WASHINGTON – Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., doesn't believe President Obama is taking the Ebola crisis seriously enough.

Asked her assessment of the administration's response to the crisis, she told WND: "I think it's been anemic, at best. It's really been sad. And it shows how clueless, unfortunately, the administration has been."

Speaking to WND after delivering a speech on the influence of the tea party at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, the congresswoman emphasized the Ebola crisis is not a partisan issue but literally a life-and-death matter that threatens to become a global pandemic.

"But, for the administration to go on Sunday morning television, just a couple of Sunday mornings ago, and say, 'We'll, we don't have to worry, Ebola's not going to come to the United States,' that was a tragic response."

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She said anyone "with an ounce of common sense knows, with a contagious disease that can be transmitted so easily, it could easily come in not only by people entering the United States illegally, but legally."

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Bachmann said the government must put every available resource toward finding a cure and a vaccine, and do whatever is possible to relieve the suffering.

"We need to quarantine the problem where it begins ... in Western Africa, and we need to make sure at our ports of entry we are taking very serious measures to stop it from coming in," she said.

Bachmann also addressed talk of a government ban on travel from Ebola-ravaged countries.

"That isn't the full answer. Because people don't just go from Liberia to the United States, they may transit through Spain and then come to the United States. Or go to South Africa and then transit," she added.

The congresswoman stressed the first priority of the U.S. government must be to protect Americans, but, "We don't want anyone to suffer."

"We can't stop everything but we can at least start with common sense, because, ultimately, this is about protecting the health of people around the world."

Related column:

Ebola math by Dr. Brian C. Joondeph