Bachmann Doesn't Condemn Voight's 'Subconscious Programming To Damn America' Attack On Obama

Appearing on ABC's "Top Line" Web cast, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) refused to distance herself from actor Jon Voight, who made this remark about President Obama at last month's Capitol Hill Tea Party: "His only success in his one-year term as president is taking America apart, piece by piece. Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Rev. Wright to damn America?"

Jonathan Karl asked Bachmann whether she agreed with Voight, or if it was instead over the line. "I like Jon Voight I think he's a great American," said Bachmann, "and the 20,000-plus Americans who spontaneously gathered were there for one reason and one reason only and it was to say 'we want to make the decisions about our healthcare, we don't want government to take over.'

After Bachmann railed against the government taking over the private-sector economy, Karl asked her again: "So you don't think Jon Voight was over the line, right?"

"Just in this year government is taking over about 65% of the economy. That's not America," she responded "We need to look at what Washington is doing. That's why the approval ratings for the president and the democratic congress are plunging so dramatically. The American people don't want this."