Another 'Macaca' Moment?

No, we're not talking about former Sen. George Allen, R-Va.

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann is under heavy fire for comments she made on MSNBC's "Hardball" about how the people Barack Obama pals around with are "anti-American."

"The liberals that are Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers are over-the-top anti-American ... remember it was Michelle Obama who said she was only recently proud of her country. Those are anti-American views," Bachmann said on Friday's appearance on Chris Matthews' show.

Most Americans are very proud of America, she added, and "they're very concerned about a president who doesn't share those values."

After quite a bit of baiting by Matthews, Bachmann said: "I'm very concerned he may have anti-American views, that's what the American people are concerned about."

"If people like that [Wright, and others] were John McCain's mentors, you'd be all over John McCain."

Matthews tried to get Bachmann to say exactly how many people in Congress - and who - are "anti-American," to which she said the media should do a "penetrating exposé ... at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they're pro-America, or anti-America."


UPDATE: On a similar note, The New York Observer reports that while warming up a McCain-supporting crowd in North Carolina on Saturday, Republican Rep. Robin Hayes said "liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God."

This came after he said he would "make sure we don't say something stupid, make sure we don't say something we don't mean." He also said Barack Obama is "inciting class warfare."

Hayes' comments came after those of Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry, also of North Carolina, who laid out the choice between McCain and Obama. To that, someone from the crowd yelled, "it's like black and white." The Observer says McHenry ignored it.

Hayes spokeswoman Amanda Little told Politico.com that Hayes denies making the comments noted in the Observer article. Politico's The Crypt called the Observer reporter who wrote it, Jason Horowitz, who is standing by by his reporting.

"I was there. That's what I heard. I was taking notes while he was talking," said Horowitz, who added that he arrived before much of the national media, which is why the comments aren't being reported elsewhere. "There were local reporters there. "