Update at bottom (1:53 p.m.): Olbermann responds to TVNewser about Bachmann's remarks
Over the past several days, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has made a series of appearances pushing for action against the disgraced organization ACORN.
However, in an appearance on Fox News Oct. 7 "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly asked Bachmann about a trend others have noticed - why do so many media figures on the left have such a fixation on criticizing her or former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin?
"You are a pretty interesting politician, congresswoman," O'Reilly said. "You are second to Sarah Palin in far-left angst. You know, Sarah Palin leads the league, no doubt. But they're after you now. We hear it all the time, you know Michele Bachmann, she is this and she is that. How did you get into that wheelhouse?"
Bachmann without naming the network, laid the blame on MSNBC.
"You know, it is an interesting phenomenon," Bachmann said. "I think it happened with a competing cable network that took an interest in me and it has only grown. So now, it's almost like I have personal stalkers, only they have TV shows."
O'Reilly pressed on, asking if the negative attention bothered her (the Minnesota congresswoman told the Culture & Media Institute days before that it didn't).
"Does it bother you that NBC News is using its cable arm to make your life difficult? Does that bother you?" O'Reilly asked.
"You know, not really," Bachmann replied. "I grew up with three brothers and that is the best preparation for politics anyone could possibly have. I am just here doing my job, working on behalf of the people of Minnesota and it's great to be able to get my message out. And if I get under people's skin, so be it.
"OK, but why -- why are you getting under their skin?" O'Reilly asked. "I mean, you seem like a nice woman. We had you at the correspondents' dinner as a guest at our table. You did not throw spaghetti on anyone. You did not use any bad language ... to me you are a conservative Republican from an upper Midwestern state who speaks her mind articulately and does her job. Why are they coming after you? I do not get it."
Bachmann believed that just being a successful conservative woman was enough.
"It may bother them that conservative women are happy and don't need government in order to be successful in life," Bachmann said. "I have a great husband, great kids. I had a great career as a federal tax attorney and I don't need government to be successful. And it seems like they have a stereotype for women and I do not fit in their stereotype."
However, O'Reilly had his own theory.
"You think it - and this is an off-the-wall question - it is just something that occurred to me," O'Reilly said. "Both you and Sarah Palin are good-looking women. I mean, you are attractive, relatively young women, who other women can identify with. You are a mom, you are a wife. You had a private-sector job. I think that's it. I think that the success of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann drives the far left crazy because you don't fit - they don't like what you believe in, but you can attract others to listen to you. I think that's what's going on."
Bachmann said that does indeed make her a threat - especially when it comes to going head-to-head with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
"Well, and if we pull away votes from them, especially in a block, a woman block, a middle American woman block, that makes them very upset about that," Bachmann said. "And so consequently, I'm public enemy number one for Speaker Pelosi."
*****Update: Olbermann tells TVNewser the stalked are due an apology from Bachmann:
"Having had an actual stalker myself, I think the Congresswoman needs to apologize to women (and men) whose lives are blighted and ruined by such terror and threat. Not even in the mildest of senses - of journalists whose aggressiveness might verge colloquially into 'stalking' - is she anywhere close to being such a victim."




















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Comments Policy
Gloria Steinam
October 8, 2009 - 07:35 ET by okiehawk44Gloria was for years the poster girl of the feminists who held her up to the rest of the world as an attractive female who also held feminist views.
Now Michele and Sarah more than challenge her place in the firmament of feminists. Gloria only talked and these women actually do.
The problem for Gloria and the rest is that Michele and Sarah have brains, beauty, families (Ouch!), big careers (not just gender associated), and they are relevant (sorry Gloria).
She doesn't fit the Narrative
October 8, 2009 - 07:45 ET by richb313MSNBC and the like are upset with her because she does not fit the narrative. It is impossible for anyone on the left to understand that women are not the monolithic voting block that they want them to be. It is the same reason that any Black person who is a conservative is considered to be a race traitor. The democrats have built thier party on the non-sense that they are the only ones who care about the down trodden etc. If someone comes along and proves that they are not so down trodden and are a conservative to boot then the attack dogs come out, especially if they are attarctive either physically or popular in any way. The democrats cannot let stand anything that would upset the Narrative that they have so carefully constructed because that person really pulls the curtain aside and we can see the real venial intrests at work.
The Template
October 8, 2009 - 07:57 ET by Red JeepExactly right. Not a Stepford wife who believes in abortion, euthanasia, and the Democrat party.
