Rep. Michele Bachmann works to undo self-inflicted political damage

Chances are, your weekend was better than Michele Bachmann's.

As a first-term congresswoman, the Republican from Minnesota likely would have been campaigning anyway. The surprise -- for her and those who had been watching her race -- was that she found herself on the defensive, trying to explain away controversial comments she made Friday night in what became a notorious appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball" (video of which appeared earlier on The Ticket).

Interviewed by host Chris Matthews -- which meant, as a conservative, she was operating without a net -- Bachmann said of Barack Obama, "I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views." She then went on to call for a "penetrating expose" by the media into the levels of patriotism among her colleagues on Capitol Hill.

As word of her comments spread over the Internet, some of her constituents might have been understandably confused. The day before her stop on "Hardball," Bachmann had this to say during a debate in her district with Democratic rival Elwyn Tinklenberg, “If the presidency would somehow go to Barack Obama, I would welcome him to the 6th District ... . As a matter of fact, I would put my hand on his shoulder and give him a kiss if he wanted to.” (The reference harkened back to what had been, until now, Bachmann's main claim to national prominence -- her physicality, as shown below, with President Bush as he worked his way out of House chambers after delivering his 2007 State of the Union address. Grab your headphones, the background music adds a certain quality footage.)

Aside from sending dramatically different signals about her attitudes toward Obama, Bachmann's proposed probe of Congress drew a rebuke, not surprisingly, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Democrat, who just happened to be in Minnesota today, said Bachmann's suggestion "dishonors the position she holds and discredits her as a person."

But here's what really has to concern Bachmann: In the wake of her comments, Tinklenberg has taken in more than $700,000 for his effort to defeat her.

Bachmann, in a local radio interview Sunday, insisted she really did not consider Obama's views anti-American, calling that a "misreading" of what she said.

Actually, it's hard to see how her "Hardball" comments could have been read any other way. Regardless, there can be little debate that she has turned her reelection bid into a race that will be closely watched on election day.

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[nmschu]

These comments are just so sad and disappointing. We need to look at the rules an regulations of campaigns and get this country together.

[Debbi Atkinson]

I just donated to Mr. Tinklenberg's campaign; Ms. Bachmann would do well to remember that we patriotic American's can vote with both wallets as well as ballots!

[Thinktwice]

It would be great to see Bachman lose as a result of her snide and reckless comments. I couldn't think of a more appropriate outcome for her political trajectory.

[Mark J]

LIES: It's not Michele Bachmann's politics or Michele Bachmann's ability, it's her assumption that we are stupid enough to believe her when she so obviously lies.

[wolf]

I watched the interview, when it first came out - and have watched her say similar things in the past. There's only one way to read this: She was taking her cues from the McCain campaign and beefing it up the rhetoric to an even more dangerous level ( as if that were even possible ).

Justice would be in Tinklenberg knocking her out of her seat in the House --- and watching her fade into obscurity.

[Tom]

Obama is anti-American. Why is she in trouble for saying the truth.

The MSM's protection of this guy borders on the Orwellian. OK, we GET IT! You libs who sprang up in the 60's and 70's have an eternal wet dream brain washed into you that you need a Black Friend or a Black President or a Black Whatever.

But, some of us who have been working real jobs in Corporate America have seen how disgusting all this Diversity and Affirmative Action crapola is.

We ddidn't have the luxury of paying 5 bucks for a college credit and yearning to have a black friend. We paid 500 hundred bucks minimum for college credits, work as indentured servants to student loans companies, and have Overated Affirmative Action types (Great Interview/Great Resume/Incompetent at work though) ike Barack Obama as bosses.

It's completely and utterly appalling what a free pass this knucklehead gets. You don't belive me??? Compare his media scrutiny compared to Hillarys. The Journalists (if that's what we still call them) in the U.S. are complete effin joke!

Annoint your Messiah!

