jobs” bill. In fact, it looks like she has voted against every spending bill the Dems have pushed other than the second stimulus package in July 2009. One wonders what was in that bill? She is also signed on to the balanced budget amendment pledge. Overall she is a budget hawk.

On government regulations she has consistently voted against increased regulation. The quote above on the EPA is a perfect example. She has advocated ALL federal agencies be audited for reform or total elimination. (Damn she sounds a lot like me).

Overall she is exactly what you would expect from a Tea Party advocate. She gets a plus here.

Socialized HealthcareLOL, she has been a strong advocate of total repeal of Obamacare. She also voted against SCHIP. A prime quote from the debate:

I was the very first member of Congress to introduce the full-scale repeal of Obamacare. And I want to make a promise to everyone watching tonight: As president of the United States , I will not rest until I repeal Obamacare. It’s a promise. Take it to the bank, cash the check. I’ll make sure that that happens.

She gets a plus here.

Border control/Amnesty

She has consistently called for closing the borders and spoken out against amnesty. I could find nothing on the 2006 McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill but that isn’t surprising. That bill really started in 2005 and she didn’t enter the House until 2006. In addition, when it became apparent that the Republican base was up in arms over that bill and even the Dems were not happy with it it was never brought to the floor in the House.

I’ll give her a plus here.

Abortion

She is firmly and totally prolife. She had the best statement I have ever heard from a candidate when the CNN asshole tried to trip her up on that score:

BACHMANN: I am 100 percent pro-life. I’ve given birth to five babies, and I’ve taken 23 foster children into my home. I believe in the dignity of life from conception until natural death. I believe in the sanctity of human life.

And I think the most eloquent words ever written were those in our Declaration of Independence that said it’s a creator who endowed us with inalienable rights given to us from God, not from government. And the beauty of that is that government cannot take those rights away. Only God can give, and only God can take.

And the first of those rights is life. And I stand for that right. I stand for the right to life. The very few cases that deal with those exceptions are the very tiniest of fraction of cases, and yet they get all the attention. Where all of the firepower is and where the real battle is, is on the general — genuine issue of taking an innocent human life. I stand for life from conception until natural death.

She gets a plus here

Summary

She is plus in all 6 categories and is easily the most conservative candidate based on the above 6 issues. Ron Paul also had pluses on the above issues but Bachmann is stronger than Paul and doesn’t have the major negatives that Paul drags with him. She currently has only one negative that I count and that is her campaign manager.

So why isn’t she the major leader in the race. Answer, name recognition is the primary driver of the polls right now. She is also a House member which is traditionally not a driving ground for a run for the Presidency. But then again, so was Newt and she doesn’t have all of his baggage either. But he has more name recognition.

One thing I do not understand at the On The Issues site is their graphic for rating her. They rated at the very edge of conservative and call her a "moderate conservative”. They rate Pawlenty much further to the right of her and he is actually much more liberal based on his record.

Truth in advertising moment here, Bachmann is on my short list for this election and it is based on this kind of rating.

Posted by: LC Aggie Sith at June 21, 2011 08:18 AM (+bSoE)

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