I can't prove she's lying, but this sure sounds preposterous: Michele Bachmann claims she'd "never seen" MSNBC's "Hardball" before embracing Chris Matthews' "anti-American ... trap." This, from a woman who's been on national cable news shows 23 times since September and has three press secretaries, including one for national outlets, Politico noted Wednesday. According to AP, Bachmann said she "made a big mistake" — going on Matthews' show, not saying what she said.

Bachmann's statement of "deep regret" would be more convincing if she wasn't simultaneously lying about what she originally said. According to the St. Cloud Times' Lawrence Schumacher, Bachmann told the St. Cloud Rotary, "Nor did I call for an investigation of members of Congress for their pro-American or anti-American views. That is not what I said." From the transcript: "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?"

More dissembling: According to the Strib's Pat Doyle, Bachmann also told Rotarians, "I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism." A refresher: Before Matthews ever said "anti-American," Bachmann said the Democrat's collection of friends  "calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs and values and thoughts are — his attitudes, values and beliefs with Jeremiah Wright on his view of the United States, which is negative." That's questioning patriotism, folks.

Also hard to believe: Asked about Bachmann, John McCain told KFAN's Dan Barreiro, "To tell you the truth I haven’t seen her remarks," adding, "I don’t have any comment until I would have a chance to see it.” (Hat tip: Minnesota Independent.) The interview can be heard here. It also begs the question: why the hell is John McCain talking to anyone in Minnesota when he trails by double digits here?

Bachmann video: The St. Cloud Times editorial page interview is here. The Strib's Rotarian video is here. And if you want to see the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's first anti-Bachmann attack ad — which doesn't mention "anti-American" but does say "Michele Bachmann: She doesn't stand for you" — it's here.

In 1990, Rudy Boschwitz's "Jewish letter" helped elect Paul Wellstone; now we have the "Muslim email" that could defeat Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Deborah Hedlund. The PiPress' Emily Gurnon says Hedlund hit "reply all" to a lawn sign contractor's email bashing Muslims and Obama, adding, "Matt, we speak the same language." The Hennepin County judge says she was talking prices, didn't read the email, has "no idea" of Obama's true religion and her presidential politics knowledge would "fit into a thimble."

Related: Politics In Minnesota notes the Christian conservative EdWatch group has morphed into JudgeWatch. The organization is backing two candidates: "Govern by God" Supreme Court candidate Tim Tingelstad and ... Deborah Hedlund.

In other religio-political news, the Strib's Katherine Kersten takes after Al Franken for satiric writings that mock Christ's crucifixion and a Catholic cardinal. Why is it wrong to bash Muslims but not Christians? she asks. "We're used to slanderers of Christianity getting government arts grants," Kersten writes, "But Franken wants more. He's asking us to send him to what's been called 'the most exclusive club in the world' — and to serve us there until 2014." Franken didn't respond to Kersten.

The PiPress' Joe Soucheray, bummed that Obama is winning the election, rides his motorcycle into the country until he sees a Palin (no McCain) sign. This reassures him that rural folks are self-reliant, forgetting that rural areas (and Alaska!) are net beneficiaries of redistributionist tax policy. Oh yeah, and Obaman city folk are the only ones into peer pressure.

Comcast is giving customers a speed boost at no additional cost, the PiPress' Leslie Brooks Suzukamo reports. Customers at 6- and 8-megabits-per-second download levels will see a doubling. We're the first metro area to get the bump-up. Rival Qwest is laying fiber optic cable in the area in hopes of raising the ante.

Fact-checkers don't usually vet non-candidate ads, but KSTP's Tom Hauser examines a commercial for the habitat/arts constitutional amendment. He says the environmental claims are accurate, but knocks the ad down to a "B-minus" for not mentioning 20 percent of the funds go to arts. Tough grader.

MPR's Stephanie Hemphill says the local HourCar sharing service has one-upped plug-in hybrids: One Prius has solar collectors. Don't try this at home — yet, anyway. Adding the plug-in setup costs $10K, and the solar collectors run a hefty 18 grand more. It's a demonstration of things (and hopefully economies of scale) to come.

KFAN host Jeff Dubay was allegedly holding cocaine, not meth, the Strib's Judd Zulgad writes. Booking records initially indicated meth possession, which produced ultimately inaccurate stories. Fox9, for example, reported "some say Dubay may have been stopped with ingredients used to make meth in his vehicle." This is why traditional organizations have waited until charges are filed, though that standard is being questioned.