Republican presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) criticized former President George W. Bush for "embracing a kind of 'bailout socialism,'" by signing into law the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to a soon-to-be released memoir obtained by Fox News.
"The Bush administration, which had always professed faith in the free-market system, was now reversing its course," wrote Bachmann in her upcoming memoir, Core of My Conviction: My Story. Bachmann also accused former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson of embracing "bailout socialism." Bachmann wrote that Bush was an "eminently decent man" when meeting him when he campaigned for her 2006 congressional campaign.
Bush acknowledged in December 2008 that he had "abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." He later said in a January 2009 press conference, "I readily concede I chucked aside some of my free-market principles when I was told by chief economic advisers that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression."
Bachmann added that it was "painful" to learn that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the then-Republican presidential nominee, was supporting the bill, saying that she believes he could have "changed the 2008 election" had he opposed it. McCain suspended his campaign in September 2008, vowing to help with the bailout deal, but resumed it two days later before a presidential debate. McCain tweeted Monday that he was "very disappointed" with Bachmann and the other Republican candidates (minus Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman) who said that they would resume the practice of waterboarding as president.
Bachmann mentions her presidential campaign announcement in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, but does not note that she made a gaffe the same day when referring to Waterloo as the hometown of John Wayne, when it was in fact the hometown of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
She also warns Republican voters of nominating a candidate with a "play-it-safe campaign," ostensibly referring to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Bachmann appeared to attack Romney earlier this month, without mentioning him by name, saying, "we cannot preserve liberty if the choice is between a frugal socialist and an out-of-control socialist."
The memoir will be released Nov. 21.
