Bachmann gives strong performance in GOP debate, but struggles with facts

Following weeks of decline by her once vibrant presidential campaign, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann came out swinging in Tuesday’s New Hampshire GOP debate, although many of her statements were ruled as misleading or false by media fact-checkers.

Bachmann focused on familiar themes, slamming “Obamacare” and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms while touting the need for fewer regulations to create jobs.

“I am a mother of 28 kids, 23 foster kids, 5 biological kids. I get how difficult it is for young people right now to get jobs right out of college. The business world is looking at $1.8 trillion every year in compliance costs, with government regulations. That has to go,” Bachmann said. ”But the number one reason that employers say that they are not hiring today is Obamacare, and I was the leading critic for President Obama in Washington, D.C. against Obamacare, that’s why I was the first member of Congress to introduce that bill to repeal Obamacare. I understand that’s what’s inhibiting job creation and job growth.”

The statement blaming health care reform for job loss was labelled “misleading” by CNN’s fact-checkers.

She also insisted during the debate that health care reform spearheaded by Pres. Barack Obama would create a 15-member panel that would “make all the major health care decisions for over 300 million Americans.” CNN fact-checked that statement and found it false.

The Associated Press also found that a Bachmann statement blaming the economic crisis on availability of affordable housing loans ignored the role of unregulated mortgage lenders in rolling those loans into securities that Wall Street then snapped up.

But despite some of Bachmann’s questionable statements, she was heralded for her performance Tuesday, with Politico saying she delivered a “solid performance” as “the Michele Bachmann conservatives fell in love with during the campaign’s early debates.”

Bachmann largely focused on content that would appeal to social conservatives, many of whom first abandoned her for Rick Perry and now Herman Cain. She criticized Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan as yet another possible revenue stream for government to use.

“When you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil is in the details,” Bachmann said.

Bachmann’s campaign touted her performance to reporters in a press release after the debate titled “Bachmann dominates at economic debate.”

Bachmann started a campaign swing this week through New Hampshire, where she’s mostly been absent. Her campaign is largely focused on Iowa, where she hopes to gain the support of the conservatives that dominate the state’s GOP.