Bachmann 'absolutely' stands behind 'gangster government' remark

The congresswoman from Minnesota who claims she's Nancy Pelosi's #1 target still thinks the White House is run by thugs.

In an interview published early Thursday, Rep. Michele Bachmann stood by a remark she made earlier this year in which she described the Obama Administration as a "gangster government." She even tried to give an example.

“When government comes in and decides who the winners are, who the losers are and there’s no recourse, that’s what happened to 3,400 dealerships across the country," Bachmann said, referring to the government's role in propping up General Motors and Chrysler. "That’s one example of gangster government.”

Asked if she still believed the administration was operating in gangster mode, she said, “Absolutely, I do.”

Not everyone is buying into Bachmann's portrayal of the Obama team as a run-of-the-mill mob. Presenting with Bachmann's description on a Sunday talk show, conservative Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said, “Those are words that she chose. Those are statements she made.”

Bachmann's interview, published in The Hill newspaper, also contained a flatly erroneous -- but unchallenged -- claim that Obama has taken over "51 percent" of the economy.

“In 18 months’ time, the federal government now owns or controls 51 percent of the private economy; 18 months ago 100 percent of the private economy was private," Bachmann is quoted as saying. "People don’t want the federal government to either own or control the private economy. It certainly isn’t creating jobs and it certainly isn’t turning the economy around.”

According to The New York Times, by the beginning of 2009 the government owned six percent of Bank of America and 7.8 percent of Citigroup: far from nationalization and amounting to nowhere near 51 percent of the nation's economy.

Bachmann won her congressional race by just three percentage points in 2006 and went on to reelection in 2008. Liberals have made her a target and used her heated rhetoric as a flashpoint for fundraising efforts.