MSNBC takes on Bachmann, Palin

Immediately following yesterday’s rally with Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, two MSNBC hosts targeted the conservative duo. Minnesota-based host Ed Schultz brought on Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Bachmann’s opponent, Sen. Tarryl Clark, to respond to the event. Chris Matthews spoke with conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, who seemed perplexed by Bachmann’s claim that President Obama won’t nuke a country that commits a “cyber-attack” against the United States.

“They are great theater,” Rybak said of Bachmann and Palin, comparing them to other Minneapolis greats such as Prince and Bob Dylan. “I’m so glad Sarah Palin came here to bring Gov. Pawlenty back home” from his busy campaign travels.

Here’s the full exchange with Ed Schultz:

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Meanwhile, on Chris Matthews’ show, Pat Buchanan laughed off Bachmann’s suggestion that the United States should drop nuclear weapons in response to cyber-attacks.

Bachmann said on Wednesday:

“And then earlier this week, we found out that the president said that he was going to change the United States’ strategy on dealing with nuclear weaponry. Did this shock everyone? So, if in fact there is a nation who is compliant with all the rules ahead of time and then complied with the United Nations on nuclear proliferation, if they fire against the United States, a biological weapon, a chemical weapon, or maybe a cyber-attack — well, then we weren’t going to be firing back with nuclear weapons.”

Here’s Matthews’ and Buchanan’s exchange:

Matthews: How about the cyber-attack part of this?

Buchanan: Look, to have a cyber-attack you need a nuclear weapon on the other side because a cyber-attack…

I mean… the top… you mean the east…

Matthews: She was saying that if we get hit with a cyber-attack we should strike back with nuclear…

Buchanan: Well I see, you mean just computers. Do they mean computers?

Matthews: Yeah, that’s what she means.

Buchanan: or the attack in the atmosphere which?…

Matthews: No, no, no. She’s talking about cyber-attack.

Buchanan: If they hack into your computer?

Matthews: If something is happening to our computer system, we just strike with nuclear weapons.

Buchanan: I don’t think I’d strike with nuclear weapons if they hacked into my computer, no. (laughs)