Bachmann: Weather as divine message was "metaphor"

On "Face the Nation" Sunday morning, Michele Bachmann said her recent claim that the East Coast weather events were a sign from the divine was a "metaphor" and backed a push for low taxes on repatriated corporate income taxes.

"Do you believe that God does use the weather to send people messages?" CBS's Bob Shieffer asked in response to her quote that the East Coast earthquake and hurricane were a message.

"Obviously, I was speaking metaphorically. That was clear to the audience. It was clear to me. Because the American people have been desperately trying to get the president's attention. He's not paying attention.," Bachmann said on the Sunday talk show. "That was a metaphor that I was making."

"Do you believe that God uses weather to send people messages?" Shieffer asked again.

"I believe in God. I'm not ashamed to say that I believe in God. I'm a woman of faith and a woman of prayer. But the comment that I made right then was a metaphor. That was very simply what I was doing," she replied.

She also backed the idea of giving American corporations that repatriate earnings a significant tax break.

"We could bring that money in at a zero percent tax rate ...and then have it permanently fixed at five percent," Bachmann said. Bachmann said such a plan would "kick start the economy" and "be true stimulus."

The idea that repatriation of corporate earnings and guaranteeing a low tax rate would bring in revenue and create jobs has rattled around for years. Studies differ on whether it would be a successful strategy. A Joint Committee on Taxation report found that one such proposal would cost billions. A dissenting study found it would actually create billions in revenue gains.

She also said he was open to the idea, forwarded most recently by Sarah Palin, of eliminating all corporate income taxes.

"We could go that route. If we went that route, then we'd have to have a fundamental restructuring of the tax code. I'm open to having that debate," Bachmann said. "The current corporate tax rate is killing job creation....We certainly could get down to a zero percent corporate tax rate but it would mean a fundamental restructuring of the tax code."

Those comments provoked a sharp reply on Twitter from Republican state Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington. "If it's Sunday, it's time for Bachmann to suggest some crazy tax idea bit.ly/n2hohJ, " Garofalo tweeted. Garofalo was an ardent supporter of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty's run for president. Pawlenty dropped out of the race last month.

Bachmann also backed lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, from its current 35 percent. Pawlenty, when he was in the race, proposed lowering it to 15 percent.

During the appearance, Bachmann said the promise of $2 a gallon gasoline was achievable and clarified comments on drilling in Florida's Everglades.

"I didn't bring this up. I didn't say that we should drill in the Everglades," Bachmann said. Rather, she claimed that she backed using the resources America has "but do it responsibly." She said that was true "anywhere in the United States."

Update: Here's the full transcript of the appearance.

Meanwhile, Bachmann may have something else to worry about come December. The proprietors of the Dump Bachmann and Ripple in Stillwater blogs, anti-Bachmann online chroniclers from before she was in the national spotlight, have landed a contract for a new book with John Wiley & Sons. Don't expect the tome will be kind to the 6th District congresswoman. It is tentatively titled, "The Madness of Michele Bachmann."