Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann kept a crowd of hundreds waiting for thirty minutes on Friday at the Iowa State Fair. While other GOP candidates spoke for twenty minutes or more during their scheduled appearances at a forum called ‘the soapbox’ at the fair, Bachmann arrived thirty minutes late, surrounded by a phalanx of security and staff members and only spoke for about three minutes. Upon leaving, she refused to answer reporters’ questions, including those posed by CNN's Don Lemon. The video which aired on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer shows Lemon and others being swept away in the media scrum. Lemon explained what happened to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
When asked for a response, Bachmann Press Secretary Alice Stewart told CNN, “Our number one priority is the safety and protection of Michele Bachmann. It was just too crowded. We were just trying to get her out in order for her to go to other events at the fair and that’s what we were doing.”
See the raw video of the incident below:
Read more about the incident here.
Sarah Palin may not be taking part in the straw poll in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, but she's certainly not far away. Today, Palin paid a visit to the Iowa State Fair and denied taking attention away from her fellow Republicans—and potential rivals—who have already declared their candidacies for 2012. In a lengthy and candid conversation with Don Lemon, Palin also gives her thoughts on Rep. Michele Bachmann's "submissive" quote, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's impending candidacy, the S&P downgrade, and becoming a grandmother for the second time.