Fact Check

Did Michele Bachmann Question Why Dinosaur Bones Aren't Dirty?

Quote attributed to former Rep. Michele Bachmann questions why dinosaur bones aren't dirty if they've been buried for millions of years.

Published Oct. 27, 2014

 (Wikimedia Commons)
Image Via Wikimedia Commons
Claim:
Rep. Michele Bachmann questioned why dinosaur bones aren't dirty if they've been buried for millions of years.

Rep. Michele Bachmann represented Minnesota's Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives beignning 2007 and was an early candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. Bachmann ended her bid for the Oval Office in January 2012, but she remains popular outside her district due to her hard-line stances on a number of hotly debated issues.

In October 2014 we began receiving e-mails about a quote attributed to Rep. Bachmann during an unspecified Fox News channel program on 22 October 2014. Bachmann (who controversially claimed during a 2006 debate that intelligent design was popular among scientists) is often the subject of internet-based political ribbing, and the following quote began to circulate as an example of the congresswoman's views on science:

While we often encounter quotes that are partially rooted in a real statement or somewhat resemble something said at one time by the person in question, the Michele Bachmann "dinosaur bones" remark is 100 percent satire. The image meme of Bachmann superimposed with the comment about dinosaur bones came from the Facebook group "Christians for Michele Bachmann," a spoof group that is not associated with the politician and frequently posts fake stories and images that poke fun at her and her fan base.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.