This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 11, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
TIM PAWLENTY, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's an indisputable fact that in Congress, the record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent.
MICHELE BACHMANN, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me. I have a very consistent record of fighting very hard against Barack Obama and his unconstitutional measures in Congress.
PAWLENTY: She says she's got a titanium spine. It's not her spine we're worried about. It's her record of results. If that's your view of effective leadership with results, please stop because you're killing us.
BACHMANN: Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama ran Congress, but I gave them a run for their money.
BACHMANN: I fought. When others ran, I fought.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity." We are in Ames, Iowa tonight. Now a short time ago, a debate between eight energized GOP presidential hopefuls came to a close.
Now, more than once things got specially heated between two of tonight's contenders as you just saw. And for more on all that and tonight's events Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins us.
How are you, Congresswoman? Good to see you. Did you have a good time up there? Got a little heated up there at times.
BACHMANN: Yes, I was. Welcome to my home state. This is where I was born.
HANNITY: You were born in Iowa.
BACHMANN: I was in born in Iowa, in Waterloo and I'm actually the seventh generation Iowan. So we go back to pioneer days.
HANNITY: All right, well, let's talk about one of the worst things you can say, somebody reminds you of Obama. In that exchange that you had with Governor Pawlenty, things getting pretty heated between two of you a little bit. He challenged you on accomplishments and some other issues. What is going on here? What's the dynamic?
BACHMANN: Well, my record of accomplishments has been based on being a champion for things that people want us to speak out on. They don't want Washington as usual.
I have been at the tip of the spear, whether it was on not putting Obamacare into place or repealing it. Now, for the last two months, I've been a lone voice in the wilderness of Washington saying we can't raise the debt ceiling.
And by the way, we don't have to default to do it either and offering a plan. But also on the issue of cap and trade, Obamacare, big government, I mean, if there has been a fight, I've been in the middle of it and that's what people are looking for a --
HANNITY: Why do you think this emerged between you and Governor Pawlenty? Obviously, you're neighbors are close by and the straw poll is on Saturday. Maybe that added to some of the urgency or intensity.
But you went back at him talking about his support of the individual mandate cap and tax, trade, which he supported as governor, which he's said since that he regrets. Why do you think it's gotten so kind of personal between the two of you?
BACHMANN: Well, the president -- the governor had lodged maybe six or seven attacks against me. We felt that we needed to make a response. And our response was, extremely proud of my record, and what I've done plus the fact that Governor Pawlenty, when he was a governor, he did implement cap and trade in Minnesota.
The businesses are still suffering because of it and he was behind the individual mandate in health care, which is unconstitutional. He wanted to require it for Minnesota and he praised it, that's just a fact.
And also, he says the era of small government is over. I don't think that is what people are looking for right now. What they want is a champion for what they believe in. That is what I've been doing in Washington. I've been in a lot of dust ups in Washington. I've taking on President Obama. I've taken on Nancy Pelosi. I think that is what we need in the president, somebody who's bold, new and different who's going to take it on.
HANNITY: A lot of the issues of principle came up. This came up between you and Senator Santorum tonight and that is that you said -- it was on the debt ceiling debate, about getting things moving forward.
He was trying to make an argument in Washington, when you have divided government, you sometimes have to compromise. What was your standard to raise the debt ceiling? Because you had a standard.
BACHMANN: Well, my standard for raising the debt ceiling was yes, "Cut, Cap and Balance," but also we had to have a full repeal of Obamacare. My opinion has been, I would not raise the debt ceiling right now because we're almost up to $17 trillion.
When I came into office, Sean, we were at $8.67 trillion. In a little over four years, we've almost doubled the debt. Standard and Poor's essentially proved me right what I was saying. We are not in a position to be able to repay our debt when we continue to spend this money.
We didn't have to default. We what we had to do is let markets know we won't default. We will get our AAA credit rating back. We're going to pay the military. We're going to pay our senior citizens.
But then, we're not going to kick the can down the road either. We're going to cut spending now and prioritize. That is not an extremist view. That's the reality view that we have to take because right now piper is asking to be paid. It's hit the fan. We've got to deal with the spending now.
HANNITY: You lose the line. You're finished in 2012. You'll be a one-term president. It's interesting because as you have risen in the polls, your numbers have gone up.
I want to get your thoughts. They've attacked you. They've attacked your husband and more specifically, Newsweek with this recent cover. I wanted to get your reaction to that cover.
BACHMANN: Well, as far as the cover went, I didn't pay a lot of attention to it really. I mean --
HANNITY: Do you think it's meant to be a flattering picture?
BACHMANN: Well, you should ask Jon Huntsman. He's the one who said I was photogenic so, you know, ask Jon Huntsman.
HANNITH: We'll ask him. Well, he's not joining us tonight 00 but look, with headline on there, there has come a lot of criticism, a lot of heat to go with the territory, you prepared for it?
BACHMANN: It is. Yes, it goes with the territory. I mean, honestly, America had a punch in the gut this week. Let's face it. The president got a $2.4 trillion blank check. We got $21 billion in cuts, not much of a deal.
Two days later the stock market dropped over 500 points, then we lost for the first time in the history of the country the AAA credit rating then we saw a terrible tragedy over the weekend and all told we've lost 1,500 points in the stock market. All the president could do was blame earthquakes and the Tea Party? We've got a problem so who cares about a magazine cover.
HANNITY: I never thought that in Congress we have to institute the light bulb freedom of choice act which you brought up tonight.
BACHMANN: Well, but I introduced that because I mean, quite seriously that is symbolic of what is wrong with Washington, isn't it? Because when you're the federal government telling you what light bulb you can use and you can't use? That is why I introduced that bill because when I'm in the White House as president, Sean, you can buy any light bulb you want to buy.
HANNITY: That's good to know. Congresswoman, good to see you. Thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.
BACHMANN: Thank you, Sean. Thank you.
Content and Programming Copyright 2011 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2011 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox