When even an extreme congressman is starting to call you out, you are in trouble.  Rep. Allen West called Rep. Michele Bachmann’s suggestion for drilling oil in the Florida Everglades “an incredible faux pas.”

Over the weekend, Bachmann spoke at a campaign stop in Florida. “The United States needs to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy and more dependent upon American resourcefulness,” Bachmann said. “Whether that is in the Everglades, or whether that is in the eastern Gulf region, or whether that’s in North Dakota, we need to go where the energy is.”

The Republican presidential candidate added, “Of course it needs to be done responsibly. If we can’t responsibly access energy in the Everglades then we shouldn’t do it.”

Rep. Allen West, a strange tea partier known for making his own outlandish statements, pounced on Bachmann’s statement almost instantly. West said during a town hall event in Florida, his home state, “When I see her next week, I’ll straighten her out about that.”

West is not the only person pointing out the potential environmental disaster in Bachmann’s statement. Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said, “To go in the middle of the Everglades and to spoil the river of grass just because somebody wants to, that’s not a wise thing to do.”

Bachmann, who has previously stated she would abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, said she would rely on experts to determine where to drill. The same experts who thought deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was a good idea? “No one wants to hurt or contaminate the earth. … We don’t want to harm our water, our ecosystems or the air.

That is a minimum bar,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “From there, though, that doesn’t mean that the two have to be mutually exclusive. We can protect the environment and do so responsibly, but we can also protect the environment and not kill jobs in America and not deny ourselves access to the energy resources that America’s been so blessed with.”

A CBS reporter in Miami asked Bachmann about her call for drilling, asking, “Why would you invade that natural resource with gas and oil drilling?” Bachmann responded, “Let’s access this wonderful treasure trove of energy that God has given us in this country. Let’s access it responsibly.”

However, many experts do not know if there is any oil beneath the Everglades. A geologist from University of South Florida told CBS News that it doesn’t seem to harbor any “treasure trove.”

“There is no known evidence that there is a significant hydrocarbon deposit beneath the Everglades,” Dr. Albert Hine said.

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Michele Bachmann proves once again she can dominate the news cycle with irrelevant statements and ideas. The representative from Minnesota who is vying for the republican presidential nomination stated that the United States can more energy resources than any other country but “radical environmentalists” won’t allow the government to exploit these resources.

Bachmann told a crowd in Florida that with shale oil, natural gas and coal, the United States shouldn’t be “begging” others for oil and energy supplies. She said “we are the king daddy dogs when it comes to energy,” but that environmentalists are preventing resources from being tapped.

Bachmann specifically pointed out untapped oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off the nation’s coasts along with shale oil in Western states and rich natural gas and coal deposits. Bachmann stated that the U.S. “is sitting on a mother lode of treasure.” Bachmann promises to unlock those resources and disband the Environmental Protection Agency if she was elected president.

“The radical environmentalists have demanded that we lock up all our energy resources,” she said. “President Bachmann will take that key out of the door. I will unlock it.”She added that will eliminate the “job killing” Environmental Protection Agency.

“We will turn out the lights and we’ll lock the doors,” she said. The crowd at a retirement community cheered to those promises. I guess that will happen before she magically lowers gas prices.

Bachmann also spoke in Jacksonville last week. She told supporters there that the corporate income tax should be reduced to prevent more companies from moving jobs overseas. She was later asked by a reporter whether changes to the minimum wage should also be considered to balance the cost of labor here and overseas.”I’m not married to anything. I’m not saying that’s where I’m going to go,” she said.

“I want to bring advisers in from labor and from manufacturers and from the service industry and financial services. I want to know what they know, because that’s what we’ve been missing from President Obama. He has virtually no one in his Cabinet with private sector experience,” Bachmann said. “I want to bring people who know how to create jobs into my administration.”

Bachmann told the crowd she knows Florida will play an important role in the election.”We will be back here many, many, many, many, many times in Jacksonville, and we’re going to be old friends and neighbors by the time this is all done,” she said.

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Michele Bachmann, the newly emerged frontrunner in the Republican presidential field, is trying to broaden her base in order to win the nomination. Often thought of as a tea party candidate, the congresswoman from Minnesota appears to be trying to appeal to all Republicans and not just those on the fringe.

“Fiscal conservatives – I’m one of those. National security conservatives – I’m one of those. Social conservatives – I’m one of those. And the tea party – I’m one of those,” Bachmann said repeatedly in South Carolina this past week.

