Tweet
Bachmann on TV questions Obama's patriotism
The congresswoman says she's also concerned that others in Congress may share "anti-American views."
By PAT DOYLE and MITCH ANDERSON, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: October 18, 2008 - 8:00 AM
Defending the McCain campaign's automated phone calls attacking Barack Obama's judgment and character, Rep. Michele Bachmann on Friday said Obama "may have anti-American views" and called for a news media "exposé" of the views of members of Congress.
Bachmann's comments came in a 13-minute interview on MSNBC, during which she asserted that Obama has a close connection to 1960s radical William Ayers, a theme of the phone calls and recent remarks by McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin.
"Barack Obama didn't have a mild association with Bill Ayers," Bachmann, a Republican, said. "He had a very strong association with Bill Ayers."
Later, when asked by Chris Matthews whether she believes that Obama may have anti-American views, Bachmann replied, "Absolutely. I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views."
Bachmann also said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both Democrats, have "far-leftist views." When asked whether she considered members of Congress anti-American, she said, "The news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America or anti-America."
On Friday, Bachmann's DFL opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, said Bachmann's comments "undermines our political process. Instead of being able to disagree respectfully, it turns it into this kind of vilification. You're just not disagreeing. The other person is un-American."
But a spokeswoman for Bachmann denied that the congresswoman had portrayed all liberals as anti-American.
The controversy arose on a day when Palin was quoted by Time magazine online saying, "I don't question at all Barack Obama's love for the great country."
The congresswoman says she's also concerned that others in Congress may share "anti-American views."
By PAT DOYLE and MITCH ANDERSON, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: October 18, 2008 - 8:00 AM
Defending the McCain campaign's automated phone calls attacking Barack Obama's judgment and character, Rep. Michele Bachmann on Friday said Obama "may have anti-American views" and called for a news media "exposé" of the views of members of Congress.
Bachmann's comments came in a 13-minute interview on MSNBC, during which she asserted that Obama has a close connection to 1960s radical William Ayers, a theme of the phone calls and recent remarks by McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin.
"Barack Obama didn't have a mild association with Bill Ayers," Bachmann, a Republican, said. "He had a very strong association with Bill Ayers."
Later, when asked by Chris Matthews whether she believes that Obama may have anti-American views, Bachmann replied, "Absolutely. I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views."
Bachmann also said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both Democrats, have "far-leftist views." When asked whether she considered members of Congress anti-American, she said, "The news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America or anti-America."
On Friday, Bachmann's DFL opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, said Bachmann's comments "undermines our political process. Instead of being able to disagree respectfully, it turns it into this kind of vilification. You're just not disagreeing. The other person is un-American."
But a spokeswoman for Bachmann denied that the congresswoman had portrayed all liberals as anti-American.
The controversy arose on a day when Palin was quoted by Time magazine online saying, "I don't question at all Barack Obama's love for the great country."
Incidentally, I don't get this whole "un-American" thing. I mean, how insecure do you have to be to worry about the patriotism of a major party's presidential candidate? And how much cynicism does it take to abuse that feeling? I'll be honest and say I don't really know what would happen in Finnish politics if one candidate in an election explicitly called another anti-Finnish... though we do have a nationalist "True Finns" party that has five out of the 200 parliament seats, so the answer wouldn't be the "they'd get laughed out of every position they have" that I wish it were.
(further incidentally, is there actually a difference between "un-American" and "anti-American"? It seems to me that they just get used completely interchangeably. Not that that means much in the language that came up with "thaw" and "unthaw", but it does call to my mind a binary worldview where both are just synonyms for "evil")
Comment