And when he screws up play multiple choice with who to blamce (Obviously he is Accountable to No One and Nothing):
- The legacy of slavery is always a good one for the Professional Blame Gamers
- Hmmm...what about the Bush Admin.
- Or.....Jim Crow

Ha ha ha...what a complete effin joke the so-called journalists in America are. First they let Bush start 2 wars withou as much as a peep and now they are handing this inexperienced Senator with no accomplishment (But, 2 autobiographies) become President and will NEVER hold him ACCOUNTABLE for anything....NOTHING....NADA....NEVER....NO ACCOUNTABILITY EVER FOR ANYTHIG HE DOES

Why?

Because he's fulfilling the WET DREAM of having a BLACK FRIEND by a bunch of libs who grew up in the 60's and 70's!

No other reason than that.

IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THEY YOU HOLD THIS GUY TO THE SAME STANDARDS YOU HOLD ALL OTHER PRESIDENTS TO?

NEVER MIND. THE COVERAGE OF OBAMA WILL BE AN ORGY OF ADULATION. I CAN'T STAND MCCAIN AND I AGREE WITH MOST OF OBAMA'S POLICIES BUT IT'S UNTHINKABLE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO WILL NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

George Orwell, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, etc. are rolling over in their graves.

[tedchyn]

May be she showed her true color during the interview - her long held believe from her day in Oral Roberts. Most people from Oral Roberts have narrow view about the world.

[TJ]

She is very symptomatic. Actually, I see lots of symptoms in Republican women. I know that must sound like "generalizing" but, what IS it? Is it Repression? Is it Suppression? Is it...the devil?
Who ARE Republican Women??

[Roger]

While Michele Bachmann's comments were not only despicable but off-the-wall, the larger question to me is how, out of 300,000,000 American's we continue to select wackos like Michele when we enter the voting booth? There are so many middle-of-the-road Americans who are highly qualified to represent us. Why do we continually vote extremists into office? My personal opinion is that middle-of-the-road people simply don't generate enough interest to capture the attention of most American's. Our loss!

[LYNDA WALKER]

She is a disgrace to every American, for her chat with Mathews.

Does she even think? Or, has she been drinking the koolaid to excess?

[Mark]

"Interviewed by host Chris Matthews -- which meant, as a conservative, she was operating without a net"

Why should a grown woman, who is also a member of the House of Representatives, need to operate with a net?
If Bachmann is so drunk on Right-wing Kool-Aid that she thinks that those of us on the Left are "un-American", her constituency should know that she feels this way.
If Bachmann's district, in MN, wants to be represented by someone who spouts Neo-Fascist "clap-trap", so be it. Why shouldn't she be given a chance to show how she really feels?
If Bachmann wanted to be in "friendly territory", she should have gone on Fox News.

[geek]

Not someone I would vote for.

She represents everything that is wrong with politics, say anything, smear and fear.

It is her kind of talk that resulted in interment camps in WW2 and the Red Scare of Joe Macarthy. Sarah Palin been close to crossing that line and Senator Mc Cain has fostered the tone that he cannot be proud of.

[Virgil]

Finally, someone other than McCain calling Obama what he is...a socialist, and borderline communist, that, regardless of what he says, corporate records show that he worked to promote Ayers radical, communist agenda in schools for years. Obama and his redistribution of wealth is right out of Marx. For years we have watched movies and read books about a "communist" takeover. It will not happen overnight; it will come on slowly until freedom and democracy are a thing of the past. It will happen in a way where people will cheer it. State owned housing, state backed loans, state dictated education, a controlled media, and the ability to arrest people and never take them to trial, along with just two sanctioned political parties, where anyone not belonging to them is "fringe". George Bush started us down the trail to become a communist country; the only question now is will we take McCain's slow road, or Obama's fast road?

[B. Sander]

The phrase "un-american" has been bandied about a lot in the last few weeks. Its one of those vague concepts like patriotism or terrorism that are used to smear people. In the 50's, another republican, Senator Joe McCarthy headed the "House unamerican activities committee" that went around blacklisting people who he felt weren't "American" enough. What does that mean? How do you measure that? If you asked those questions, you were labeled unamerican. If that's being American, then I want no part of that.

