Bachman calls for investigation into "Anti-Americanism" in Congress, Blogs React

The two biggest newsmakers over the past weekend were the endorsement of Barack Obama by Senator Colin Powell and a surprising story over a comment on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on MSNBC. The comment came from Minnesota's 6th district's representative Michele Bachman while she was being interviewed by Chris Matthews.

My father and I happened to be watching MSNBC at the time of the comment and were thoroughly shocked with what Bachman said. Bachman stated that the media should investigate Congress for "anti-americanism." She then went on to state that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have anti-american views based on Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, and Michelle Obama's comment about being proud of her country. Rep. Bachman shocked many watching with this statement and was called out for practicing "McCarthyism" by the next guest on the show. The blogosphere was majorly abuzz with this story. Many agreed with the statement on McCarthyism though a few had other outlooks or even sided with Rep. Bachman.

The first blogs I checked were those on Huffington Post. The article by Sam Stein talked about how Bachman called essentially for a "witch-hunt" into pro or anti Americanism. It did not offer very much opinion but did agree that the interview "channeled McCarthyism." It also talked about how the move may have helped her opponent, who had raised over 300,000 dollars since the interview.

I next checked Politico, which offered a different perspective. Blogger Daniel Libbit said that Rep. Bachman was doing everything for attention. He said that Bachman for months had been doing everything she could to get into the national spotlight, appearing on Larry King multiple times, and many other talk shows. He says that this is just a stunt for media attention by making such a rediculous claim. Of the blogs I checked, this was a unique opinion.
I checked multiple blogs from news stations, however they offered very little opinion and only quotes and responses from the various parties.

The final blogs that I checked were those outside of my usual viewing group. I checked various internet blogs on the matter that are not as regulated. Many offered strong opinions about how crazy they believed representative Bachman is. A blog here at blogspot entitled Dump Michelle Bachman calls Rep. Bachman an "extremist, McCarthyist, and lier." Many of the conservative blogs blame Matthews and the "got cha media." This is to be expected as media bashing is usually the easiest excuse for actions. I also found a few calling Rep. Bachman a "patriot" and "true american" for her comments. Freerepublic.com's blogs have posts that say things such as, " She’s GOT to be GREAT, cause those commie libs REALLY hate her," and "I am truly inspired by her courage."

The majority of blogs that I read were shocked and called the incident "McCarthyism," though in blogging there are always many opinions out there. I personally found the most persuasive to be the Politico article which had many facts and offered a unique and interesting perspective on the matter.