Both complaints involved Bachmann’s Nov. 5 rally against health-care reform in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Israel, of New York, used YouTube to voice his displeasure with prominent protest signs at the Bachmann event depicting Holocaust victims. A statement Bachmann released this week contains an apology of a sort.

On his TV show, Stewart took Hannity to task for inserting footage from another, larger rally into scenes from Bachmann’s event. Here’s Stewart’s take on Hannity’s sort-of apology.

Media Matters has a rundown of Fox’s past video trickery.

Here is Hannity’s original Fox News segment about Bachmann’s rally:

Update: On Wednesday’s show, Hannity acknowledged that Fox used the wrong footage.

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning …

ST. CLOUD: Michele Bachmann bans press, makes quick cameo at own public forum. People who can’t take her for more than 10 minutes didn’t have to. [St. Cloud Times]

MINNEAPOLIS: Memo to self: Try that chokehold again. Coleen Rowley revisits a local angle on the U.S. government torture program, in light of the latest revelations. [MN Progressive Project]

ST. PAUL: Tony Sutton’s long ascent to become MNGOP chair. His cure for the “Obama hiccup”? Slam another Diet Coke. [City Pages]

MINNEAPOLIS: City council could go to court to block referendum from ballot. The park board’s bid for independent taxing authority might burn out like a 2004 medical-marijuana reeferendum. [Star Tribune]

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Budweiser can’t do the can, says “U.” The King of Beers’ gold-and-maroon cans go the way of Victoria’s Secret U of M–themed togs. [Star Tribune]

AVON: Bones of prehistoric woman dug up at construction site. Since it’s going to be a credit union, she’ll be reburied with no added fees. [St. Cloud Times]

That’s the conclusion of Eric Ostermeier, who blogs at Smart Politics for the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Ostermeier counted Bachmann’s appearances on cable shows since she took office in 2007. That first year: zero appearances. Over the past year: 43 appearances.

So by Ostermeier’s reckoning, Bachmann is on national TV every nine days. At that rate, you can set your Tivo for next Thursday and have a good shot at catching the representative from Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District.

And at that rate, isn’t Bachmann proving she could handle her own weekly show, a la Huckabee?

By the way, Ostermeier confirms what you may suspect: Bachmann is increasingly leaning toward right-leaning networks like Fox. She hasn’t, for example, shown her face on MSNBC since Oct. 17, 2008, the day she told Chris of her suspicions about colleagues in Congress harboring “anti-American” beliefs.

Her latest appearance, as of this writing, was Tuesday, when she told Fox News host Sean Hannity that reforming the nation’s health care system is unconstitutional.

All that airtime is not an accident; it’s by design. Bachmann has mobilized an exceptionally large squadron of public-relations staffers to pursue “an aggressive plan” for more media exposure. Among other benefits, Ostermeier figures that strategy is reaping Bachmann campaign-fundraising rewards.

“[I]t is not within our power as members of Congress, it’s not within the enumerated powers of the Constitution for us to design and create a national takeover of health care. Nor is it within our ability to be able to delegate that responsibility to the executive.”

According to the United States Constitution, Congress does have the power to provide for the general welfare of the nation. “The Congress shall have power to … provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States.”

Hannity followed up, “All right, Congresswoman. Still haven’t figured out why liberals don’t like you so much. I think it’s because you actually believe in the Constitution. But we’re honored to have you here.”

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.

Frank recently introduced a bill to “use amounts made available under the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of the Treasury for relief for homeowners and neighborhoods.” Described as a neighborhood stabilization program, the funds would go to help depressed communities hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.

But Bachmann sees an evil scheme to give money to ACORN.

“Now Barney Frank thinks that [TARP funds] should go out to his friends in ACORN,” she told Sean Hannity. “He is serious about this, about funneling this little bit of money back out to ACORN.”

That little bit of money? “This would be an additional $1.5 billion for ACORN,” she said. “And don’t forget, in over 12 states so far this year ACORN has been indicted for voter fraud.”

The bill itself never mentions ACORN. In fact, it specifically spells out who gets the money [emphasis added]:

the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer $1,500,000,000 to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and such Secretary shall use such amounts for assistance to States and units of general local government for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes

Bachmann’s claim that ACORN is “under indictment” in 12 states in 2009 for “voter fraud” is also grossly inaccurate. Former ACORN employees have been brought under indictment this year in several states including Pennsylvania and Missouri, but so far this year only Nevada has indicted the actual organization.

