Michele Bachmann - Autobiography

Autobiography

In November, 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlines the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs including her parents divorce when she was in the ninth grade. She describes the financial struggles her mother suffered as a single parent in trying to provide for her family and the work ethic she developed as a result of it. She writes of that time, "I took every baby sitting job I could get, because by ninth grade, I was growing conscious of my appearance. In those days, girls had to wear dresses to public school, and if I wanted pretty dresses, I had to buy them, because mom couldn't afford them for me; she couldn't afford lunch money."

Bachmann writes about her political conversion as a young adult when Jimmy Carter, whom she voted for, let her down. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." She also details why she went to work for the Internal Revenue Service. She says it was because she wanted to change the tax code, "from the inside out." She also commented on her role as a Tea Party leader. "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke," she admitted. "I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers."