CNN host Anderson Cooper and comedian Kathy Griffin have chided Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann for her opposition to gay rights.

The presidential candidate faced a barrage of gay rights questions on the Sunday morning talk show circuit, a day after winning the Iowa straw poll in Ames.

She told State of the Union's Candy Crowley that as president she would work to reinstate the policy that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving openly, which is set to expire on September 20.

“The 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy has worked very well,” Bachmann said.

“I would be in consultation with our commanders, but yes, I probably will reinstate the ban,” she added.

And during an interview on Meet the Press, she objected to host David Gregory's line of questioning regarding her position on gay marriage, whether she would appoint an openly gay person to her cabinet and whether she believed children being raised in a household headed by a gay or lesbian couple are a family.

A clearly uncomfortable Bachmann complained, “You know, all of these kinds of questions really aren't about what people are concerned about right now,” and later added, “I don't judge.”

In an Anderson Cooper 360 segment, Cooper pointed out that the congresswoman's aversion to gay rights was not in character with her previous statements.

“She seems to be running from her own past statements about sexual orientation and civil rights, refusing to answer questions about her statements,” Cooper said.

“So she says she's not judging anyone … she's just not answering questions about her views on sexual orientation, which is a bit strange because the congresswoman has never been shy on the issue before. As a state senator, she sponsored an amendment to Minnesota's constitution banning same-sex marriage. She spoke out harshly against homosexuality. She even spoke out against using the adjective 'gay' in connection to sames-sex orientation.”

“For weeks now she has been deflecting questions about her past statements by calling the question itself irrelevant or frivolous.”

“She's running for president, which is very possibly the reason why she's not answering this question about her past statements,” Cooper added. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

Comedian Kathy Griffin also took a swipe at Bachmann on Monday, telling late night talk show host Conan O'Brien that Bachmann is “Cuck-oo! Woo-oo!”

Griffin told O'Brien that when she met Bachmann she asked her, “Congresswoman Bachmann, were you born a bigot or did you, like, grow into it?”