Michele Bachmann: Hurricane Irene Was Message from God, Just Kidding

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said that she was just kidding when she said that Hurricane Irene and the earthquake that rocked the East Coast Tuesday was a message from God.

The Minnesota congresswoman, who notoriously hates President Barack Obama, publicly announced that Hurricane Irene was the channel through which God wanted to tell politicians to pay attention to the debt and deficit crisis in the United States.

Of course she was saying it in jest, Bachmann's spokeswoman Alice Stewart told Reuters.

Hurricane Irene, disappointing the jaded populations of the East Coast, killed at least 27 people. Five million homes and businesses are still in the dark.

Vermont, perhaps the hardest-hit state, experienced the worst flooding in its history, making the objectively random earthquake akin to a child riding a bicycle.

I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Bachmann said while campaigning in Sarasota, Florida Sunday.

Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending, she added.

The aggressive woman is currently lagging behind Texas Governor Rick Perry and moderate Mitt Romney.

Politicians have long been notorious for relating God and politics. Minister Pat Robertson also said that last week's earthquake, which caused a crack in the Washington Monument, was evidence of God's wrath at the United States.