Minnesota Independent » larry king

Bachmann’s health care statements rate ‘false’ at Politifact

Andy Birkey — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:06:10 +0000

Appearing with Rep. Alan Grayson on Larry King Live on Thursday night, Rep. Michele Bachmann said that President Obama’s health care reform plan would not bring down the costs of health care for average Americans. On Friday, Politifact evaluated her comment and ruled it “false.”

Bachmann said, “President Obama’s bill won’t bring down the costs (of health care) for average Americans — or really for very few Americans, if any.”

Politifact checked with the nonpartisan Congressional Budgeting Office and, on Friday, found that her claim does not stand up to scrutiny.

Using the strict, unsubsidized figures, 60 percent of Americans in the private insurance market should see their premiums fall. And taking into account the subsidies, a full 70 percent would see their premiums fall. And almost 94 percent would see their premiums either fall or stay the same. No matter how you slice it, the overwhelming majority are likely to see a decline. So we find her claim False.

Here’s the full debate:

Like ‘brilliant’ Bachmann, Prejean says she’s been ‘Palinized’

Paul Schmelzer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:12:44 +0000

On a tour for her new Regnery title “Still Standing,” dethroned Miss California Carrie Prejean is taking a page from another book — Michele Bachmann’s. On CNN yesterday, Larry King asked Prejean about her recent comment that she’s being “Palinized” — the same term Bachmann used about herself in an August fundraising appeal — by the liberal media. Prejean’s response, which references Bachmann as “brilliant,” sounded like a made-for-Bachmann soundbite: the “liberal media” has it in for conservative women.

“You look at Sarah Palin and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann,” she told King. “They are relentlessly torn down by the liberal media. I mean, they’re wonderful women, they’re intelligent, they’re great mothers. They’re brilliant. And yet there’s a double standard that conservative women are fair game to be attacked and it’s not right and it needs to stop.”

King replied, “Doesn’t the conservative media tear down liberal policiticans?”

“Not to the extent that liberals do to conservative women,” she answered. “I think they get away with it.”

But what really ruffled Prejean’s feathers was King’s question about why she agreed to settle lawsuits with the Miss California USA pageant. The pageant sued her for breach of contract and Prejean, whose answer to a Miss USA pageant question that revealed her to be ardently anti-gay marriage endeared her to rightwing conservatives, countersued. On Nov. 3, all suits were dropped; CNN had reported that a source claimed the reason for the settlement was that “extremely graphic” videos involving Prejean has surfaced. When King prodded Prejean about the reason behind the settlement, she repeatedly called his line of questioning “inappropriate” and attempted to walk off the set.

Bachmann: ‘Don’t let them Palinize me!’

Chris Steller — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:15:18 +0000

Photo collage: MnIndy

“Don’t let them Palinize me!’ cries the subject line of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s email to supporters today. Laying claim to the Sean Hannity–bestowed title of “second most hated Republican woman,” Bachmann makes a pitch for cash: “With Governor Palin taking a well-deserved step out of the spotlight, it appears that I may be absorbing even more of the liberals’ scorn. And, I’d really appreciate your support so that I can defend myself against their attacks.”The Palin theme seems predicated not only on Hannity’s phrase but also on news yesterday that Bachmann’s son has joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program that she has publicly berated:

But just as they did with Sarah Palin, the more I talk about the issues, the more they attack with below-the-belt personal hits. In fact, yesterday, a Minnesota paper gave a full column to a hit piece on one of my kids!

Today’s “Bachmann Blast” (pdf) comes only a week after Palin gave Bachmann a shout-out on Facebook, seemingly signaling symbiosis between the two rightwing divas.

Making a verb with negative connotations out of Palin’s name is an unusual step for a fellow Republican.

It was no compliment, for example, when CNN’s Larry King blurted out former Sen. Norm Coleman’s name as a verb of derision during the heat of Coleman’s recount battle with Democrat Al Franken.

