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?”