They Will Always Let You Know
October 8, 2009 - 07:45 ET by Wildcatter1980(Not to sound like a broken record, but) The left will always let the rest of us know who they fear the most. Just look at who they attack.
The left fears Michele Bachmann much like they fear Sarah Palin because these conservative women are attractive, successful and do not conform to the left's idea of women being victims of the "evils" of the America way. In other words, what Bachmann and Palin represent is that women are NOT victims in our society unless they let themselves be victims. They show that the left is wrong and that is what the left fears most about them.
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We need to stop calling them "Progressives" when in reality they are big government "Socialists" who no longer value the individual's rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
2012
October 8, 2009 - 08:12 ET by cvgbuckeyeThe Republican party could do much worse in 2012 than a presidential ticket of "Palin/Bachmann". As a matter of fact I can think of very recent times when they did worse; i.e. McCain and before that Dole, and before that Ford.
Hmmmm. Palin/Bachmann!!!! Probably the most attractive ticket in U S history, if nothing else but I think they have lots more else.
The left would not need another laxative for a thousand years. Wouldn't it be great! Then we could get Condi Rice back for Secretary of Defense and Laura Bush for Secretary of State, prior to the election.
Then anyone who spoke out against them, we would label as chauvenists(?) and racists.
Good Lord!
Laura is to nice
October 8, 2009 - 08:34 ET by general companyI would like to see Liz Cheney in that Admin
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Amen GC
October 8, 2009 - 08:50 ET by Iowa BoyImagine Mary Cheney at DOD or better yet, State. That'd make every liberal head explode!
"Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain." Official Motto of the State of Iowa
YES!!!
October 8, 2009 - 08:55 ET by cvgbuckeyeHow in the world could I have forgotten about Liz Cheney!
CHEIF OF STAFF in the White House!
Now, we must make room somewhere for Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and.............on and on, help me out here!
You Forgot...
October 8, 2009 - 10:15 ET by Corny_McPooAnn Coulter as Defense Secretary! Bombs away!
Signed, Corny McPoo
Do Something Amazing!
MAGGIE...
October 8, 2009 - 15:34 ET by danybhoyLet Coulter keep crushing the NYSlimes bestseller lists with more books that piss off the left. I say Maggie Thatcher, & since there is no requirement to be an American born to do that, & since she has lots of experiance as a former head of state who has dealt with war(UK vs Argentina), that would be my choice
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
CVG, As someone else
October 8, 2009 - 09:39 ET by Scuba DudeCVG,
As someone else posted, I would love to see Bachmann as Speaker of the House. For a ticket, how about some combination of Palin, Liz Cheney or Condi Rice? Four smart, conservative women steering this country away from the abyss that LOTUS and his minions have set course for.
The Obama Administration: THE most fiscally irresponsible Administration EVER
→ Conservative Women
October 8, 2009 - 08:31 ET by Cool ArrowMaybe I'm imagining things, but does it seem like Conservative Women have gotten to their heights on their own merits rather than the coattails of their husbands?
Another Reason They Fear Them
October 8, 2009 - 08:52 ET by Wildcatter1980CA,
Good point. Neither Bachmann nor Palin have husbands who are prominent in their own right. Bachmann and Palin are very definitely self-made in their careers. That does not fit their narrative of America being "unfair" to women and it drives the left to absolute apoplexy!
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We need to stop calling them "Progressives" when in reality they are big government "Socialists" who no longer value the individual's rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
WC 1980
October 8, 2009 - 13:27 ET by Jerry MackYou hit on an excellent point! Todd Palin until recently worked in (according to them) the inviroment wrecking oil fields! My goodness he got his hands dirty doing manual labor.
Easy enough to 'splain CA
October 8, 2009 - 09:27 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonThey used the Conservative model of 'affirmative action'.
"Affirmative" = POSITIVE
"Action" = They got off their butts and DID SOMETHING on their own.
To rephrase that.
They saw a need, took a positive action to correct the symptoms that caused the 'need', instead of sitting on their tails and waiting for the government to wipe their noses and make it all more expensive for our grandchildren.
http://gjresult.com
→ Affirmative Action
October 8, 2009 - 09:54 ET by Cool ArrowNever heard that one.
You mean...
October 8, 2009 - 12:13 ET by onewiseguy...like Hilary Clinton?
→ Like Hillary
October 8, 2009 - 12:15 ET by Cool ArrowThat name comes to mind.
