'Today' Pumps Bachmann 'Million Dollar Mistake,' Still Ignores Mahoney Scandal

Photo of Geoffrey Dickens.

NBC's "Today" show has yet to report on the scandal surrounding Florida Democratic Congressman Tim Mahoney paying off a former mistress, but on Wednesday's show David Gregory did find time to report on Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann being in "hot water," for her criticisms of Barack Obama on last Friday's "Hardball."

Furthering the story his NBC colleague Chris Matthews started with Bachmann's "Hardball," interview, co-anchor Matt Lauer introduced the Gregory piece: "Call it a million dollar mistake. A controversial congressman, congresswoman went on television and said some things she probably regrets. And her remarks, then helped her opponent raise a staggering amount of money."

In the piece Gregory aired a portion of the interview where Matthews pushed Bachmann to say Obama and liberal members of Congress were anti-American, even though Bachmann originally was referring to the anti-American beliefs of Obama's associates like Bill Ayers. After Gregory showed a clip of Bachmann saying her statements were misconstrued, the NBC correspondent painted Bachmann's outspoken conservative views as a negative, "Bachmann's views -- she has said that gay people suffer from sexual dysfunction and doesn't believe in global warming -- have made her a lightning rod."

The following is the full transcript of the report as it occurred on the October 22nd edition of the "Today" show:

MATT LAUER: Call it a million dollar mistake. A controversial congressman, congresswoman went on television and said some things she probably regrets. And her remarks, then helped her opponent raise a staggering amount of money. NBC's David Gregory has more on this story for us. Hi, David, good morning to you.

[On screen headline: "Million-Dollar Mistake? Congresswoman's Remarks Fire Up Critics."]

DAVID GREGORY: Good morning, Matt. Well she's been called the Sarah Palin of Minnesota. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is making a splash in some very hot water. A rising star in the state, Bachmann quickly emerged as the most conservative member of Congress. Last year she grabbed her first Youtube moment when she literally grabbed a hold of President Bush before his State of the Union address and seemed not to want to let go. Like Governor Palin, Bachmann is the mother of five children. She's taken in 23 foster children over the years. A devout Christian with staunch anti-abortion views and a strong proponent of drilling for oil in Alaska. And, like Palin, she's outspoken when speaking about Senator Obama.

MICHELE BACHMANN: I'm, I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama. Is he alone or are there others? How many do you suspect of your colleagues as being anti-American?

BACHMANN: I, I think, I, what I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. 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. I think people would be, would love to see an expose like that.

GREGORY: Democrats pounced and as she faces reelection Bachmann's words are proving costly. The interview became the basis of a TV ad, helping her opponent, Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg raise nearly a $1 million from 18,000 new donors since Friday.

ELWYN TINKLENBERG: We think we were already moving in a position where we could win this race, she has simply strengthened that position.

STU ROTHENBERG, POLITICAL ANALYST: In this political environment, if you're a Republican incumbent you don't want any attention focused on you.

GREGORY: Bachmann declined our request for an interview, but in an interview on Monday she backpedaled, sort of.

BACHMANN: So this has been completely misconstrued to say that I believe members of Congress are anti-American. I never said that. I said the media should look into it. I also didn't say that Barack Obama is anti-American. What I said is that the media should look into his views.

GREGORY: Bachmann's views -- she has said that gay people suffer from sexual dysfunction and doesn't believe in global warming -- have made her a lightning rod. Even her spokeswoman says voters either love her or hate her.

NICK COLEMAN, STAR TRIBUNE COLUMNIST: I think Michele Bachmann, unfortunately, is one of those politicians who doesn't really understand the boundaries of common sense and sometimes common decency.

GREGORY: And this morning another Republican member of Congress is apologizing for attacking liberals. A congressman from North Carolina said, at a John McCain rally, quote, "liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God." Matt?

LAUER: Alright David, thanks very much. David Gregory in Washington this morning.

—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Highlight It

Despite the derison of our commrads at NBC, I'm not sure if these remarks hurt as much as they hope they do.

Obama Saluting the Flag

See the still picture and video from ABC News on Snopes.

Sarah Palin 2

Michele Bachmann was on Laura Ingraham's radio show today. She has to be speaking in the media more. She is terrific. Michele Bachmann is another Sarah Palin/Joe the Plumber.

