Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has been active in Minnesota politics for a decade. She first ran for School Board in Stillwater. Then she won a seat in the MN Senate. Of course, everybody knows her now that she's in Congress. Something happened today that has never occurred in the decade she's been in politics.
Minnesota Public Radio did something unprecedented in Michele Bachmann's decade of political activity: they analyzed her history of dishonesty. Few news organizations aside from MPR and WCCO's Reality Check even will write a story and assert that something she said is a lie. But this is the first time that a news organization has analyzed her history of lying and acknowledge how often she lies.
Tom Scheck brings up a couple of her biggest and craziest whoppers:
- Iran has secret plans to divide Iraq.
- Obama's India trip cost $200 million per day.
- Health Care Reform is responsible for health insurance premium increases.
- Illegal immigrants have access to health insurance under HCR.
- 5 million jobs would be lost under HCR.
- PolitiFact finding all 13 of her statements that they have analyzed as False or "Pants on Fire."
And then Tom Scheck broke even more new ground -- he asked follow up questions:
When MPR News asked Bachmann this week to discuss the many challenges to her credibility, the congresswoman dodged the question. Instead, she questioned the truthfulness of President Obama -- saying he has misled the public about the federal stimulus and the health care law.
"President Obama gave us the opposite information," Bachmann said. "That's where the fact-checking needs to be held, because President Obama needs to be held accountable for not telling the American people about all of the failures that have come along."
Bachmann then went on to repeat her earlier misstatements.
If Bachmann makes a run for the presidency, she is sure to step up her media appearances and speaking engagement -- which would invite additional scrutiny.
But that may not mean Bachmann will take more care with facts.
Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, said politicians have become increasingly dismissive of facts.
"Respect for facts just doesn't mean a whole lot any more," Ornstein said. "You don't get punished. You don't get shamed if you say things that are patently false. Let's face it: for many, repeating them over and over again -- even after you've been told and it's been made clear that what you say is false -- just doesn't have any impact at all."