Hillary? She rode Bubba's
October 8, 2009 - 15:08 ET by Scuba DudeHillary?
She rode Bubba's coat tails all the way!! She was Affirmative that no Action was needed on her part.
The Obama Administration: THE most fiscally irresponsible Administration EVER
Drones
October 8, 2009 - 08:46 ET by DanoThe left can't stand women with their own ideas . They embrace only women that can follow like drones.
Right, Dano
October 8, 2009 - 09:09 ET by boomerconAnd isn't it the same with the black voters? Follow along, and you're a good Dem. Have a thought of your own (and figure out that you're better off as a Repub) and you're an "Uncle Tom", or worse.
They're not only sexists, but racists as well!
Dennis Miller
October 8, 2009 - 09:10 ET by Wildcatter1980When Dennis Miller first started appearing on The O'Reilly Factor, Bill asked him about his shift away from liberalism and left-leaning ideology. One prominent reason Miller gave was how the left was demanding total "lock-step" adherence to their ideology and that there was virtually no room for debate or dissent, let alone discussion about a theoretical principle vs. reality. An example of this is the almost total denial of the threat from al Qaeda and the other Islamo-fascists.
Bachmann and Palin, of course, threaten the left's ideology that women in America are victims and that they just cannot succeed here. To even grudgingly acknowledge that they are self-made women means having to step away from the idea that America is unfair to women. The left simply cannot admit that one of their central tenets may not be correct.
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We need to stop calling them "Progressives" when in reality they are big government "Socialists" who no longer value the individual's rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Bingo!!!
October 8, 2009 - 09:32 ET by Jarhead68Good comment, Wildcatter...Last paragraph is spot on.
Agree, Jar and Wild -
October 8, 2009 - 15:48 ET by BO STINKSWomen, along with minorities are to be kept on the victim plantation and trotted out only to give speeches about WHY they are to be kept on the victim plantations. Then they are all trotted back to the plantation to wait for the next airing.
The beautiful, successful conservative women are truly free and they are not afraid of the fascists. It is quite an honor to live in this era of history; to witness women's liberation in it's purest form.
"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!" Sam Adams
How Democrats treat women
October 8, 2009 - 08:59 ET by MadRatThe Democrats make themselves out to be the party of women and women's rights. But what does that mean.
First, apparently there is only one right that women have: abortion. The Democrats say if you vote Republican women will loose all their abortion rights. During the Bush years we had a Republican controlled Senate, Republican controlled House, conservative majority in the Supreme Court and obviously a Republican president. Did abortion rights get over turned? The only abortion restrictions that passed were voted in favor of by Barak Obama. So much for that idea.
Second, how do Democrats actually treat women?
The Democratic party seems to believe if you tell a lie (we support women) often enough it becomes the truth. Hopefully people will remember two other sayings: "Actions speak louder than words." and as a great Republican once said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Your Post...
October 8, 2009 - 10:20 ET by Corny_McPoo...should be required reading for any feminine studies or political science courses.
Signed, Corny McPoo
Do Something Amazing!
Bachman criticized Obama
October 8, 2009 - 09:08 ET by OxyConThat sent the DailyKos Kidz into a frenzy. From there, the MessNBC on air "talant" took their cue.
I'm telling you, if you want to damage Olbermann, Maddow and the rest of that network, just go after all the crazy, disgusting, vile blog postings and comments at DailyKos and wrap them around MessNBC's neck because DailyKos is the defacto program director for that network, being that blog postings there go directly into MessNBC's programming through Olbermann, Maddow and Schuster and who knows about the producers and interns.
Breaking the mold
October 8, 2009 - 09:19 ET by Tom in NCLiberals are scared sh*tless whenever a woman or a black person breaks from the mold that they cast. The amount and the viciousness of the attack against them are the best measures of their effectiveness.
The one thing we cannot allow to happen in 2012 is for the liberals to choose our candidate, like what happened with McCain, he was weak and outgunned from the start, RINOs like him do not represent us and are way to eager to fall in lock step behind the wack jobs on the left.
Now whether it be Palin, Bachmann or another yet un-named Conservative, we must put our best person forward and stick behind them. The election in 2012 is going to be a nasty one, and the attacks from the libs will far outdo anything from the past and we have to be ready to get down in the trenches for a brutal and bloody fight.
If you think the loons on the left play the race card alot now, wait until Obama the Clueless runs for reelection, the race cards will be falling like rain around us, but I believe that Americans are starting to remove their blinders and see who the true racists are, the DEMOCRATS.
