Bachmann: Tea party 'has been only a force for good'

Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Sunday defended the tea party movement, saying that it had "been only a force for good."

"The [Republican] Party has changed so much for the better," Bachmann told CBS host Bob Schieffer. "The tea party has infused the energy and excitement. And really, it's bringing the Republican Party back to its basic values, which is limited government, cutting spending, being smart, and making the government more efficient."

"Has the tea party made compromise a dirty word?" Schieffer wondered. "And is that why Congress can't seem to get anything done?"

"Not at all!" Bachmann replied. "The tea party has been only a force for good in Washington, D.C., because otherwise we continue to go farther and farther to the left, which is redistribution of wealth. That's why [President Barack Obama] will be a one-termer, because all he has been about is redistribution of wealth and the rise of socialist principles, and the Tea Party rejects that."

Watch this video from CBS's Face the Nation, broadcast Jan. 29, 2012.

(H/T: CBS News)