And ACORN has not been accused of voter fraud. They are accused of voter registration fraud. Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller told the New York Times, “This is not a case of voter fraud, it’s a case of voter registration fraud. I’m very confident that none of these fraudulent voter forms found their way into the voter registration rolls or to cast votes.”

The full interview:

Video after the jump.

Pawlenty’s first comment to Hannity out of the gate was this clearly prepared line: “In Minnesota we don’t have term limits but we do have common sense and good judgment, and we’re also good about taking turns.”

There are several ways to interpret that statement. On the surface it’s simply about knowing when to quit and give someone else a chance.

But here’s another context in which to consider it. Pawlenty famously had his turn at running for the U.S. Senate taken away in 2002 when then-Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush advisor Karl Rove leaned heavily on him to switch to the governor’s race, making room for favored son Norm Coleman to run against Sen. Paul Wellstone.

So “good at taking turns” could refer to Pawlenty’s stepping aside then — and possibly taking his turn to run for U.S. Senate at the next good opportunity.

Another way to hear it: The guy who took Pawlenty’s turn in 2002 (Coleman) isn’t good at taking turns or knowing when to quit.

The former senator’s prolonged election dispute with Al Franken has put Pawlenty on the spot: It’s his job as governor to issue and sign an election certificate to the winner.

Pawlenty has vacillated on when and if he’ll do so, milking suspense from what might otherwise have been a routine (if distasteful in a partisan sense) anointing of Franken and ratcheting up his own political cachet in the process.

Still another more far-fetched read on the remark might take the turn-taking as a knock on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who came from behind to oust runner-up Pawlenty in the GOP veepstakes last year.

She had her turn on the national ticket and should step aside as a 2012 presidential frontrunner so Pawlenty can have his chance. Minnesotans are good at taking turns — are Alaskans?

In another revelation during his Hannity appearance, Pawlenty confided that he’d spoken with others who had served three terms as governor and counseled him not to run for re-election. (He wouldn’t name them.)

Hannity pressed Pawlenty on whether he’s contemplating a presidential run. Pawlenty repeated he’s not ruling anything in or out.

Here is the video of Pawlenty on Hannity’s program:

Pawlenty, who’s in the midst of a media flurry not seen since he was in the thick of the vice-presidential slot, also appeared on local TV. In an interview with WCCO’s Pat Kessler (video), the governor wasn’t any more forthcoming about his White House hopes than he was with Hannity: “Three years out, I don’t know what I’m going to be doing.”

But T-Paw was unabashed about still dancing to Cheney’s tune. When Kessler asked about the former vice president’s statements that the country is less safe under Obama, Pawlenty had a ready reply: ”He’s worth listening to.”

[Via Minnesota Public Radio's Polinaut blog]

“You can’t re-educate them in camps,” retorts Stewart. “You have to educate them first!”

Then the show cuts to a recent Bachmann interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who thanked Bachmann for “doing a great job”:

Hannity: …I have no doubt they’ll keep attacking you, ’cause you’re so effective…

Bachmann: Thank you, we’re going to fight for our freedom.

Hannity: Absolutely. Against tyranny.

Stewart: Yes. Tyranny. AKA, our democratically elected president… I think you might be confusing tyranny with losing.

That’s not a quote from a flabbergasted reporter trying to relay Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s never-ending series of staggering statements to a waiting world. It’s the “foreign correspondent” herself on Sean Hannity’s radio program on Wednesday:

We are headed down the lane of economic Marxism. More quickly, Sean, than anyone could have possibly imagined.

We are at the point, Sean, of revolution. And by that, what I mean, an orderly revolution — where the people of this country wake up get up and make a decision that this is not going to happen on their watch. …

If Tim Geithner is successful under President Obama, and they move us to an international currency, then we have no hope of standing on our own as a sovereign nation with our own economic system. It’s over. We can’t do that. …

Economics works equally in any country. Where freedom is tried, the people rejoice. But where tyranny is enforced upon the people, as Barack Obama is doing, the people suffer and mourn.

Bachmann on Hannity:

(Via TPM.)