Hardball with Chris Matthews

===Michele Bachmann===
On October 17, 2008, [[Minnesota]] representative [[Michele Bachmann]] gave an interview on ''Hardball'' in support of the presidential campaign of Senator [[John McCain]]. In speaking of Senator [[Barack Obama]], Bachmann said: "we know that he is the most liberal senator in the United States Senate and that's just after one year of being there ... [with [[Nancy Pelosi]] and [[Harry Reid]]] you have a [[Troika (triumvirate)|Troika]] of the most leftist administration in the history of our country."<ref name="10/17/08">{{cite video|publisher=Hardball with Chris Matthews on NBC News|title=Interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/21134540|access-date=2008-10-22|date=2008-10-17}}</ref> In reference to Republican vice-presidential candidate [[Sarah Palin]]'s comment about "pro-America areas of this great nation", Bachmann was asked which areas are anti-American and responded, "I don't think it's geography. I think it is people who don't like America, who detest America ...  you’ll find them in all walks of life all throughout America."<ref name="10/17/08"/> When asked by Matthews about Democratic [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid, Bachmann said, "I am not going to say if they are anti-American or pro-American."<ref name="10/17/08"/> When asked, "How many people in the Congress of the United States do you suspect as being anti-American?", she replied, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an exposé like that."<ref name="10/17/08"/>

Bachmann's comments had an immediate impact on her re-election campaign. A campaign urging Congress to officially censure Bachmann was launched with over 35,000 signatures in the first 24 hours after her ''Hardball'' appearance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.censurebachmann.com/ |title=Stand Up America PAC |publisher=Censurebachmann.com |access-date=2010-02-23}}</ref> In less than 72 hours, her congressional election opponent [[Elwyn Tinklenberg]] received $740,000 in donations.<ref>[http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hdJ99zAkoOv-1IIb1WWsqynamj4wD93UGSB00 AP] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029121856/http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hdJ99zAkoOv-1IIb1WWsqynamj4wD93UGSB00 |date=October 29, 2008 }}</ref> Tinklenberg said that he heard "in that kind of a call echoes of the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]]."<ref>[http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/20/democrats_seek_to_unseat_michelle_bachmann/ Democrats seek to unseat Michele Bachmann] minnesota.publicradio.org</ref> However, Bachmann defeated Tinklenberg 46.4% to 43.4% in the November 4, 2008 election.