Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann scorns an apology from “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace for asking her during an interview: “Are you a flake.”
At the time, the Minnesota congresswoman responded, "That would be insulting, to say something like that, because I'm a serious person.” She then listed her achievements as a former tax lawyer with a post-doctorate degree in federal tax law, a state lawmaker, and a businesswoman.
Wallace obviously felt the heat from Fox viewers, because he took the time to apologize later in the day in a video the network posted.
Bachmann is in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, today to announce her candidacy for president. Also there is ABC News’ Jon Karl, who showed her a clip of Wallace’s mea culpa and asked whether she accepts it,
Politico reports.
Bachmann responded thusly: "I think that it's insulting to insinuate that a candidate for president is less than serious."
Pressed again to say whether she accepts it, Bachmann replied, "Those are the small issues. I'm focused on the big ones," according to the Politico report.
Politico’s Jennifer Epstein observes: “The episode is an unusual moment of conflict between a Republican candidate for 2012 and Fox, and is a stark contrast to the relationship Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann is often compared to, has with the network.”
As for Wallace, he’s on vacation this week, but he obviously wanted to get something off of his chest to be able to relax. He apologized profusely to her and to his viewers, saying, in part: "A lot of you were more than perturbed, you were upset and felt that I had been rude to her. And since in the end it's really all about the answers and not about the questions. I messed up. I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect."
Here’s the video of his recantation:
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