The likes of Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow, Shuster, etc are quickly becoming irrelevant and their ratings show it. Their brand of garbage journalism stinks and the American public as a whole rejects it, but like their counterparts the lemmings they follow each other over the ratings cliff, mainly because they don't realize the ignorance of their positions on the issues. Their attacks on Conservatives go back to what I said at the beginning, they are scared because deep down they know Conservative principles work every time they are put into effect:
The hatred that liberals have for Conservatives comes from decades of doctrine that dictates that the government is the answer to everything , and we the peons have no idea what is best for us, but we are finally fighting back, using the same tactics the libs have been using for years and we are being effective, otherwise we would be ignored. The libs know they have awakened a sleeping genie who is pissed but they have no idea how to get the genie back in the bottle, and this genie is going to wreck havoc in 2010 and 2012
First
October 8, 2009 - 09:49 ET by ChaitealoverAt primaries here in California, non-Republicans are allowed to vote to choose the Republican candidate. Whoever thought up that stupid plan ought to be publicly drummed out of the party. No wonder we wound up with a RINO. It'll happen again in 2012 unless we restrict voting in the primaries to people who have been registered Republicans for a specified length of time [to avoid temporary party-switching].
Chai
“When all government...in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided...” Thomas Jefferson
Hypocrites, All
October 8, 2009 - 09:44 ET by FenwickFeminists and others on the Left cannot tolerate women who "do their own thing" if that "thing" is being conservative, Republican, traditional and rejecting of the victimhood mentality. And this is nothing new: the National Organization for Women once blatantly targeted Millicent Fenwick in 1982, siding with scumbag Lautenberg who stooped to bringing Fenwick's age into question. While Fenwick was pro-choice and pro-Equal Rights Amendment, NOW couldn't stand the fact that she still had a mind of her own and was fiscally conservative and honest and incorruptible to a fault. Simply put, she couldn't be counted on to tow the "feminist line" to the letter.
Deadly combination
October 8, 2009 - 09:53 ET by AbraxosYep, attractive, female, conservative, Republican. A deadly combination for liberals, and especially so because she's articulate and speaks out.
So much for women's lib. I guess that only applies to women liberals.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 8
October 8, 2009 - 10:12 ET by TETuesday, October 6, 2009, 8 p.m.
O'Reilly - 3,263,000 viewers
Olbermoronn - 1,132,000 viewers
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/the_scoreboard_tuesday_oct_6_139538.asp#more
I can't wait to see the abysmal numbers for Olbermoronn's freak fest from last night.
They never tire of it
October 8, 2009 - 11:33 ET by StarAZArizona Republic ran the second anti-Palin cartoon in a WEEK! Don't they ever consider that they are boring us?
the liberal 'kitchen' -
October 8, 2009 - 11:38 ET by katainkentyou're expected to be there and if anyone asks you love it and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Conservative women have broken out and truly become their own person. Its the liberal women that are stuck in the 'kitchen' - they just don't realize it.
____________________________________________
The Emperor, he has no clothes
""Having had an actual
October 8, 2009 - 14:00 ET by Chris Norman""Having had an actual stalker myself...I think the Congresswoman needs to apologize to women (and men) whose lives are blighted and ruined by such terror and threat. "
Oh, was wittle Keithie Weithie blighted and wuined his bad old stalker? I thought he was bwave wittle boy the way he fearlessly run his big ol' mouth on TV.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
How can Olbermann call himself a man with all that crying
October 8, 2009 - 16:18 ET by adamjw2He fits in well with the politically correct alarmists trying to crack down on free speech.
Life is kinda hard all around. Grow a pair and quit whining.
Oh come on!
October 8, 2009 - 19:03 ET by mizflame98Who on Earth would want to stalk Keith Olbermann?
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
Samuel Adams
I knew the reason the left hates Palin and Bachmann...
October 8, 2009 - 19:07 ET by jawebster1and I kept waiting for the confirmation. Finally, towards the end of the interview it came. Both women are not only Conservative, but they are good looking as well. The Liberals, who are infamous for their women's looks, just can't stand good looking and smart Conservative women. It's a jealousy thing. Jim Webster
UH OH!
October 8, 2009 - 20:48 ET by John WILooks like Olby has his man thong all twisted up.
I think Bachman should lift up his pant leg to see if he is wearing stockings.
Smart, sensible, (attractive).......and kickin' the crap out of all these panty waist liberal "men".