On Saturday, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made a glaring gaffe during her trip to New Hampshire, which was seen as an "exploratory mission for a presumptive presidential bid." Today, she's playing the victim.
See, while she was at an event organized by the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire on Saturday morning, Bachmann declared:
What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty. You're the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord. And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors.
Except ... no, that's WRONG. The shot occurred in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.
What an embarrassing mistake! She's a Tea Partier -- aren't they the self-righteous ones who keep harping on how we've lost the spirit of the Revolutionary War and the Founding Fathers? Anyway, she did admit her mistake ... but not without some gag-worthy spin:
So I misplaced the battles Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire. It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!
Rrrright. Spin as she may, her "whoops!" admission didn't preempt the criticism and ridicule she's had to endure from the media during the past couple of days. But Bachmann deserved every single word for this. Failing to exhibit comprehension of American history and geography as a potential candidate for President of the United States -- even as a Congresswoman! -- is completely crazy. How can someone so ignorant possibly be taken seriously? (Oh, wait, we had someone like that become President in 2000 and 2004 ...)
Making matters worse, Bachmann says that the only reason she's being mocked and spurned by "the liberal media" is because she's a conservative. Did she ever stop to think maybe she's being put under the microscope because she put herself there by going on an "exploratory mission" for a presidential bid? And maybe she's being ridiculed because she continues to exhibit her glaring ignorance of the basics over and over again?
But no, she's playing the "poor me" card, whining, "Only if a conservative makes a misstep is it considered interesting."
I would argue that Democratic Vice-President Joe Biden has taken a lot of heat when he's made gaffes in the past, and how about Hillary Clinton (remember the cry heard 'round the world ... which is not really a gaffe, per se, but definitely something the media jumped all over)?
What really gets me, though, is that when asked about Mitt Romney's health care reform in Massachusetts, she said:
Again I’m not focused on politics. I’m focused on the policy and trying to get the country turned back around.
But if you're spending time running around and pointing fingers, saying, "Wahhh ... those hippie journalists only cover MY team unfairly!" then guess what? You are exclusively focused on politics. (And you're a big cry baby who should just do us all a favor by shutting up, please!)
Do you think the news media only covers missteps made by conservatives or are members of both parties fair game?
Image via bachmann.house.gov
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Comments 37
She has a serious problem grasping the history surrounding the founding of our country. This isn't her first gaffe in this arena.
And she's right... she is only be targeted because she's a conservative. Liberals make equally as stupid gaffes ALL THE TIME and they are ignored. Our own President and VP have made some huge historical errors, and it isn't given the time of day. What makes her different? Oh, yeah... it makes conservatism look stupid.
People make mistakes all the time, look at the title of this post? It isn't correct. And it was intentionally done to make someone look bad- not sure who looks worse, the Congresswoman or the blogger.
Don't forget 2008....when a man who doesn't know how many United States he would preside over, was elected to office. Oh, wait...I'm sorry, I forgot, pointing that out makes me a racist hater, right? I should give him a hug because at least he was in the ballpark.
Liberals gaffes are not ignored.... remember poor howard dean and his crazed YAWWWW that kept being repeated over and over and over.. LOL
The difference here is that she spoke of lexington and concord to try and highlight where she was... LOL it was part of here actual speech.. not a slip up....
and it speaks more to the quality of her staff that she has .... scary...
I think they should have an 8th grade level American history test for all potential presidential candidates. If you can't pass, you can't put in a bid for president. I think that's fair... We should start with the most basic question- how many states does America have? And when was the war of 1812? Give them a couple easy ones, then get into the harder ones, like the "shot heard around the world". or what did we get out of the Louisiana Purchase?