Via Minnesota Public Radio's Polinaut, Sixth District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has issued a "fundraising appeal" alleging that the Star Tribune "gave a full column to a hit piece on one of my kids!"

The "Bachmann blast" refers to Wednesday's Jon Tevlin column about Bachmann's son Harrison joining an Americorps program — which the congresswoman said amounted to taxpayer-funded liberal "re-education camps."

Bachmann's claim about Tevlin's piece is false. Here are his specific references to Harrison Bachmann, who will be working under the auspices of Teach for America:

For the first time, we have to rely on the charity of good kids like Harrison Bachmann to step up and help out at our schools.

and:

The pay's not bad for a recent graduate, but Harrison will likely earn it. According to the TFA website: "Our teachers ... go above and beyond traditional expectations to lead their students to significant academic achievement, despite the challenges of poverty and the limited capacity of the school system. Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort."

Harrison must be a smart kid, a caring kid. Must have been raised well.

and:

As an AmeriCorps member, he won't be allowed to participate in politics or disseminate partisan material. Even if there were a "propaganda camp," as Jeffers called it, he sounds like the kind of person who could survive it.

Thank you, Harrison, for your service. Here's hoping you inspire kids to dream, and get inspired in the process.

This wasn't a hit piece on your son, Congresswoman — it was a hit piece on you. And not in your capacity as a mother, but as an elected public official.

Ironically, Bachmann expresses concern in the email about being "Palinized," which she defines in part as:

To smear or mock someone using falsehoods, baseless accusations or unsubstantiated character assassinations for the purpose of blocking them from achieving a goal.
 
To exaggerate the truth or lie by omission.

Sounds exactly like what Bachmann has done here.