The Washington Blade reports that Michele Bachmann continues to dodge questions on her husband’s clinic.
A brief transcript of the exchange between the moderator and Bachmann follows:
Moderator: A question that has been in the news — and I think so far your husband has been the one to address it — this comes from a local reporter for the Washington Blade who says, “Recent reporting has revealed the clinic you co-own with your husband engages in a kind of therapy that is meant to help people get over their homosexuality. Do you believe that reparative therapy can change gay people into being straight and has any federal funding gone to your clinic for the practice?
Michele Bachmann: Well, I’m extremely proud of my husband. I have tremendous respect and admiration for him, and we’ll celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary this coming September. But I am running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not running for the presidency, neither are my children, neither is our business, neither is our foster children. And I am more than happy to stand for questions on running for presidency of the United States.
Moderator: So, just to be clear then, you don’t believe that your personal finances are something that should be questioned by the American people?
Bachmann: I am running for the presidency of the United States and I have no doubt that every jot and tittle of my life will be fully looked at and inspected prior to November 2012.
Watch the video of Bachmann’s response to the question here (via Think Progress)
When will Michele and Marcus realize that questions about the quack clinic are not going away until they provide the public with answers. I do have to say though, it is thoroughly amusing to watch Michele Bachmann run away from this question. It shows that groups like Exodus and NARTH have gone from conservative darlings to political liabilities in little more than a decade.
I think Truth Wins Out has much to do with this positive development — along with Ex-Gay Watch, Box Turtle Bulletin, Michael Bussee, Dr. Jack Drescher, Dr. Doug Haldeman, Dr. Jerry Stephenson, Beyond Ex-Gay, Jeremy Hooper, and so many others who have doggedly held the “ex-gay” charlatans accountable. When I started following the “ex-gay” industry in 1998, there were few people paying attention, which made it rather easy for groups like Exodus to disseminate lies. Today, they operate on much more difficult terrain, where the blatant misinformation and myths are vigorously challenged. The world is a better place today because of these efforts — although we still have so much more work to do.
