Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is set to throw her hat in the presidential ring in Iowa this morning. In the hours before she does, she’s engaged in a tussle with Fox News Sunday Chris Wallace that’s riled up her base and made Fox do something it rarely does: apologize.
Perhaps mindful of the buzz the story is giving her campaign, Bachmann refused to accept the apology in her first television interview about the controversy. That puts Fox in a new and different position: battling with one of conservatism’s brightest stars.
Here’s what happened. Yesterday, Bachmann sat down with Wallace for one of two Sunday show interviews. The appearance came at a high point for Bachmann: she’s running neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney in the first all-important Des Moines Register poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers, which suggests maybe a more serious contender than her past, uh, flakiness might suggest.
Nevertheless, Wallace asked the question.
“Are you a flake?” he said.
Bachmann was not amused. “Well I think that would be insulting,” she replied. “To say something like that.”
As it can when one of the tea party stars feathers are ruffled, the internet lit up. It wasn’t long before Wallace had to apologize. Here’s what that looked like, from a video posted to the Fox News Sunday website just hours after the interview aired:
Asked about Wallace’s apology by ABC News this morning, Bachmann declined at accept.
“I think that it’s insulting to insinuate that a candidate for president is less than serious,” she said of the interview. “I am a very serious individual.”
Watch:
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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