Is there a double standard for conservatives when it comes to criticism of their public speaking missteps compared to liberals?
Take for example Politico and its 800-plus word treatise on Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s gaffe, written by Jonathan Martin and Kendra Marr on Saturday. They had every possible angle covered. However, flash back to May 2008 when Martin filed a post about President Barack Obama’s 57-state gaffe — it wasn’t quite as in depth (video + 17 words).
That’s the sort of double standard Bachmann questioned on Laura Ingraham’s radio show on Tuesday when she explained her gaffe, in which she confused New Hampshire with Massachusetts as where the opening shots of the Revolutionary War took place, to fill-in host Raymond Arroyo.
“I was up in New Hampshire speaking and the marvelously thing about New Hampshire is that they’re still proud of that battle,” she said. “They sent a number of people from their militia down to it. And I made a mistake. I should’ve said Massachusetts rather than New Hampshire. But you know, that’s the way it goes and we had a great trip and I was glad to be able to be there.”
But Bachmann asked why the media didn’t rake Obama over the coals for his memorable blunders that have occurred over the last three years.
“[W]e all know that there’s a double standard in the media,” Bachmann said. “And of course when President Obama said that there had been a tornado in Kansas and 10,000 had been killed that wasn’t considered newsworthy when he was campaigning for president, and then he said he was in 57 states and he was on his way to the 58th, and of course that wasn’t considered newsworthy because as we all know, the 3,400 members of the mainstream media are a part of the Obama press contingent. And this is just what we get. So it doesn’t matter which conservative is out there, if an error is made in any way that is what is stated. They didn’t talk about the great crowd, the standing ovation or the wonderful time that we had in New Hampshire and that is just the way it goes. I think that is what we as conservatives understand.”
Listen:
Bachmann also responded to Washington post columnist George Will’s comments on ABC’s “This Week” last Sunday that she wasn’t a serious contender for the presidency.
“I have a great deal of respect for George F. Will and I think what is opinion is — is that I have not come out and put together a team where I am seriously considering and contemplating a run for the presidency,” she said. “And I have not made a decision either way whether I’m in or whether I’m out.”