Bachmann on her claim about Obama India trip: I never said I believed it
Monday, November 22, 2010 at 1:27 pm
- 15 Comments
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Rep. Michele Bachmann responded to criticism she’s received over her claims that President Barack Obama spent $200 million a day during a recent trip to India. Bachmann defended the statement, saying she was just quoting a newspaper and that she never said she believed it.
Host Emily Maitlis also grilled Bachmann about some of her more inflammatory statements, including whether Obama was anti-American.
ThinkProgress has a transcript of the exchange:
MAITLIS: You claimed that President Obama spent $200 million a day on a trip to India. It’s been roundly ridiculed as a quote.
BACHMANN: Actually, I didn’t claim that. I was quoting a newspaper out of India. And I only used that quote–
MAITLIS: Well why would you do that?
BACHMANN: Well number one it came out of the host country in India, a well-respected financial newspaper.
MAITLIS: And you believe that? $200 million dollars a day?
BACHMANN: Well, all I did was I quoted the newspaper. I quoted the newspaper and major national figures in the United States, many in the media had already been using that figure. [...] The reason it was so important was that the president has a two-year history of out of control spending. [...]
MAITLIS: You still believe that it was $200 million dollars a day?
BACHMANN: I didn’t say if I believe it or not. What I said was a I was quoting a newspaper.
Bachmann’s original statement came in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
“Well I think we know that just within a day or so the President of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day,” Bachmann said. “He’s taking two thousand people with him. He’ll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending, it’s a very small example, Anderson.”
“But don’t all Presidents take overseas trips, and stay in hotels where there’s security?” Cooper asked.
“Not, not, not at this level. We have never seen this sort of an entourage going with a President before. And I think this is an example of the massive overspending that we’ve seen, not only just in the last two years, but really in the last four,” she said.
Here’s video of Bachmann defending her claims:
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter15 Comments
Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 2:31 pm
We’re obviously overspending if we’re paying Bachmann’s salary. Talk about a frivolous waste of resources.
Pingback posted November 22, 2010 @ 2:59 pm
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Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 5:13 pm
The saddest part is that it won’t matter. The members of her cult are, even as I write this, warming up their vocal cords to repeat the chant that she never said she believed it.
Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 8:14 pm
Some how this doesn’t seem like a very Christian thing to do. Bearing false witness and all.
Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 8:40 pm
I heard Obamas trip was 300 billion dollars a day!!!
Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 11:42 pm
Rather than re-ask Bachmann if she thinks her number was accurate, why doesn’t this poor excuse for a press TELL us what the number was? Surely the White House would have that number by now.
Not that it’s any of your money or anything.
Comment posted November 23, 2010 @ 8:39 am
Dennis tell us about any Presidents trip costs that have ever been announced,
Comment posted November 23, 2010 @ 9:24 am
Thank you, Dennis, for proving my point. Instead of pushing a member of Congress on a lie she was instrumental in spreading, the Bachmann-Palin Overdrive is going to focus on an entirely unrelated issue.
If the truth is not on your side, rely on a distraction.
Comment posted November 23, 2010 @ 10:31 am
Dennis – you missed the point of the article – apparently you get lost pretty easily without your imaginary friends to guide you.
Comment posted November 27, 2010 @ 8:58 am
A secret service officer quoted following Bachmann’s first breathtaking claim “that it was costing 200 million dollars per day, and half the Navy and Air Force, and they were taking over the most luxurious hotel in India,” explained that the details of the cost and size of the entourage on a presidential trip is never released. Never.
Bachmann does not care for the truth, like Palin, she has no interest in facts. Facts are either convenient or inconvenient depending on their utility.
And no, I don’t attack Bachmann nor Palin because I am a “leftard” who is terrified or intimidated by them. I am merely frustrated that they are in positions of political power.
Comment posted November 28, 2010 @ 8:36 am
Now if this was John Boehner, that number would be correct. No worries for the tax payers though, the Indian tobacco & alcohol industry would be footing the entire bill.
Comment posted November 28, 2010 @ 9:04 am
She is clearly lying about her intentions in quoting the Indian newspaper (assuming, of course, probably wrongly, that she is not simply quoting Drudge), as she goes on to build a critique of the president based on it. This leads me to the perennial question, are these right-wing loons true believers and just unbelievably thick, or are they the crassest and most cynical opportunists of all time? I confess, I find it impossible to tell (though I am pretty sure that Gingrich is in the latter camp, and Palin in the former).
Comment posted November 29, 2010 @ 5:09 pm
@ skinner city cyclist – crassest and most cynical opportunists of all time. definitely.
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