[Peter Hood]

How American is it to threaten others of being unAmerican because they challenge the status quo, want change or suggest the old way is not the right way. Michelle Bachmann is not old enough or obviously not well educated enough to remember, but does the term "McCarthyism" ring a bell. Certainly one of the sadist periods in American history...yet she seems determined to relive it. How sad for our country that people like this are elected to be anything more than a small town mayor.

[Denise]

I live in Minnesota and this woman has been a very real embarrassment from the moment the farmers up north decided to allow her in office. Not that I have anything against farmers, but I DO have disbelief that anyone could think this person was a real politician. From the time she was hiding in the bushes at the state capitol spying on pro-choice protesters, to the time she said global warming was "hokum" and a leftist scheme, to her insistence that offshore drilling would immediately halve the price of gas, to her very strong, diligently upheld belief that no one should ever be forced to use a fluorescent lightbulb.... she's been off the charts loony.

She also believes in christian wives subjugating themselves to their husband's wishes, so I always wonder how she manages to do an interview without him. Badly, I guess, obviously. I'm so glad someone finally allowed her to air her mental state in a national forum, and gave her time and freedom to just express the crazy.

It gives me hope I might not have to be ashamed of one of my state's congresspersons, soon....

[NinaK]

(QUOTE) Bachmann said of Barack Obama, "I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views." She then went on to call for a "penetrating expose" by the media into the levels of patriotism among her colleagues on Capitol Hill. (UNQUOTE)
(QUOTE) Bachmann, in a local radio interview Sunday, insisted she really did not consider Obama's views anti-American, calling that a "misreading" of what she said.
(UNQUOTE)
I was watching TV when she came on the Chris Matthews Show. I was appalled at her comments about Senator Obama and just about fell out of my chair when she stated the media should vet the democrats to find out which were anti-American!! She sounded like McCarthy, and worse, like Hitler!! Very Scary person who has no business being the United States Senate. The state of Minnisota must recall her! This state's residents must NOT vote for her. Between this woman and Sarah Palin, we would find ourselves under a regime similar to the Natzis. God help us.
For her to say she was misread is baloney and like McCain and Palin is lying about what she said. There was NO misread, period. The republican party is going to Hades in a handbasket!!

[TJ]

The GOP has gone too far right into the realm of radical extremists and they are capable of undermining our democracy.
Some believe what they think they know. We believe what we see and hear directly from them.
I voted early today. Left the building in tears, realizing what a sacred duty I had just fulfilled, to take back my country. I have never cried before and i have been voting for the past 40+ years.
I urge you to vote early. I have felt more peace and more calm and more control of our destiny since voting. It can be very powerful in personally dealing with all the unprecedented filth we have witnessed and they are not finished yet. While Barrack is away in Hawaii to be with his Grandmother, who is very seriously ill, they will come up with another "lie of the week". Keep the faith and VOTE. It has become painfully clear that this right radical wing of the GOP needs to be put away and if the Republicans cannot reform themselves, then some will need to break away. In all my years, I have never witnessed what I am witnessing this time around. It is downright UnAmerican, really, it is. Paul Klugman has an excellent article in The New York Times today on this "new" Republican Party. Bottom line is, they are and have been in the process of undoing all of the social progress of the 60s. They are even advocating now against the middle class, if you listen carefully, and calling it "Socialism" because Obama wants to roll back the tax cuts to the wealthy to finance the government budget and they blatantly lie about him raising taxes. How many times has he explained that program? This campaign of theirs will not stand.

