Michele Bachmann Denies Abortion Comment: 'I Don't Think I Ever Said That'

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who in early October introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would force women to listen to the fetal heartbeat before having an abortion, made the surprising comment in Iowa recently that abortion bans should be left up to the states.

"I think that's referring to late-term abortion, and I think that's something that most people find anathema, and they would prefer to see it outlawed," she told the Iowa Republican in response to a question about abortion bans. "That's a state issue, and so it's up to the people of Iowa to decide what they want to do."

A week later, she denied having ever had that conversation, despite the video of her comments that was posted online.

"I don't think I ever said that, that a late-term abortion ban is a state issue," Bachmann told blogger Shane Vander Hart in a phone interview on Saturday. "I don't ever recall anything about that. I don't recall a question about that. I've always been absolutely unequivocal about [abortion being a federal issue]. They should contact the campaign before they post something like that, because that is not true."

Bachmann seemed particularly defensive about her pro-life stance in light of fellow presidential candidate Herman Cain's recent gaffe about abortion not being a government issue. Unlike Cain, she told the blogger, she is strong, consistent and decisive on pro-life matters.

Voters "get an idea of the person, and then they pull back the layers," she told Vander Hart. "Then they find out another candidate really isn't pro-life. The more people find out where the candidates truly are standing, the more I'm confident that people will choose me as their nominee."

WATCH Bachmann's response to a question from the Iowa Republican:

LISTEN to Bachmann's interview with blogger Shane Vander Hart:

Bachmann-2011-10-22-Interview by The Huffington Post

Comments

[Wendy420]

02:29 PM on 11/02/2011

The GOP needs to let the abortion issue rest. It's tired.

[highlyqualified]

05:53 PM on 10/30/2011

Farm subsidy welfare queens rarely remberripping off the federal treasury and the taxpayers, so how can you expect them to remember what they say?

[giant1]

12:47 PM on 10/27/2011

"I don't think I ever said that"

She obviously said it but I'm sure she misspoke. Bachman is a firm supporter of intrusive federal government.

She would have been more accurate if she had stopped at "I don't think...."

[houseofd]

11:55 AM on 10/27/2011

Loving the stupidity. There is no better sitcom right now than the GOP race for second place.

[Intelligenti Pauca]

11:07 AM on 10/27/2011

It boggles the mind that in the 21st century, the Information Age, someone can be so ignorant & naive when it comes to the media & the record of comments that are available to anyone with a computer. What makes this even more of a head-scratcher, at least where Plain is concerned, is that she received her bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism. She knows, and has used, the power of social media outlets like Facebook & Twitter. And yet we still see her, as well as others, continually try & deny that they made this or that comment, when all one has to do is go online & pull up a video of them or a transcript of their actual words.

For the people that have been in politics for a few decades, this is somewhat understandable. Back when they started the internet wasn't around. Information wasn't nearly as easy to obtain. In the 80's fact-checking to see if a comment made by someone conflicted with something they'd said 5 or 10 years earlier was a much harder process, even for the people that had connections. For the average Joe who thought that what Senator "X" was saying then, didn't jibe with what he vaguely thought he remembered the same Senator saying 5 or 10 years prior to that, it was practically impossible to fact-check.

[Intelligenti Pauca]

11:30 AM on 10/27/2011

Cont.

Fast-forward to 2011. Facts are now available in SECONDS. We can now see if Politician "X" just lied or not when they denied ever having said this or that just by hopping online & doing a 5-second search. But, as evidenced by Palin's latest flip-flop, politicians just can't seem to get that basic fact through their thick heads. They can't play the same games that used to work 25 years ago. Now, when a politician makes a comment, it goes on the internet where it gets seen by others, who post it on their blog, email their friends & family about it and/or post it on FB and/or Tweet about it.

With the small army of interns & staffers your average politician surrounds themself with, and the relative young age of some of them, you'd think that at least ONE of these "repeat offender" flip-flopping politicians would have gotten the bright idea to have a staffer or intern dedicated to making sure that they didn't say something in an upcoming public appearance that was a direct contradiction of what they'd said at some point in the past. Hell, for all I know some of them do. Maybe it's just a case of forgetting all of that when you're up there in front of the cameras & mics, going off-script and "speaking from the heart".

[Allosaur2010]

10:34 AM on 10/27/2011

Michelle's half right.

She doesn't think.

[lostnacfgop]

09:59 AM on 10/27/2011

Here we go, let's blame the migraine meds (again)

[FLFan]

09:43 AM on 10/27/2011

She probably doesn't think it's her in the video, either.

[XtfrM2]

08:52 AM on 10/27/2011

What is it about ex.treme conservatives like Ms. Bachmann that makes them so clueless about technology and how it is used in today's world? Does she really believe that no one is filming or recording her when she makes an appearance? I also liked Rick Santorum going to Google and asking if they can do something about his "google problem."
BTW, it's Thursday, have you googled "Santorum" yet?

[sshepherd70]

02:13 AM on 10/27/2011

It was tottally unfair to ask her the same question two days later. Why would anyone expect her to remember, when things just pop out pf her mouth.

[Cthulhu On Call]

01:45 AM on 10/27/2011

To be fair, it could've been any one of the voices in her head.

[Virginia Beringer]

09:08 PM on 10/26/2011

President Bachmann, "I don't remember saying I was thinking of bombing Iran. I don't think I ever said that..."
Duh.

[CitizenKane16]

08:21 PM on 10/26/2011

It's so cute that they forget about the power of "The Google".

[barb582]

07:16 PM on 10/26/2011

She should have stopped at "I don't think."

[Christine Chew]

03:18 PM on 10/26/2011

I've never understood why politicians on both sides say things like I don't think I ever said that or I don't recall saying that. Everything is on video or audio, and you have how many people working for you? Assign some low level flunky to keep track of all the bull that comes out of your mouth. Or you could just think before you talk, but I guess that would require a functioning brain which Bachmann obviously doesn't have.