Bachmann In San Rafael Rips Obama Over Solyndra, Defends HPV Remarks
SAN RAFAEL (KCBS) - Republican presidential primary candidate Michele Bachmann took jabs at the Obama administration's investment in Solyndra at a campaign fundraiser Thursday, and defended remarks linking a vaccine against the human papilloma virus to mental retardation.
Bachmann criticized President Obama for the "Solyndra fiasco" that allowed the now bankrupt solar company to take advantage of Department of Energy loan guarantees.
"If this any indication of how stimulus money is used, we need to reject the further stimulus that the president is proposing now in his next jobs program," she said.
The Minnesota Congresswoman said she's willing to be a one-term president if that will help her overhaul the tax code to pass "the mother of all repeal bills" to undo investments she derided as "venture socialism."
Supporters paid $100 each to meet a candidate who has faltered in the polls since Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared his candidacy. The Bachmann fundraiser at a private home in the city's Peacock Gap neighborhood was sponsored by a Tea Party group, the Bay Area Patriots.
Bachmann also reiterated her defense of a campaign misfire after the GOP debate Monday when she assailed Perry's executive order mandating that Texas middle-school girls receive the HPV vaccine.
"At the conclusion of the debate, a woman came up to me who was very distraught. She was crying and she thanked me for my remarks and said that her daughter had a negative reaction," she said.
KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:
Bachmann declined to retract or apologize for those remarks, condemned by doctors and vaccine advocates as unfounded and potentially dangerous.
After the San Rafael event, Bachmann headed to a fundraiser in Hillsborough. She was scheduled to speak Friday at the California Republican Party Convention in Los Angeles.
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