[NinaK]

QUOTE "I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views." She then went on to call for a "penetrating expose" by the media into the levels of patriotism among her colleagues on Capitol Hill. UNQUOTE

I watched this portion of Chris Matthews Show! I was aghast at this woman's comments!! There was no misread, she is trying to cover up what she actually said. Shame on her! Also, when she stated the media should vet democrats in the congress to find anti-American lawmakers, I just about fell out of my chair! Sarah Palin, John McCain, and this woman are promoting the ugliness of McCarthyism and I would even go so far as to say Hitler. Are they already building the furnaces to throw those of us who support Senator Obama, since we do not agree with the republicans and therefore they label us as anti-Americans. Are they going to burn all the democrats in the congress? Palin has been talking about little towns being "pro-American"; what in the heck does that make the rest of the country? Are we anti-Americans in her view?? One thing I can say for certain, Todd Palin and Sarah Palin ARE anti-American. He was an active member of the Alaskan Independent Party which wants to secede from the United States and become the country of Alaska. That outfit hates and condemns America, her institutions, and her government!! They refer to the American Flag as, "that damned flag"!! Sarah Palin has attended these meetings and supported the IAP. In June 2008, she was a spokesperson for their annual convention, she welcomed its members to the IAP and congratulated and praised them for their work. What work was that, Sarah?? Hating and Condemning America, our institutions, our government and damning our flag?? Is that what your were congratulating and praising them for?? Sarah Palin and Todd Palin are the ones that are anti-American. Their current leader and the party were happy to see Sarah elected as governor; as he put it, they wanted their members to become republicans because this was the right party to infiltrate America's government. Looks like the Palins are just where the Alaskan Independent Party wants them!! And guess what? John McCain is not only enabling them, he is trying to put Sarah in the highest second position in America's government. These people do NOT see themselves as Americans, they see themselves as Alaskans period and obviously are working toward seceding from America. Fellow Americans, please google the Alaskan Independent Party and inform yourselves about it. Sarah and Todd are not America's friends, they are our enemies!! They are traitors and treasonous!!

[DanMan]

That right-wing loose cannon makes Sarah Palin look like a mental giant. That is something I would guess any intelligent person would find hard to believe. She is a racist and fascist, and I hope the people of Wisconsin send her back to the rock she crawled out from under. There is no room for that kind of hatred in our politics today. It's obvious she's trying to make a name for herself by saying outlandish and repugnant things. I doubt she will be returning to DC, yet if she does she should be treated as the Joe McCarthy Pirriah that she has demonstrated she is. Go Mr. Tingleberg!

[Ann]

I am planning to contribute to TInklenberg's campaign. My brother was one of those who already sent his contribution on the weekend. People like Bachman must be defeated.

[NinaK]

What is all this grabbing of President Bush' shoulder by Michele Bachmann? I mean, the woman would not let go of his shoulder!! And she made she stayed near him until she imposed herself upon him with a big hug and a kiss!! Goodness, has she lost her marbles?? And then to make the anti-American statements!! That woman looks and sounds like a real crazy!! Minnesota, you must recall this waman, better yet do NOT reelect her. John McCain, Sarah Palin, and this woman, if allowed to be in power, would convert this country to Hiterism/Nazi regime. Wonder if they are measuring for the erection of furnaces to get rid of those they think are anti-American?? The Republicans are quickly going to hades in a handbasket!! Todd and Sarah Palin are anti-American (google the Alaskan Independent Party and Tod Palin)!! We must NOT allow them anywhere near the White House. And guess what?? John McCain is not only enabling them to infiltrate our government, he offers her the second highest position in our government. If they cheat their way into the presidency and McCain dies of old age or melanoma, Sarah Palin would then be president. It is evident McCain did not thoroughly vet this anti-American and her anti-American husband!!

[Ann]

People like Bachman should be defeated. After hearing her incredulous remarks, my brother was one of those who donated to Tinklenberg's campaign this past weekend. I am planning to do so too.

[KIM]

Ms Bachman, in your Utopian world, who would be the arbiter of all that is good, holy, pure and American? YOU???? I hope not!

[demetra]

Rep Bachmann's remarks are just symptomatic of the division that is still prevalent in our Great Country. It is unfortunate that we can't sincerely agree to disagree. There seems to be a desire to demean others. As a Christian I am especially disappointed in Conservatives. We are to be kind one to another. I think free speech without personal regard for others can be dangerous. What do I know I'm just one of those NIGGERS the McCain camps keeps alluding to. God Bless