Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota on Tuesday refused to answer questions about a recent speech she gave at a conservative conference.
Bachmann claimed at the Conservative Political Action Committee on Saturday that Obama was living in opulence at the White House. She alleged the President was enjoying an excess of tax-payer funded luxuries.
But when confronted by CNN reporter Dana Bash, the Republican congresswoman refused to elaborate on her remarks. Bash was forced to keep pace as Bachmann briskly walked away, insisting her speech was about the attack in Benghazi. Bachmann even turned the questions against the CNN reporter, chiding her for talking about Obama’s White House budget rather than Benghazi.
“But you’re the one who brought it up,” Bash responded as Bachmann raced off.
Not surprisingly, the report tells us that “that several of Bachmann’s claims of excess were untrue. He noted that by her own estimates Obama was actually spending $2 million less than Bush and the allegation that the President hired a designated dog walker was simply false.”
But how stupid is the argument anyway? Are we supposed to believe that Ronald Reagan and GWB lived in tar paper shacks on the White House’s back lawn, eating only what they could forage from local birdfeeders? And how could this possibly have any damned thing to do with Benghazi?
No wonder Shelly took off running when asked about it. If we had more reporters actually challenging politicians on their lies, we see a lot more politicians hightailing it away from intrepid reporters. And that in turn would mean we’d see a lot fewer dishonest Republicans.
CNN’s Dana Bash: reporting done right.
