Rep. Michele Bachmann was asked by Chris Wallace why all of the Republicans during the debate in Iowa were so completely unwilling to compromise that all of them would not even accept a ten to one deal on deficit cuts to tax increases. Rather than admit that Republicans are now so rigid on their stance of never, ever raising taxes after pledging their allegiance to Grover Norquist and that no sort of compromise will ever be acceptable to them, what was Bachmann's response? They all raised their hands because the cuts in the deal would have been "fake."

WALLACE: Let's go back to that moment in the debate, though, when you -- and I've got to say, all the other candidates on that stage said that you would walk away from a debt deal, here it is right here, $10 in real spending cuts, to $1 in revenue increases. 10-1. Even Reagan's top economic adviser, Marty Feldstein, said that is too hard-line, that that would be walking away from a huge conservative victory.

BACHMANN: Well, I think probably Reagan would be the best example, because Reagan was going to get $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. It ended up being $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts. That's the way it works in D.C. The deal sounds so rosy in the very beginning, and usually the cuts are illusory, they are off into future years. And of course one Congress can't bind the next Congress, and a Congress lasts for two years. So we can't bind what future Congresses can do. We can beat our chests and be really proud and say, oh, we're going to cut trillions of dollars, but we can't guarantee what future Congresses will do. That's why no one would take that deal on the Fox stage of the debate, because we all know that they're fake cuts, essentially. They sound good. They're soundbites, but they are not real.

I am about reality. That's what I care about. This is not a joke. This is not just a political game. This is getting the country back on the right track. People really are suffering, all across this state I have seen it. People want jobs, they want job growth, and they want someone who has the backbone to do it. I do.

I guess by that measure, no one in Congress should ever vote on anything that can be overturned by a future Congress or those votes are meaningless. The truth of the matter is we've got one party that is so inflexible on tax increases that they don't care how many lives it destroys as long as we never raise taxes on their rich campaign contributors.