(Image Source: YouTube)
BY KERRY LEARY
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was caught off guard at a book signing in South Carolina. She quickly found out -- kids say the campaign-damningest things. Here’s the YouTube video.
Mother: Do you have something you want to say, buddy?
(Elijah mumbling)
Bachmann: What did you say?
Mother: You can say it louder, go ahead.
Bachmann: It’s alright! You said it, but you know, I think my ears were too far away. Do you want to come up a little closer?
Elijah: My Mom is gay but she doesn’t need any fixing.
Bachmann: Bye bye.
The video went viral- and has nearly 2.5 million views so far. Bachmann is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage. Some are saying she was stuck in an awkward situation and handled it well. KSBI discussed the incident on air.
ANCHOR: “Now, look. I will start this discussion by saying that I don't agree with the sentiment that -- you know, gay people need to be fixed. That said, I love the reaction you see -- the screaming headlines in The Huffington Post: Bachmann speechless by nine-year-old boy. If you already hate Michelle Bachmann and you don't agree with her, what should she have done that would have made you satisfied? Let me just tell you something about your mother!”
But here’s the controversy- according to HLN.
“The woman who shot the video said the boy's mom planned to confront Bachmann but got nervous. The boy got back in line so he could say something. On a radio show afterward, Bachmann accused the mother of putting the boy up to it.”
A writer for Death and Taxes says the boy was just shy and it was bold of him to stand up to the presidential candidate.
“One has to assume Elijah believes what he says — he loves his lesbian mommy — and though pushed, it was most likely for his childish shyness, rather than political opportunism. Even if it were, though, one has to remember that Bachmann’s uses her 28 children, 23 of them fostered, to push her pro-family rhetoric, so basically Bachmann and Elijah’s mother are playing the same game.”
A blogger for the Stir says she doesn’t agree with Bachmann’s politics, but on this one, sides with the candidate.
“Does that look like a kid who is hell-bent on taking down a political candidate or a little boy being used as a puppet to you? As a gay rights activist and a mother both, I confess I found the video appalling. I've seen a look like that on my daughter's face before -- when she was asked to give a kiss to an elderly relative... But unlike this mom, I read her facial cues.”
This isn’t the first time Bachmann has been confronted by a young person about LGBT rights. At a town hall meeting in Iowa, Bachmann was asked why she wouldn’t allow gay marriage by a president of a high school’s gay straight alliance. Glenn Beck talked with Bachmann about the incidents.
Glenn Beck: “This is the nuclear bomb in politics, accusing you of a homophobe, or whatever. They’ll do this to anybody they want to destroy. How do you navigate in that kind of world where you’re being, i think, set up every time to make you look like a homophobe? Are you a homophobe?
Bachmann: “Well of course not, i believe you love all people. i do. I don’t necessarily agree with them.”
A CNN poll released Wednesday has Michele Bachmann placing fifth among likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa.
Transcript by Newsy.