Ummm...you're correct.

RedJeep,

Joe's shown to be an unqualified Plumber,

Sarah's shown to be an unqualified Vice-President,

and now, Bachmann's shown to be an unqualified Congresswoman.

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

uber...

How do you feel about Mahoney?

Cold Cash Jefferson from Louisiana?

Bill "Smokin' Hot " Clinton and Monica?

Did the President Lie about WMD's in Iraq?
Check out this video and you decide. 

[ I am willing to bet that Uber refuses to answer these questions or does not give an honest answer. ]

If conservatives are RIGHT, then liberals must be WRONG.

Ubercon...typical chicken sh&t liberal

<crickets chirping...> 

If conservatives are RIGHT, then liberals must be WRONG.

LK, Chicken sh*t

LK,

Chicken sh*t liberal?!?

Wow, there goes civility!

I'm thinkin' of a Cheney euphemism right about now...

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

what Cheney said was NOT a

what Cheney said was NOT a euphemism.

LK, Answers to- Q1 and

LK,

Answers to-

Q1 and Q3...Sex between two consenting Adults...private matter.

Q3- Jefferson should be prosecuted if the case is strong.

Q4- If someone believes something exists, creates a situation for no dissent, looks for evidence to support the claim, and acts according to his beliefs...is he lying or misguided by blind faith? Hmmm...I'm in the group that believes Bush is incurious and acts according to his limited view of the world.

Answered.

How do you feel about Larry Craig, Duke Cunningham, G. Gordon Liddy, Scooter Libby, Gonzales,...etc. (too many to list)?

 Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

Finish the list---

And uber is shown to be an unqualified blogger-----

You are so biased you must fall over many times a day.

You are so biased, it would be impossible to give you a frontal lobotomy.

Go to Huff site and smile with your friends.

And why is Uncle Joe Biden qualified to be VP?

Seems to me that Uncle Joe Biden has been wrong about everything: The Cold War, The First Gulf War, The Surge, dividing Iraq into 4 separate nations, etc.

Even from your liberal POV, he was wrong about invading Iraq as he voted for it. 

So how is Uncle Joe qualified to be VP again? 

Faith in the messiah and his disciples.

Cap't,

Time will tell...the next 4 years we'll see how he does. As for Sarah, she'll either be swept out of her current office or get re-elected. Her drain on the campaign has shown she's not ready for prime time, ever. She's done as far as the mainstream moderate conservatives are concerned. Too bad, not so sad.

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

Ub... Her drain on the

Ub...

Her drain on the campaign...

You must be deaf, dumb and blind...

She is the only thing that has pumped up this campaign...and that's the reason we are gonna' walk all over you and your ilk.

On the 4th...I'm gonna' be saying...are you ready boots...start walking to trolls like you...

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

bigtimer...I'll be the first to admit I was wrong...

BT,

Will you?

The polls are showing you are incorrect in your assumptions. The Electorate will decide...it's not looking good for the GOP. It's time for a change...the change you deserve.

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

Ubercon, you missed the point

Palin energized the conservatives in a way no one has for the last few years.

You still haven't told me what Uncle Joe Biden was right about. Has he ever gotten anything right about foreign policy? He couldn't have always been wrong. Right?

Energized the conservatives...yep, you're correct!

Cap't,

She energized a lot of them to vote for Obama & Biden!

As for Biden, he's wrong on everything. He's gotten everything wrong...and to think he's thumpin' Palin in the polls...gosh, go figure.

Why would Obama want to ruin his chances with a VP pick like Joe? Beats the hell out of me...you would have thought his misgivings would have been a drain on the ticket! I guess we'll see the next 4 years of Vice President Biden runnin' around the Senate helping push policies and reform the corruption goin' on over thyar'! Maybe he could expand the powers of the VP like Sarah wanted to...I hear he has a Cheney bust to idolize and its ready for his secret bunker...So, with the advent of an Obama/Biden Presidency looming on the horizon- Do you support the ideas of Cheney's unitary executive with more powers during war time? Scary now that a Democrat is about to take the reins...

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

"Why would Obama want to

"Why would Obama want to ruin his chances with a VP pick like Joe? " Ubercon

It goes to Bambi's judgement.  Look at who he picked to be his pastor, who he bought his home from, who he had present him to the political scene. Why would you expect him to make the right choice for VP?

