Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann gave a passionate 45-minute speech Saturday night to a crowd of about 180 local Republican activists, bringing them to their feet as she charged them with helping take over the U.S. Senate and putting a “strong, courageous, bold” constitutional conservative in the White House in 2012. 
 
 Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann gave a passionate 45-minute speech Saturday night to a crowd of about 180 local Republican activists, bringing them to their feet as she charged them with helping take over the U.S. Senate and putting a “strong, courageous, bold” constitutional conservative in the White House in 2012. 
 
 She didn't say whether she would be a candidate for that spot. 
 
 “You are blessed enough to be one of the first four states who will choose our nominee,” Bachmann said. “I trust you. I know you will do it. Be involved. Take a measure of the candidates. Choose wisely. Because our times are in your hands.” 
 
 Bachmann, a conservative firebrand and head of the Tea Party Caucus, spoke in Columbia before heading to Spartanburg. Her trip followed an all-night session in Congress where the final vote on a resolution to fund the federal government was taken shortly before 5 a.m. 
 
 She recounted that debate, highlighting some of the estimated $61 billion spending cuts Republicans pushed through. 
 
 Bachmann criticized Democratic President Barack Obama often, particularly over health care reform. 
 
 She thinks many areas of society are under attack — from the free-market system to the family, America's place in the world to the futures of the nation's children and grandchildren. 
 
 “Every generation has made a decision that we are a worthy nation to go on. And they made the sacrifices that we would,” Bachmann said. 
 
 “And so now it's for us. We decide. Do we go on? Or does the bubble burst? And I've made my decision. That's why I'm here in South Carolina. Because I say the dream goes on. And I've made a decision that I am all in to preserve the liberties to the latest generation. This dream doesn't die with us. This dream goes on to the next generation. We have too much invested in that generation, because we are the indispensable nation of the world.” 
 
 Bachmann said the current U.S. tax code should be scrapped, calling it “a weapon of mass destruction” that destroys America's work ethic: “We need a radically different system.” 
 
 She criticized the Federal Reserve for actions she believes causes U.S. currency to lose value. She said this country should follow Ronald Reagan's example of firing workers who go on strike. And she said this country couldn't afford political correctness when it comes to airport security. 
 
 “Our Peace Prize-winning president is very busy bowing these days to kings. He is bending down to dictators, and he is brown-nosing the elites that are in Europe, and he's babying the jihadists who are following Sharia-compliant terrorism. He is callow and confused and inconsistent in his response to the Egyptian crisis, and to the uprisings in Iran, and to the terrorist threats,” Bachmann said. “And he's accomplishing something nobody thought even possible: He's making Jimmy Carter look like a Rambo tough-guy.” 
 
 Bachmann played to the crowd, a mix of traditional Republicans, strict fiscal conservatives who have risen to power in the last two years and tea party activists. 
 
 She recognized female activists and party officials in the room, calling them “Mama grizzlies,” the phrase popularized by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She called Spartanburg “the epicenter of the conservative comeback in this country.” 
 
 U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., introduced Bachmann, calling her “an unabashed supporter of life, liberty, limited government and constitutional conservatism,” and said she is better known in the 4th Congressional District than he is. 
 
 “We do not know what your travel plans for 2012 might be, but to the extent that you find yourself back in South Carolina, we would be delighted to host you in the Upstate again,” Gowdy said. 
 
 Spartanburg County Republican Party Chairwoman LaDonna Ryggs called Bachmann “inspirational” and “very presidential.” 

 Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) criticized the country's current tax code as "a weapon of mass destruction" in a speech she delivered Saturday night to local Republican activists in South Carolina, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports. 
 
 According to the local outlet, the Tea Party favorite called for the system to be abolished. "We need a radically different system," she stressed to a crowd of nearly 200 guests. 
 
 In speaking out on the state of the U.S. economy, Bachmann didn't hold back in taking aim at President Barack Obama's handling of the issue. 
 
 "Our Peace Prize-winning president is very busy bowing these days to kings," she reportedly said. "He is bending down to dictators, and he is brown-nosing the elites that are in Europe, and he's babying the jihadists who are following Sharia-compliant terrorism." 
 
 Sharing her take on how the White House has handled the recent uprisings in Egypt and Iran, Bachmann suggested, "[Obama's] making Jimmy Carter look like a Rambo tough-guy." 
 
 The conservative congresswoman's trip to South Carolina has led some to speculate she may be mulling a bid for the White House in 2012. Despite once denying a presidential campaign could be in her political future, the Republican lawmaker has more recently signaled a run may not be off the table. 
 
 "I'm hopeful and very optimistic about where we're going to go in 2012," Bachmann said at one stop on her trip, according to the Associated Press. 
 
 Bachmann has not decided if she will run for president in 2012. Her consideration is taking her to other early contest states including Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. She drew applause when she defended the tea party activists, saying they are simply people who think taxes and the deficit are too high and support the U.S. Constitution.
– Michelle Bachmann labeled the US tax code as a “weapon of mass destruction," calling for “a radically different system” in a speech to GOP activists in South Carolina. The congresswoman slammed President Obama’s handling of protests in Egypt and Iran, saying he’s “making Jimmy Carter look like a Rambo tough-guy.” South Carolina will hold the nation's first GOP primary, in another sign Bachmann's looking hard at 2012, the Huffington Post reports. "Our peace prize-winning president," she told an audience of 200, is “bending down to dictators, and he is brown-nosing the elites that are in Europe, and he's babying the jihadists who are following Sharia-compliant terrorism," notes the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. But “I'm hopeful and very optimistic about where we're going to go in 2012,” she said.