Palin, Bachmann blast Biden for alleged "terrorist" comment
By
Lucy Madison
/ CBS News
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Updated: 12:32 p.m. ET
Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin lambasted Vice President Joe Biden Monday night for negative comments he allegedly made about the Tea Party.
Biden was reported by Politico on Monday to have agreed with an argument by Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, who apparently asserted that "[w]e have negotiated with terrorists" during a closed-door meeting with House Democrats about the deal to raise the debt limit.
"They have acted like terrorists," Biden was said to have responded.
The Hill reports that in an e-mail Monday night, Bachmann, R-Minn., condemned Biden's alleged statement and called on the vice president to apologize.
"Only in the bizarro world of Washington is fiscal responsibility sometimes defined as terrorism," wrote the Tea Party favorite, according to the Hill.
And in a Monday night appearance on Fox News, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said it was "vile" to use the word terrorist in reference to politicians who were "taking a stand."
"We're getting kind of used to being called names. You know, racists and inciters of violence, and being accused with things we have nothing to do with," Palin told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "But I suppose it's a bit more appalling to have been called acting like terrorists today from he who is in second in command of the most powerful office in the world. It's quite appalling and cert proves how out of touch this White House is what it comes to realizing what the silent majority of Americans are seeing and feeling."
"What we're feeling is that growing more debt isn't going to get us out of debt and raising taxes in a down economy is a bad idea, and we're taking a stand in light of those," she continued. "And so to be called a terrorist because of our beliefs from the vice president, it's quite appalling. It's quite vile."
(Incidentally, Palin has lobbed the "terrorist" claim against her own political opponents in the past: In 2008, she accused President Obama -- then the democratic nominee for president -- of "palling around" with terrorists. Palin was referring in her comments to William Ayers, a former member of the radical Weathermen group, who served on education boards with Mr. Obama in Chicago. But reports indicated that Mr. Obama and Ayers were not close.)
In a Monday interview with CBS News' Scott Pelley, however, Biden denied the allegations that he compared Tea Party members to terrorists.
A spokesperson for Biden added on Tuesday that Biden "does not believe it's an appropriate term in political discourse."
"The word was used by several members of Congress," said Biden spokesperson Kendra Barkoff. "The vice president does not believe it's an appropriate term in political discourse."
Biden told Pelley he let lawmakers "vent" about the deal, which the House passed Monday night and which will head to the Senate today. But he says he did not agree with the terrorism comparison.
"What happened was there were some people who said they felt like they were being held hostage by terrorists," he said. "I never said that they were terrorists or weren't terrorists, I just let them vent."
"I said even if that were the case, what's been happening when you now have taken and paid the debt and move that down so we can now discuss, the nuclear weapon's been taken out of anyone's hands," he added.
Palin, Bachmann blast Biden for alleged "terrorist" comment
By Lucy Madison
/ CBS News
Updated: 12:32 p.m. ET
Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin lambasted Vice President Joe Biden Monday night for negative comments he allegedly made about the Tea Party.
Biden was reported by Politico on Monday to have agreed with an argument by Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, who apparently asserted that "[w]e have negotiated with terrorists" during a closed-door meeting with House Democrats about the deal to raise the debt limit.
"They have acted like terrorists," Biden was said to have responded.
The Hill reports that in an e-mail Monday night, Bachmann, R-Minn., condemned Biden's alleged statement and called on the vice president to apologize.
"Only in the bizarro world of Washington is fiscal responsibility sometimes defined as terrorism," wrote the Tea Party favorite, according to the Hill.
And in a Monday night appearance on Fox News, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said it was "vile" to use the word terrorist in reference to politicians who were "taking a stand."
"We're getting kind of used to being called names. You know, racists and inciters of violence, and being accused with things we have nothing to do with," Palin told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "But I suppose it's a bit more appalling to have been called acting like terrorists today from he who is in second in command of the most powerful office in the world. It's quite appalling and cert proves how out of touch this White House is what it comes to realizing what the silent majority of Americans are seeing and feeling."
"What we're feeling is that growing more debt isn't going to get us out of debt and raising taxes in a down economy is a bad idea, and we're taking a stand in light of those," she continued. "And so to be called a terrorist because of our beliefs from the vice president, it's quite appalling. It's quite vile."
(Incidentally, Palin has lobbed the "terrorist" claim against her own political opponents in the past: In 2008, she accused President Obama -- then the democratic nominee for president -- of "palling around" with terrorists. Palin was referring in her comments to William Ayers, a former member of the radical Weathermen group, who served on education boards with Mr. Obama in Chicago. But reports indicated that Mr. Obama and Ayers were not close.)
In a Monday interview with CBS News' Scott Pelley, however, Biden denied the allegations that he compared Tea Party members to terrorists.
"I did not use the terrorism word," he said.
A spokesperson for Biden added on Tuesday that Biden "does not believe it's an appropriate term in political discourse."
"The word was used by several members of Congress," said Biden spokesperson Kendra Barkoff. "The vice president does not believe it's an appropriate term in political discourse."
Biden told Pelley he let lawmakers "vent" about the deal, which the House passed Monday night and which will head to the Senate today. But he says he did not agree with the terrorism comparison.
"What happened was there were some people who said they felt like they were being held hostage by terrorists," he said. "I never said that they were terrorists or weren't terrorists, I just let them vent."
"I said even if that were the case, what's been happening when you now have taken and paid the debt and move that down so we can now discuss, the nuclear weapon's been taken out of anyone's hands," he added.
Lucy Madison is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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