Boy's Shy Challenge to Bachmann Goes Viral

The political viral video of the day stars Michele Bachmann and an 8-year-old boy whose mom is gay. He shyly goes up to her at a book signing and says in words hard to make out, "My mommy is gay, but she doesn't need any fixing." It has generated a storm of "Bachmann left speechless" or "Bachmann gets schooled by kid" headlines and blog posts, though Jon Bershad of Mediaite is a little uneasy about that. Bachmann may have shameful anti-gay views, he writes, but the video "very much looks like this boy is getting pushed into doing something he doesn’t want to do."

His mother, in fact, has to prompt him twice, and Bachmann treats the boy sweetly. Other reactions:

• Chicago Now: The woman who actually shot the video (not the mother) defends it: "I used to do ballet as a child, and before performances, I'd want to not do it—my mom pushed me to perform. Afterwards, I'd run to her and tell her how happy I was. How is this any different?"
• Bachmann herself: "I think that it's shameless to put that little boy, in that situation," she told Glenn Beck, notes the Washington Examiner.
• The Wrap: "Even so, for a woman who raised all those foster kids and whose husband 'fixes' homosexuals, you'd think she could muster a response," writes Lucas Shaw.

(More Michele Bachmann stories.)