Will Face the Nation factcheck guest's healthcare lies?

CBS's Face the Nation (3/28/10) covered the passage of healthcare reform by inviting Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine and two Republican critics on the program--one of whom spread misinformation that went unchallenged by host Bob Schieffer. What's notable about this is that CBS has since posted on its website a debunking of the two claims made by the guest, conservative Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann from Minnesota. At the very beginning of the interview, Bachmann explained her opposition to the new healthcare law: "Now we have the federal government, Bob, taking over ownership or control of 51 percent of the American economy. This is stunning. Prior to September of 2008, 100 percent of the private economy was private." Schieffer's response was to point out that some of what she appeared to be talking about--the TARP bailouts--began under the Bush administration. A more important point to make, though, is that Bachmann's claim doesn't make sense. Government spending as a share of the country's gross domestic product is nowhere near Bachmann's claim. What she was apparently trying to say is that government bailouts of various industries are the same as "taking over ownership" of about a third of the economy, and that the new healthcare law amounts to a similar takeover of 18 percent of the economy--which adds up to over half of the economy. Since the government is not in fact "taking over" healthcare or the financial industry, the analogy makes no sense.