Michele Bachmann Addresses 'Submissive Wife' Comments

Michele Bachmann is still trying to explain the remarks she made at the Living Word Christian Center in 2006, when she told the congregation, "The Lord says: Be submissive, wives. You are to be submissive to your husbands." According to a Washington Post profile, she said at the time that she pursued a degree in tax law at the urging of her husband, Marcus.

Bachmann was the family breadwinner, working as an attorney for the IRS, until her fourth child was born in 1993. Since she won her Minnesota Congressional seat in 2006, it has been Marcus who has been charged with taking care of the family and their controversial Christian counseling practice. So who is the submissive one now?

The Washington Post caught the candidate between campaign stops in Iowa and asked her to clarify:

Since Bachmann was elected to Congress five years ago, the primary caregiver for their oft-mentioned kids has been her husband, Marcus Bachmann, back home in Minnesota. "We've been a tag team," she says. Only, her husband has been "it" for the past five years, hasn't he, despite her Bible-based belief that wives should be submissive to their husbands?

"My husband is the head of the household," she says, but "we’re equals. If it came down to it, I’d probably let him have the last word." But in 33 years, she adds, this has never happened. "Every decision has been a negotiated settlement."

It was not the first time the GOP hopeful has been asked whether she is submissive to her husband. At a primary debate in Ames, Iowa, conservative columnist Byron York posed the question -- to boos from the crowd.

"I respect my husband, he's a wonderful godly man, and we respect each other," Bachmann replied.

 

 

Comments

[robinree]

01:58 PM on 11/29/2011

So just to clarify: be submissive to your husband and let him have the last word except that you are equals with your husband and every decision has been a compromise. No wonder I can never understand her policies. Even her policies about being a wife are confused and conflicted.

[thejadedentrepreneur]

12:39 AM on 11/29/2011

He's gay. Duh.

[skatoolaki]

01:11 PM on 11/28/2011

We all know Marcus is the bottom...er, I mean, submissive one in this relationship.

[bogey1]

08:15 PM on 11/26/2011

I think Michelle Bachmann was speaking of her husband as the "submissive wife"

[JrayTo]

12:37 PM on 11/26/2011

With Bachmann and other early primates(conservatives), we call marriage, "Pair Bonding".

[marcchagal]

12:16 PM on 11/26/2011

It looks like Baby Huey (Mr. Bachmann) has grown out of his suit jacket. The upper button is above the center of his chest. You may not be able to see it here, but go back to the first page of POLITICS and you can see it there.

I can't imagine submitting to this very unattractive repulsive man.

[datenutloaf]

11:18 AM on 11/26/2011

We know who's the submissive in the Bachmann house......

[ForeignFlier]

10:31 AM on 11/26/2011

I can 't stand the woman...!!!!!

[StevenM]

08:48 AM on 11/26/2011

There are many Promise Keepers (remember those?) and other conservative Christians who like to pretend for ideological (and biblical) reasons that the husband is the "head" of the house and the wife is "submissive" to her husband. Yet despite their ideological rhetoric, many of their homes are de facto matriarchal in structure, the husband claims to be the "head" of the house because his wife told him to say so. I doubt that Marcus Bachmann does much without Michele's permission. There is often a serious disconnect between rhetoric and actual practice among conservative Christians.

[peteschwarze]

08:08 AM on 11/26/2011

This is about as relevant as the Obama birth certificate. I don't care who gets on top...what's she going to do for....or more to the point, TO, the country?

[Comicoffee]

10:19 AM on 11/26/2011

It's relevant in the sense that if she does whatever he tells her, there is a serious question over which Bachmann would really be running the country if elected. It's irrelevant in the sense that there's no way she'll even win a primary, let alone a general election.

[peteschwarze]

10:41 AM on 11/26/2011

Very true, but in regard to your concern, this risk always exists with any president. Look at the concerns about Nancy Reagan. And before you criticise anyone, here's a thought...have you ever wondered if some of these whack jobs from either party who inhabited the white house got tamed down by their spouses. Like GW wanting to attack Iran and Laura says..."no dear two wars at the same time is enough". Just saying. Although I wouldn't push the spousal fear to much...we wouldn't want anyone who opposes the idea of a woman president using that one. I hope your right though, even if Bachmann were single...I wouldn't want her anywhere near that white house.

[signgrrl]

10:59 AM on 11/26/2011

after all, she did become a tax attorney because he wanted her to . . . .

[Strywever]

10:21 AM on 11/26/2011

Seems possible we should also be concerned about what her HUSBAND would do to the country, since her religious beliefs apparently require her to trust his judgment more than her own.

[peteschwarze]

10:56 AM on 11/26/2011

Her religious beliefs are less scary than the political implications of her employing them. Keep in mind...this woman called the Pope the anti-christ. That's just an example of the conflict of interest....will she refuse to recognize the vatican? (which is considered a state under international protocols).

[SteveDenver]

01:27 AM on 11/26/2011

Michele and Nancy can try and spin it any way they want, but nobody is fooled.

[Comicoffee]

10:20 AM on 11/26/2011

I'd say the poor guys getting scammed out of their money in Marcus's clinics are being fooled.

[Michael D OBrien]

06:39 PM on 11/26/2011

What's that old saying about people who live in 'glass closets?'

[Randy Chidester]

11:07 PM on 11/25/2011

Her tax law degree from a nonaccredited school. Now her husband takes care of her kids who are at least twenty years old. Marcus is a old school hustler. She signs over that 175k paycheck.. He is no fool

[Former Icon]

12:05 PM on 11/26/2011

And he still gets his nights out with the guys!

[bobo5]

10:13 PM on 11/25/2011

Marcus has huge fingers. No wonder Michele has those eyes.

[Comicoffee]

10:21 AM on 11/26/2011

Thank you for that disturbing image. I'm going to go wash my brain with bleach now.

[signgrrl]

11:00 AM on 11/26/2011

pass it over here when you're done, OK ? if there's any left . . . . .

[Kellybelle22]

12:02 PM on 11/26/2011

I hear you. I think I need electro-convulsive therapy to rid myself of that one. . . . and an antiemetic along with it.

[SnapShots]

09:58 PM on 11/25/2011

They are so much like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, it's comical.

[livesimply]

03:39 AM on 11/26/2011

At least Jim and Tammy never pretended to be anything else but religious nuts.

[SnapShots]

10:10 AM on 11/26/2011

Jim pretended to be heterosexual.

[X-JerseyGuy]

09:39 PM on 11/25/2011

Yeah! and MissyMarcus is str8!