Salon.com > Michele Bachmann

SPIN METER: Rivals airbrush anti-Romney words

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:30:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Remember Newt Gingrich calling Mitt Romney a liar? Michele Bachmann saying Romney's unelectable? Rick Santorum calling Romney "the worst Republican in the country" to run against President Barack Obama?

They're hoping you don't. And acting like it never happened (even though most of their words are just clicks away online.)

One by one — with the exception of holdout Ron Paul — the GOP also-rans have coughed up endorsements of their onetime rival. And as they do, they're pulling rhetorical backflips to distance themselves from their former harsh assessments of Romney.

Don't try this at home, folks. It takes a professional politician to pull it off with a straight face.

A sampling of the also-rans' anti-Romney rhetoric when they were candidates and their obligatory niceness after endorsing Romney.

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RICK SANTORUM

The former Pennsylvania senator still doesn't have trouble curbing his enthusiasm for Romney. He waited a month after dropping out of the race to endorse Romney, then emailed his tepid endorsement in the dead of night. He finally got out the E-word in the 13th paragraph of his 16-paragraph statement.

THEN:

What’s next for Michele Bachmann?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:30:00 +0000

Michele Bachmann, a deeply deluded and irresponsible religious fanatic who until this week was apparently seriously running for president of the United States, has slunk back home to her oddly shaped Minnesota congressional district to brood on her future.

Politico declares her a "lock" for reelection, but that depends on whether or not she runs. She effectively promised not to, but that promise may have been predicated on her remaining a legitimate presidential candidate. (Minnesota law prohibits running for two federal offices at once.)

Bachmann is not a lock because she's particularly beloved in her district -- as longtime Bachmann critics have been at pains to point out to the national media, she never wins Stillwater, ~~her district's largest city~~, [CORRECTION: St Cloud is her district's largest city. Stillwater is where Bachmann's home is. Dumb mistake on my part, apologies.] and she has tended to win tight races with help from third-party spoilers -- but because she is hugely popular outside her district, with a nearly endless supply of Christian right cash.

Bachmann unclear on what a “Gotcha!” question is

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

The national spotlight can at times be difficult for someone like Rep. Michele Bachmann to deal with. The Minnesota congresswoman prides herself on being a true social conservative -- one who has stuck to her guns over the years, regardless of politics. When the media subsequently digs up impolitic remarks from years past, it can be hard to deal with.

Case in point: During an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien this morning, Bachmann was once again confronted with an unsavory comment out of her past, and proceeded to get a bit testy:

O'BRIEN: You said, at the Educators Conference in 2004: "Gays live a very sad life," and that "it’s part of Satan." And that’s quote. You’ve taken a lot of flak for that. Do you pull back on any of that?

BACHMANN: You know, it's just a bizarre thing to bring up today. Today is the election and what people recognize, the most important issue that people will be looking at is, "Who is the best person to deal with the economy?"