Michele Bachmann channels Sarah Palin, accuses CNN of "Gotcha!" journalism [VIDEO]

Screenshot from Mediate (via CNN)

Michele Bachmann channels Sarah Palin in CNN interview.

​In an interview on CNN's Starting Point this morning, Michele Bachmann quickly turned defensive after host Soledad O'Brien recited some of the candidate's comments about homosexuality.

Bachmann accused Soledad of "Gotcha!" journalism, dismissing the question as simply "bizarre."

The interview continues an aggressive streak we've seen from Bachmann in the days leading up to the long-awaited Iowa Caucus. Last week, she called Ron Paul "dangerous," Rick Perry an "insider," and Mitt Romney a flip-flopper.

In the interview this morning, it was the revival of controversial comments from eight years ago that elicited Bachmann to invoke the Sarah Palin defense.

"You have taken a lot of flak for some of your very strong social issues, where you stand on them, and I want to talk about some of them," O'Brien began. "Your stance on homosexuality, and I want to read a little bit of what you said, you said, at the Educators Conference in 2004, 'Gays live a very sad life,' and that 'it's part of Satan.' And that's a quote. And you've taken a lot of flak for that. Do you pull back on any of that?"

"You know, it's just a bizarre thing to bring up today," Bachmann retorted. "Today is the election, and what people recognize is that the most important issue that people will be looking at is, 'Who is the best person to deal with the economy?' Probably someone who's created the a business from scratch. I came from a family where I was below poverty. I had to earn my way up out of poverty--"

Read this week's cover story, "The Fall of Michele Bachmann," for more on her troubled campaign.

​"What you're telling me is you don't want to discuss social issues because you want to talk about the economy?" O'Brien interjected. "I don't think it's a bizarre question. I think it's a fair question if you're running to be president."

"It's a gotcha question coming way out of the past," Bachmann replied.

The Iowa Caucus today could be crucial to Bachmann's foundering campaign, and if the polls are any indication, she's going into it on little more than a prayer. But despite her long fall from GOP grace since the Ames Straw Poll last August, Bachmann still sounds confident that she's going to miraculously come out ahead tonight.

"I think that we're going to see a real surprise in the polls tonight, with a depth of support that people didn't recognize was there," Bachmann told O'Brien.

Watch the full interview below, via Mediate and CNN:

Previous coverage:

• Michele Bachmann dumbstruck by 8-year-old's comment: 'My mommy's gay"
• Marcus Bachmann: The City Pages Interview
• The Fall of Michele Bachmann