A negative definition of “Norm Coleman” even made the Urban Dictionary, a source Bachmann quotes directly at the end of her missive:

From the Urban Dictionary:

Palinize:

To smear or mock someone using falsehoods, baseless accusations or unsubstantiated character assassinations for the purpose of blocking them from achieving a goal.

To exaggerate the truth or lie by omission.

To attack a person for his or her conservative values by focusing an inordinate amount of attention on a single example of that person falling short (or being perceived as falling short) of the values they espouse.

If tonight’s beer ends Gates affair, Obama will save American jobs

Chris Steller — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:04:42 +0000

For America’s public servants who use social media stupidly, President Obama can’t drink beer with Henry Louis Gates and his arresting officer, Sgt. Jim Crowley, soon enough. Commentary about the Gates affair on Facebook cost an aide to the Manhattan borough president her job, and a racist email about the affair sent to the Boston Globe cost a Boston cop his badge, perhaps permanently.

Another government worker who already knows his current job is coming to an end (but might want another one) was more cautious. Gov. Pawlenty, who has said he won’t run for re-election, interviewed former Secretary of State Colin Powell on his radio show last Friday — not long after Obama told a national television audience that Crowley had acted “stupidly” in arresting Gates for breaking into his own home – without asking Powell about the Gates controversy.

The governor should stick to politics and pontificating to his party, because he missed a scoop. A few days later, CNN’s Larry King broached the question, and Powell said he had been on the receiving end of racial profiling but still found fault with the way Gates reacted (video).

Ventura: Coleman’s a ‘hypocrite’

Chris Steller — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:29:24 +0000

Jesse Ventura called Norm Coleman a “hypocrite” last night for having advised Al Franken to concede to Coleman, then failing to take his own advice once the Republican fell behind in the Senate vote-count. The former Independence Party governor made the remark on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” That’s the same show on which the renowned religion-ridiculer announced last summer that he might challenge Coleman and Franken — but only (he added, tongue in cheek) if “God sent me to file” for the office.

Here’s Ventura on LKL (via City Pages’ Blotter). It’s Jesse, so he talks about waterboarding Dick Cheney and lots of other stuff, too:

Larry King: ‘I’m not a sore loser. I’m not gonna pull a Norm Coleman’

Chris Steller — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:20:58 +0000

Here’s evidence that Minnesota’s post-election battle for U.S. Senate has permeated pop culture. Al Franken and Norm Coleman were cited this week by contestants in another competition that attracted millions of partisans: the race between movie actor Ashton Kutcher and news juggernaut CNN to be first to gain one million followers on Twitter, the social-media phenomenon.

Two leading players in the new-media stunt known as the ”Twitter War“ compared themselves to Minnesota’s Senate rivals. Kutcher tweeted “now I know how Al Franken must have felt” when the race looked tight on Thursday. After the actor bested the network today, CNN host Larry King said, “I’m not a sore loser. I’m not gonna pull a Norm Coleman and take this to the courts.” (h/t noahkunin)

King’s offhand sobriquet for the former Minnesota Senator comes only two-and-a-half weeks since a Media Matters critic took the nation’s press and commentariat to task for failing to call Coleman a “sore loser.” In the interim, however, a Minnesota court has ruled that Franken won by 312 votes, and Coleman vowed to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court and perhaps the federal courts as well.

Here’s a video clip of Kutcher on “Larry King Live” tonight (King’s “Norm Coleman” comment comes at the 5:00 mark):

KING: I’m not a sore loser.

KUTCHER: No, you’re not.

KING: I’m not gonna pull a Norm Coleman and take this to the courts.

KUTCHER: You have been gracious, very gracious.

And here’s the “Al Franken” Twitter message that Kutcher sent Thursday.

As of the time of this post late Friday, Kutcher had 1,118,658 followers on Twitter while CNN still lagged with 1,046,927 — for a combined total of more than 2.1 million — still about 800,000 shy of the 2.9 million votes cast (and then recounted by hand) in Minnesota’s 2008 U.S. Senate election.