One of our favorite congress critters in the beltway follies has long been Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann. Whether she’s calling for McCarthy style hearings into the patriotism of her fellow members of Congress, complaining that America is running out of rich people, or failing to comprehend how congressional district lines are established, she never fails to amuse, or at least make us wonder how she hangs on to her office. This week proved no different, as the curious congressperson seems to have come up with a new definition of pork barrel spending. (i.e. earmarks)

Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann told the Fox Business channel on Thursday that she hasn’t taken any earmarks for her district. But government watchdog groups say she has requested them—seven, to be precise, totaling $3,767,600, since she was elected to the U.S. House.

Here’s the quote in question.

BACHMANN: I think it is possible. I took a pledge in my own district. I have not taken earmarks in the last three years that I have been in Congress because the system is so corrupt. It’s possible to make that pledge.

That’s a sentiment which plenty of us can get behind. It’s not just the direct cost in taxpayer dollars for these earmarks, which actually account for only a tiny percentage of the budget. There are questions of the message this sends to voters regarding fiscal responsibility and the danger that “pay for play” rears its head when money starts getting spread around your own district. I would be applauding Ms. Bachmann’s principled stand here were it not for one inconvenient fact.

According to the earmark database at Legistorm, in 2008, Bachmann requested $94,000 for the Sheriffs Youth Programs and $335,000 for the Northland Medical Center to purchase equipment. Also in 2008, along with Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Bachmann requested $803,600 for replacement buses for St. Cloud Metro Bus, $490,000 for Highway 241 improvements and $1,265,000 Stillwater for general construction funds. She, along with Democratic Reps. Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, requested $302,000 for facilities and equipment at the Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota. And, along with Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, Bachmann requested $478,000 for health-information systems for HealthEast Care System.

So what’s worse? A legislator who bellies up to the pork trough and just claims that it’s how business is done? Or a person who digs in for the pork payola and then goes out and lies about it, extolling her own anti-pork virtues? This is the 21st century. It’s not as if anyone with access to Google can’t find your earmark history in a few minutes. Is Bachmann a pathological liar or is she really just that confused?

Sidenote from ThinkProgress: While Bachmann took the no pork pledge, sponsored by the Club for Growth, in 2008 (and broke it) her name is absent from the 2009 list.