Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has been known to promote paranoid conspiracy theories and in recent weeks, she bought into one promoted by Islamophobic chieftain Frank Gaffney that the U.S. government has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Minnesota Republican, joined by Republican Reps. Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland, sent letters to the inspectors general of five government agencies responsible for national security to demand they investigate infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood into the highest reaches of the federal government. In particular, Bachmann singled out Huma Abedin, the wife of former congressman Anthony Weiner and a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In case Abedin hasn’t already been through enough already, Bachmann is now questioning her loyalty to the U.S. by asserting that Abedin has three family members who are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood (Abedin is Muslim). She’s been targeted before by anti-Muslim activists, and Bachmann notes that Abedin’s position “affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy-making.” Bachmann also claims the state has “taken actions recently that have been enormously favorable to the Muslim Brotherhood and its interests.”
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) called out Bachmann for her fear campaign:
If she has sources for this type of information, she owes it to the country to reveal them to the proper authorities, but definitely not this way. If she doesn’t have this type of information, she should not be whipping up fear and hysteria about a very important matter.
Not only are Democrats ripping Bachmann, but so is a certain Republican. Enter McCain, who put his foot down today, by taking to the Senate floor to rip apart his fellow Republicans’ accusations and came to the defense of Abedin, whom he calls a “fine and decent American,” after observing her work as both a long-time aide to Clinton while she was a Senator and as the Secretary of State. He said:
These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma’s family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way. These attacks have no logic, no basis, and no merit and they need to stop. They need to stop now.
McCain is one of the few Republicans who seems rationale and especially in this instance, makes complete sense. I understand he has to swing crazy sometimes because of the direction of his party, but generally speaking you’d have a much better chance of a sane and decent conversation with McCain than a card carrying Tea Party member.
Watch him here:
