VIDEO-- Michele Bachmann : "Not all cultures are equal"

By GottaLaff

Bachmann's statements have not been seen outside of that debate room until now.


Minnesota Republican 6th Congressional District Debate sponsored by the Taxpayers League- November 2005.

First we saw her on Hardball as a McCarthy reincarnate. Now this, from 2005:

One comment that she has never explained was made in a debate she had while running for Congress the first time in November of 2005. Prompted by a question on the rioting in France and Europe at the time, Bachmann said "not all cultures are equal, not all values are equal," letting it be known that she thought that people of the Muslim faith had an inferior culture to that of the United States and the West.

She held forth on the European unrest, referring to a generation of unassimilated Muslim French youth addicted to cable television, led in her imagination by al Jazeera to wreak havoc. [...]

Her knowledge of what was actually happening in France seems to have come entirely from a FOX news-style script. In fact, the unrest was no jihad, had nothing to do with religious faith or Muslim culture or al Jazeeera. It was more akin to the riots in the U.S. for expanded civil rights in the 1960s or those that followed from the Rodney King police beating in Los Angeles in 1991. The European riots came after two suburban youth were killed in a police chase. The unrest centered on decades of discrimination that had manifested itself, for example, in school acceptances and hiring practices.

Tinklenberg may have just won.

H/t: Ellen

UPDATE:

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is rallying around Rep. Michele Bachmann and using her controversial comments about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to rally supporters.

The committee on Thursday sent a fundraising e-mail critical of the media’s treatment of the Minnesota Republican, who suggested on MSNBC’s “Hardball” last week that Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) holds “anti-American” views.

This video should rake in a bundle then, eh?

GOP pulling Bachmann ads

By GottaLaff

Not only did Michele McCarthy's Bachmann's appalling remarks make her Democratic opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, over a million dollars, but check this out:

Two sources aware of ad buys in Minnesota say that the National Republican Congressional Committee is pulling its media purchases from Bachmann's race. If true, it is a remarkable fall for a congresswoman who, until recently, seemed relatively safe in her predominantly conservative district. The race had become closer in recent days -- the NRCC had transferred funds from Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) to Bachmann a little over a week ago.

Suh-weet.

H/t: Eve