Michele Bachmann Faces Tough Questions in Leno Interview; "I'm Warren Buffett's Secretary": Ad Supports Higher Taxes for Wealthy
BALDWIN: With all this jobs crisis, the president talking jobs, Congress talking jobs, the list of U.S. businesses on the verge of bust continues to grow. According to 24/7WallStreet.com two titans topping this list with stocks dropping nearly 50 percent plans to layoff more than 10 percent of their workforce. Blackberry makers Research in motion. That's number two. Number one with net earnings falling nearly $80 million from the previous year, Best Buy at number. Conservative congresswoman and presidential contender Michele Bachmann appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno recently. And if you didn't see it, Jay Leno, the funnyman, late night TV, didn't go so easy with the questioning here. Joe Jones has this story with the Political Pop for today. And Joe, I guess Michele Bachmann was expecting some good jokes and laughs, and that's just not what she got?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's what you would expect, right. You go in these late night talk shows, but she was surprised by some of the questioning, wasn't expecting where the interview went. She hasn't gone much further than that. You know, the late night talk shows are pretty much a requirement for anyone running a serious campaign for president. This was not all comedy. Frankly, she got a pretty good grilling with questions about some of her controversies. The HPV virus, praying the gay away, if you will. If you didn't catch any of it, let's roll some of the tape and take a look.</s>JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Last month, you won the Iowa straw poll, I think 16 percent.</s>MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, the first woman to win the Iowa straw poll.</s>LENO: But then Rick Perry coming into the race and the polls drop. You and Perry went over this HPV vaccine topic. Explain this whole deal.</s>BACHMANN: Well --</s>LENO: On "The Today Show," you said a woman came up to you and her daughter took the vaccine and suffered -- from had mental issues, mental retardation problems. Do you regret not getting this woman's name and address --</s>BALDWIN: OK.</s>JOHNS: Serious interview, yes. One radio host on WLS said the appearance sounded more like "Meet the Press" than "The Tonight Show." But the candidate definitely is behaving like she has no complaints. I asked her press secretary Alice Stewart about it, and she said "Michele was thrilled to meet Jay and have the opportunity to meet Jay. Jay is a class act with a tremendous following. And far be it from us to second guess what questions he chooses to ask." Politically, you probably don't want to get on the wrong side of a guy like Leno. Too much power.</s>BALDWIN: And a big audience as well. Second question, we heard the president talking yesterday from the road garden. He mentioned again Warren Buffett's secretary. I guess in his case to try to make his case for this deficit reduction plan, he's now getting with regard to that secretary, a little help from Moveon.org.</s>JOHNS: Yes. It's amazing. This Warren Buffett secretary thing has been around for a while now. You've heard it. President has asserted Warren Buffett's secretary gets taxed at a higher rate than Buffett does, and this assertion is being used by the president and his supporters to make the case that millionaires and billionaires should pay more taxes. Moveon.org sort teases this idea making the point there are a lot of people out there who get taxed at a lower rate than the very rich. Listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have three kids, make $40,000 a year and I contribute a greater percentage of my income than many billionaires and millionaires.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most Americans want Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy, but the GOP refuses to do it. Why?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call Congress and tell them. Raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: OK, not really Warren Buffett's secretary, right?</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right, although I'd love to see Warren Buffett's secretary. I wonder what he or she thinks about all of this.</s>JOHNS: Right, well, that's the thing. What did she say about it? I actually reached out to the media office, of course, of Berkshire Hathaway.</s>BALDWIN: Yes.</s>JOHNS: -- which is Mr. Buffett's company, haven't heard back from them or the secretary just yet. I'm not the only one looking for her quite frankly. There are a lot of people asking what Warren Buffett's secretary has to say about all this. "Atlantic Monthly" reports not surprisingly that Warren Buffett has a bunch of secretaries, a bunch of executive assistants, if you will. They don't seem to be making many substantive comments quite frankly, which could be interpreted I think as a smart career move.</s>BALDWIN: Interesting. I'm sure at some point, we will see a secretary surface. Joe Johns.</s>JOHNS: Love to meet her.</s>BALDWIN: Love to meet her, maybe we'll get her on, Joe.</s>JOHNS: I'm on Facebook, Twitter.</s>BALDWIN: Facebook, Twitter, what is it, Joe, at joejohnscnn. OK, Joe, thank you very much. We'll follow that. And don't worry, everything will be over in a couple of minutes. Those were some of the final words Dr. William Petit heard from the men, those two men who invaded his home, attacked his daughters and wife. One is convicted of killing them. Minutes later, the house would go up in flames, his family inside. Today, he testified against the second man to go on trial for their murders. This today's on the case. Also, Wolf Blitzer joins me from New York once again. He has Bill Clinton in "THE SITUATION ROOM" today. We're going to talk to Wolf live from the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York. Stay right here.