Michele Bachmann (Getty)

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann criticized Occupy Wall Street as “tremendously counterproductive,” potentially violent and unsanitary during her appearance in San Francisco today. Ms. Bachmann also explained why she thinks “there’s a 180 degree difference between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.”

Ms. Bachmann cited a controversial Wall Street Journal article from last week by pollster Doug Schoen, a Democratic consultant who recently worked on Mayor Bloomberg’s $5.6 million private political campaign, to explain why she isn’t down with Occupy Wall Street.

“He had done an interview of–of the Occupy Wall Street and he had said that, of those who were demonstrators, 98% believe in civil disobedience and in excess of 30% believe in achieving in using violence to achieve those ends. I think that would be tremendously counterproductive, for us to see that movement in the United States. What we need to do is get the economy moving, that’s what we need to do,” Ms. Bachmann said.

Ms. Bachmann also explained how she thinks Occupy Wall Street is very different from the Tea Party.

“The Tea Party picks up its trash after it has a demonstration, there’s a difference,” Ms. Bachmann said.

According to Ms. Bachmann, cleanliness isn’t the only thing that separates Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. Ms. Bachmann also said the two movements have fundamentally different beliefs.

“The Occupy Wall Street is asking for more spending and more government as the answer to their problems. The Tea Party movement, in high contrast, is calling for less government and less spending, so that individuals can solve their own problems. There’s a 180 degree difference between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street,” Ms. Bachmann said.

Ms. Bachmann is chair of the House Tea Party Caucus, which she created in 2010.

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