With his track record I am very nervous about his decisions when the country is at stake.

That is why I am voting for McCain/Palin.

don't bother scuba

Talking sense into ubercon is a futile venture. His leftward leanings are old news on NB. 

Change is what you're left with when you've spent all your dollars.

prove that

Conservatives are compelled to vote for Obama? Who? The same "conservatives" who write into newpapers saying they used to like Ann Coulter until she finally went too far? The same ones who make up conservative sounding screen names and then spout liberal agendas? 

 

Change is what you're left with when you've spent all your dollars.

Total Fiction

There are no conservatives voting for Obama.  That's total fiction, created by the Obama propaganda machine.  Anyone who claims to be a conservative and is voting for Obama is either a liar or is not a conservative (probably both). 

As for your other point, I honestly have no idea what you mean by "Cheney's unitary executive with more powers during war time. " 

The only suggestion I would make is that you educate yourself more about the Constitution and read the War Powers Act of 1973, the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, and the Iraq War Resolution of 2002.

No Ub...here are the latest

No Ub...here are the latest polls from the AP... Plus in Ohio and Fla. McC is ahead...

We shall see...the msm wouldn't be so vitriolic if the didn't know the real inside polls Uber...now would they?

The only way your side is really going to win is by what you have all done since I have been alive is CHEAT!

No matter how you achieve the result, your side is nothing but lying, cheating, swindling, law-suit happy, blathering enemies within this country with the majority of the leftist msm being your bull-horn...

Sickening...disgraceful, despicable and unlawful...and nothing is done about all of this...I am sick of our side not fighting back with all the vigor  and money we have...seems the RNC always back down. 

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Everything Bachmann said

Everything Bachmann said was right.  This is why the Left is so hysterically trying to destroy her. 

She doesn't need anyone's help...

mattm,

She's doing it all by herself.

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

Bachmann/RNC not backing her now

mattm...I guess you may have heard the RNC is pulling the money for ads now for her...Matthews is gleefully reporting this all today on his show...

I am past furious...what the hell is wrong with the RNC to do such a thing, this woman was 11 pts ahead, now look at what the msm is doing to her, and the RNC backs down to the likes of msnbc and their filthy tripe....

I am furious...we have a real conservative who tells the truth, we scream we want someone with spine, then the wimpy-a$$ed RNC goes and does this...

I hope everyone emails the RNC and screams to the roof-top!

Plus not one more penny to them!

Btw...before long msnbc/CNN will have McC/Palin apologizing for using the word SOCIALIST!

Bachmann has a link here if anyone wants to help...plus I guess she has a new one that goes against Matthews...I am going to look for it and post soon. 

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

The RNC can't afford it.

BT,

Gosh, maybe it's time for the "Real American" conservatives to form a new Party since the RNC has abandoned the likes of a "Real American" like Michelle Bachmann...let's call it the "American" Party.

 Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

Gosh Uber...for once we

Gosh Uber...for once we agree.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

We are in trouble as a country.

We are in trouble as a country.  When a "staunch" pro lifer who doesn't believe in global warming is a bigger threat in the eyes of the news media than Obama's lengthy associations with terrorists and communists.

Cling to your guns and religions folks!  The American socialists are fixing to take them away!

McCain/Liddy relationship?

G. Gordon Liddy is not a domestic terrorist?

Hmmm...

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford

Reason 8,344 to be wary...

of what the left is doing to our country.  See what they do to Conservatives who stand up to the far left.  They mobilize their minions to destroy you.  Soon, no one will be able to speak their minds if these Stalinists gain power in November.  Get ready for re-education camps set up in your town or area where you live.  Get ready for George Bush and anyone else who disagrees with them to be tried for "War Crimes" if they take over the government.  They can't stand dissent and dissent will not be tolerated under their regime.  Jim Webster

I hear ya!

jaweb,

We need to see how in the hell we got to this point in our history. "War Crimes"? Gosh, it's not as if we have ever condoned torture. Bush has repeatedly said,"We do not torture.". We should believe him. He has never lied to us. Just don't look behind the curtains, under the rug, or behind the closet door...

Übercon

"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford