Liberal Website Falls For Phoney Michele Bachman Story

Think Progress, a website operated by the liberal Center for American Progress, failed to vet a phony story which claimed that Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) proposed “Americanization” labor camps for Central American unaccompanied children, according to The Daily Caller.

“I’m calling on all of us, Obama and Congress and everyone, to chip in and build special new facilities…‘Americanization facilities,’ if you will,” Bachmann said, according to Think Progress, which has since corrected its embarrassing flub.

“And we’d send these kids to these facilities, in Arizona and Texas and wherever else. And we’d get private sector business leaders to locate to those facilities and give these children low-risk jobs to do. And they’d learn about the American way of life, earn their keep, and everyone wins in the end,” Bachmann continued, in Think Progress’ fantasy land.

Think Progress was snookered by a parody post at a website called KCTV 7, which presents itself as a news outlet based in Kansas City. A quick internet search reveals a number of online posts pointing out that KCTV 7 is a fake news site. It also shows no affiliation to major news networks.

In its parody article, KCTV 7 claimed that Bachmann called for the work camps in an interview with Minnesota’s Twin Cities News talk radio host Jason Lewis on KTLK 1130 AM. But the fake site merely linked to Twin Cities News’ website, not to an actual article or radio interview featuring Bachmann.

Think Progress published the erroneous story on Sunday but corrected it and issued an apology after another liberal website, the Raw Story, pointed out the massive hoax.