Bachmann responds to ‘workingest’ flap

The office of Rep. Michele Bachmann responded to criticisms over her statements on Minnesota’s work ethic, statements that earned her a spot as a finalist on “Worst Person in the World” list of MSNBC’s Keith Olberman.

Were her words taken out of context? The St. Cloud Times has a transcript of what Bachmann said via Congressional Quarterly. The Times also has a statement form Bachmann’s office:

“As I said, I’m proud to be from the state of Minnesota. And I’ve always been proud of the work ethic of Minnesotans.

“We work long hours and sometimes even two jobs to provide for our families.  But the families across our state and the nation are feeling anxiety. The costs of healthcare, gasoline, tuition, and other necessities are rising.  That’s why it’s more important than ever to provide workers and small businesses with the tools they need to create more jobs and improve the economic future for American families.

“Yesterday, I joined my colleagues in proposing legislation to stimulate our economy and to show the American people that Washington is working for them, and not vice versa.

“Leave it to the naysayers to try to make political gain from a statement congratulating our citizens on their industriousness and strong work ethic.”

Here’s what the full text of what Bachmann said:

“I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota. We’re the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs, we have more women in the workforce than any other state.

“In Minnesota, we like to work and we work hard. We’re not different from other states in our country. That’s what I love about the bill that Eric Cantor is leading the charge on today, because what he wants to do is make sure that more jobs are created for American women, for families.

“We can do that when employers have the resources that they need to create those jobs.

“My husband and I employ 40 people in our small business. And we would be delighted to employ more people. But you can’t do it when the tax man is there with his tin cup, asking for more.

“Some of the stimulus packages that we’ve heard, from Obama, from Clinton, and also from the Democrats in the House and in the Senate, have been to have the tin cup out to the American, say, “We want more of your money so that we can decide how best to stimulate the economy.”

“What we do in this bill is say, “We trust the American employer; we trust Americans to create jobs.” We do this by lowering the tax burden, by creating jobs.

“And if you look at empirical data from the last 40 years, any time you have truly stimulated the economy, it’s been through tax cuts, not through tax increases.

“That’s why I want to go with the winner. This bill is a winner.”