Bachmann: Obama comments 'misconstrued'

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says her televised comments that Barack Obama may have anti-American views were "completely misconstrued."

Bachmann's Friday appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews" created controversy when she said she was "very concerned" the Democratic U.S. presidential nominee, a U.S. senator from Illinois, "may have anti-American views." But Monday she told a Minnesota television station, "I did not suggest the word 'anti-American,'" the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis reported.

Bachmann says it was Matthews who brought up the phrase "anti-American."

"I said the media should look into (Obama's) views," she told the Minneapolis station, adding that the national media have an "appalling lack of curiosity" about where Obama stands on the issues, the newspaper reported.

Bachmann also said Monday that she worries about having a "radical liberal in the White House" while liberal Democrats control the U.S. Congress.

The Matthews-Bachmann interview generated national attention Sunday when former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., denounced Bachmann's supposed comments, the Star Tribune reported.