Although Bachmann has always regarded herself as a social conservative, the economy is the number one concern among voters at this time. Bachmann has to try to appeal to moderates and independents as well as the socially conservative in her party.

She has had a 100 percent rating from the influential American Conservative Union during her nearly five years in Congress, based on her voting record. She frequently appears on television and has been a favorite among the tea party. During a recent debate, she skillfully handled a question about a past remark citing the Bible as instructing wives to be “submissive to your husbands.” In a measured tone, she explained it was about showing mutual respect. Although, that is not at all the definition of submission.

In Florence, South Carolina last week, she began her remarks with her views on cultural issues. However, she quickly moved to jobs. “You cannot spend more money than what you take in. It’s a simple fact of life, right?” Bachmann told a receptive crowd in South Carolina. She promised to submit only balanced budgets as president even though critics say that’s impossible.

To national security conservatives, she said: “I won’t step one toe out of this country and apologize for the United States of America,” the rap that Obama’s foreign policy approach gets from conservatives. Bachmann has also been emphasizing her role on the House Intelligence Committee, stressing how she’s trusted with the nation’s secrets and apprised of the most pressing threats.

Bachmann has also been reminding voters that her hometown is in Waterloo, Iowa in an attempt to appeal to Iowa voters and paint the picture of a down home woman from Middle America. But, even if Bachmann wins Iowa, she will have a much more difficult time in New Hampshire.

“I see very little oxygen left for Michele Bachmann in New Hampshire. Though she has some appeal, it is not very broad,” said GOP strategist Jamie Burnett, a former Romney backer unaligned with a candidate this time. “To win here, she is going to need to attract support from beyond the tea party in order to compete.”

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Rep. Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota that is trying to run for president, often gets her facts really screwed up. And just because she is running for the GOP nomination does not mean she has started to check her facts any better.

Trying to make a point for smaller government, Bachmann has taken on federal employees. I have much to say about picking on governmental workers when we tax the rich less than the middle class but we will save that for another day.

While on “Fox News Sunday” this past weekend, Bachmann said, “We had one employee at the federal Department of Transportation that made $170,000 a year at the beginning of the recession.”

“We had the trillion dollar stimulus, and 18 months into the recession, we had 1,690 employees making over $170,000,” she continued. “Government has really been growing at — a lot of largesse. But people in the real world aren’t. And that’s what has to change. Government has no conformity at all with the real world,” She stated.

Although federal transportation workers making $170,000 or more a year increased after Obama took office, the increase was authorized under President George W. Bush.

It was not associated with stimulus spending but was a modest pay raise for highly-trained employees.  Most of the pay raises were to air traffic controllers, experts responsible for thousands of airline passengers’ lives each day. Furthermore, the congresswoman herself voted in 2008 for a separate bill that increased federal worker pay.

Bachmann used her statistics from a USA Today article that talked about the increase in transportation workers pay. However, the article never mentioned any stimulus spending.

“Because of the technical difficulty, stressful nature, and critical importance of the air traffic controller work, many of the highest paid employees at the Department of Transportation work in air traffic control,” a Department of Transportation spokesperson wrote in a statement sent to The Huffington Post.

“In December 2007 (the beginning date used by USA Today in compiling their 2009 report), the statutory cap on yearly salary was set at $168,000, and a number of senior air traffic control employees were at the statutory cap.

For that reason, once the cap was raised by the Bush Administration in January 2008 and 2009, even modest year to year salary increases bumped a number of air traffic control employees over the arbitrarily chosen $170,000 limit used in the USA Today report.”

Percentage-wise, the pay increase Bachmann keeps referring to is actually quite small, John Palguta, vice president for policy and research at the Partnership for Public Service, pointed out. And most federal employees have been working under a pay freeze for the last couple years, he added.

“What you want to do is pay a salary that is in the ballpark competitive with other major employers, if you’re the government,” said Palguta. “No one wants to overpay federal workers — I certainly don’t.

I’m a taxpayer too, and I’m a former fed. But you don’t want to underpay either, such that you’re not getting people who are the best at what the job is.”

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After Michele Bachmann’s crucial win in the straw poll in Iowa on Saturday, she made the rounds on the Sunday morning shows answering some difficult questions with her well rehearsed sound bites.

Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman, defended her hypocrisy on federal stimulus money on Fox News. She also stated that even though she was adamantly against raising the debt ceiling, she never advocated default. Really?

On “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace noted the recent rating downgrade by credit rating agency Standard & Poor. Bachmann continued to defend her position, stating that she put forth her own plan that would have denied an increase in the debt ceiling and instead required the Treasury Department to prioritize payments to U.S. creditors, Social Security recipients, Medicare beneficiaries and the U.S. military.

Wallace pointed out that doing that would have required defunding a majority of government programs, but Bachmann was undeterred. “Doesn’t that tell you how bad off the U.S. is — the fact that we’re overspending to that amount?” Bachmann said.

Wallace asked Bachmann how she would work with Democrats to increase the credit rating. Bachmann provided an interesting answer, saying she would “work tirelessly” to ensure that the Republican Party picked up 13 seats in the Senate, giving Republicans a filibuster-proof majority to enact her agenda.

“That would send a very strong signal to the market,” Bachmann said.

Bachmann later appeared on “This Week” on ABC News. Jake Tapper, guest anchor this week, asked Bachmann what specific programs she would cut to reduce the federal budget deficit. Bachmann suggested that Medicare and Social Security would be on the chopping block.

“Right now, we’re gonna reform entitlements,” Bachmann said. “Medicare, Medicaid, they have to be changed. Why should we continue to run these program the way we did 45 years ago? Systems have changed.

We can — we can make these far more efficient than what they are. Social Security is another program, 80 years old. Why would we continue to run it in the same way we did 80 years ago? Let’s modernize it so it’s there for people who depend on it.”

Bachmann wrapped up the talk show circuit with an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Host David Gregory pressed Bachmann for follow up on a question she received during the debate on Thursday night about the roles wives play.

In a 2006 speech, Bachmann had said that wives had to be submissive to their husbands. “My husband said, now you need to go and get a post-doctorate degree in tax law. Tax law, I hate taxes. Why should I go and do something like that? The Lord says, ‘Be submissive.’ Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands.”

Gregory played the sound bite and asked, “Is that your view for women in America? Is that your vision for them?”

“Submission — that word means respect,” Bachmann replied.

Gregory said that in his discussions with his own wife, the two words are not equivalent.

“In our house, it is,” Bachmann said.

Gregory asked: “His word goes?”

“Well, both of our words go,” Bachmann said. “We respect each other. We’re a good team together.”

And this is who the GOP wants for president. A woman that believes submissive means the same as respect and a woman who will follow her husband’s orders. Who exactly is running? Bachmann or her husband?

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In Ames, Iowa, Tea Party representative Michele Bachmann won a symbolic straw poll at a political festival held at the campus of Iowa State University. The vote was held on the same day as Rick Perry announced his candidacy and comes five months before the first official Iowa primaries, according to the BBC.

The Ames straw poll was a vote by attendees over the age of 18 and by the end of the day, Bachmann had received 4,823 of the 16,892 votes. Runner-up Ron Paul took a close 4,671 votes in the non-binding contest while former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlentry finished third with 2,283.

The straw poll is expected to give Bachmann’s campaign a boost and in her speech to the crowd after the count, she states “This is the first step towards taking the White house in 2012 and we have just sent a message that Barack Obama will be a one-term president.” The Boston Globe could report that the victor, who is the first female candidate to win the informal contest, had broken down in tears and hugged her husband after learning the result.

Despite the poll holding no official significance, observers agree that the poll has symbolic significance for the candidates. “It’s a big boost for her,” said Mike Huckabee, former winner of the caucuses, to reporters. “Whoever wins or comes in second, they get gas for their fire. Whoever doesn’t, they get water for theirs.”

Fire is definitely burning in the Republican camp where the race for a chance to challenge President Obama on key issues such as the recent downgrade, unemployment, health care and Wall Street will be critical in the bid to convince voters of what camp can best resuscitate the ‘ailing America’ as the Huffington Post puts it.

On the day of the straw poll, thousands of GOP activist gather at the Iowa State University campus to enjoy the festival that also serves as a fundraiser for the state GOP. Despite the attempt of several candidates to sway voters, Michele Bachmann stole the show. Her rhetoric and energy was noted as the important ingredient in her triumphant day.

In her speech, she emphasized her connection to the state and her opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Later, she danced on stage with her husband before 3,000 supporters and hundreds more who had gathered outside in hopes of catching a glimpse.

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