Local reporter Paul Demko describes 4th Congressional District republican candidate Patrice Bataglia's recent foray into talk radio as "train wreck radio". Her snafus include:
"...stating that Saddam Hussein used biological weapons on U.S. troops during the Iran-Iraq war."
She also asserts: "that biological weapons are not weapons of mass destruction."
Demko reports the story in more depth in his weblog for the Twin Cities alternative weekly City Pages See more below the fold.
Worst Congressional Candidate Ever
Some hilarious train wreck radio the last two mornings on Ron Rosenbaum and Mark O'Connell's AM 1500 show. Yesterday 4th Congressional District candidate Patrice Bataglia called in, ostensibly to chastise her opponent, incumbent DFL'er Betty McCollum, for ducking debates. Instead, Bataglia, the GOP-endorsed candidate, proceeded to make an utter ass of herself. In fact, the Republicans might now be regretting that Jack Shepard, an alleged arsonist and fugitive, lost in the primary.
Bataglia started out by stating that Saddam Hussein used biological weapons on U.S. troops during the Iran-Iraq war. Now there's been all kinds of assertions made about the evilness of Saddam Hussein--most of them true--but I think I can safely say that this is the first time he's been accused of employing germ warfare against American soldiers during a conflict in which we were ostensibly on his side. Perhaps when Bataglia is elected she can launch a congressional investigation into this previously undisclosed atrocity.
Bataglia then went on to assert that biological weapons are not weapons of mass destruction. I don't know exactly how she might classify them. Maybe she should ask the Kurds about this.
Speaking of the Kurds, when Bataglia was asked to name an instance when Saddam Hussein had actually used biological weapons on anyone whatsoever she went completely silent. It was a painful, protracted silence during which I almost felt compelled to change the radio station for fear of driving off the road. Hint Patrice: It starts with a "K" and ends with "urds".
Apparently Bataglia didn't feel that she had done sufficient damage to her credibility because, after Rosenbaum and O'Connell replayed the segment this morning, she called in again. This time she proceeded to repeatedly insist that she'd said none of the things that Rosenbaum and O'Connell were accusing her of saying. Even though they'd just finished playing the tape of her saying those exact things.
I'm going to give Bataglia the benefit of the doubt and assume she's got some unresolved mental-health issues. Otherwise I'd have to assume that she's a) incredibly stupid and b) a chronic liar.