However, if Bachmann was using the interview in order to quell the controversy, he was very unsuccessful. The interview raises more questions, specifically about a claim he made regarding gays.
The claim, that gays are like barbarians, has gotten the most play in the media. In the Star-Tribune interview, Bachmann claimed that the tape of him making the claim was doctored:
. . . an audiotape circulating on the Internet depicts Bachmann as calling gays barbarians in a 2010 interview he gave to the "Point of View" Christian radio talk show.
"We have to understand: Barbarians need to be educated,'' Bachmann's voice is heard saying on the tape. "They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn't mean that we are supposed to go down that road.''
Bachmann said that someone must have doctored the recording of the interview, in which he addressed child discipline as well as homosexuality and sex education.
. . . "I was talking in reference to children. Nothing, nothing to do with homosexuality. That's not my mindset. That's not my belief system. That's not the way I would talk," Bachmann said.
In response to Bachmann's claim, the news program Hardball played the entire clip. And what does it show?
The simple fact that Bachmann was being deceptive. He was talking about children who come out to their parents.
Therefore, he was in fact talking about gays:
For those keeping score, that's two lies which can be attributed to Bachmann. The first lie was when he initially denied that his clinic engages in "ex-gay therapy."
Related post:
Michele Bachmann bashes Whoopi Goldberg to raise money
