It was a classic partisan shouting match on spending — and Michele Bachmann barely had to chime in.
The presidential hopeful and conservative congresswoman squared off with liberal Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) on Fox News Wednesday night, and each came to the table with a starkly different narrative on government spending and debt. But with host Sean Hannity pressing Weiner at every turn, Bachmann had the luxury of mostly sitting back with a smile — an occasionally unleashing a hearty laugh at Weiner's expense.
"The president has been creating more debt than anyone has ever seen before," Bachmann said at one point, responding to Weiner's argument that much of the current red ink was run up during the Bush years. "His facts are wrong on their face."
"I had no idea Rep. Weiner was such a reader of fiction," she said later. "He's a huge fiction reader because that's all of his numbers."
That led Weiner to come as close to landing a direct blow as he did on Bachmann, who's been under scrutiny lately for factual gaffes.
"Bachmann, I don't think you want to go there. I don't think you want to go there Bachmann," he said. "And by the way, for her to make fun of me not knowing fact from fiction is a bit ironic to say the least."
Hannity mostly ran interference, calling Weiner a "bitter partisan," responding to some of his answers with a "good grief" and dismissing another with a "blah, blah, blah."
