MN-06: Unprepared for a YouTube world

Bachmann, to Politico:

Despite the way the blogs and the Democratic Party are spinning it, I never called all liberals anti-American, I never questioned Barack Obama’s patriotism, and I never asked for some House Un-American Activities Committee witch hunt into my colleagues in Congress.

What I did was ask legitimate questions that Minnesotans have been asking me: What does Barack Obama mean by change?

Bachmann, to Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: So you think Barack Obama may have anti-American views?

BACHMANN: Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views.

[...]

MATTHEWS: How many Congresspeople, members of Congress, are in that anti-American crowd you describe? How many Congresspeople that you serve with?

BACHMANN: Right now —

MATTHEWS: How many are anti-American in the Congress right now that you serve with?

BACHMANN: You’d have to ask them, Chris. I’m focusing on Barack Obama and the people that he’s been associated with and I’m very worried about their anti-American nature.

MATTHEWS: But do you suspect there are a lot of people you serve with — well, he’s the United States senator from Illinois, he’s one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in Congress of the United States do you believe are ant-American? Is he alone or are there others? How many do you suspect of your colleagues of being anti-American.

BACHMANN: What I would say what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would be — would love to see an expose like that.

So clearly, she's blatantly lying to Politico, just like Rep. Robyn Hayes did earlier today. The question is why?

Remember, Republicans have been able to score cheap points for a long time by playing to the media's sense of "fairness". Hence, the "he said, she said" tradition arose. As a reporter, you couldn't write "the sky is blue" without getting "the other side" of the story to tell you "the sky is purple". Truth and fact are irrelevant.

And in the old world, blatant lies like this could be easily covered up. A reporter catches you saying something stupid? Who cares! Just lie and deny it. At that point it becomes a "he said, she said" question, and people will shrug their shoulders unable to independently determine who is right.

Enter YouTube. Both Hayes and Bachmann can blatantly lie and it doesn't matter because we have the video and we can see for ourselves what was actually said. What's more, the more Bachmann and Hayes explicitly deny their comments, the more insulting it becomes for those who can see for themselves the truth of the matter. People may assume politicians lie, but they don't appreciate having it rubbed in their face.

There is a silver lining to all of this -- Republicans are starting to learn that it's politically perilous to accuse Democrats of being un-American. It wasn't long ago that they were all spreading this bullshit. Today, when they're caught doing so they fervently deny it and hope they can get away with it.

That's progress.

On the web:
El Tinklenberg for Congress
Larry Kissell for Congress