Following up on last week’s reporting, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is still losing friends fast. In fact, it’s rare to see a Republican officeholder lose so much support so quickly from within the party.
To briefly recap, Bachmann and a handful of right-wing colleagues recently launched a bizarre crusade, urging executive branch agencies to launch investigations to determine whether the Muslim Brotherhood has “infiltrated” the American government. Bachmann is specifically concerned about Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is Muslim.
Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) condemned the offensive effort, and soon after, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) characterized Bachmann’s accusations as “pretty dangerous.” Scott Keyes reports that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), one of the House’s most conservative members, offered criticism of his own.
Note the setting: Sensenbrenner was at a town-hall meeting and heard from a constituent who praised Bachmann’s bigoted witch hunt. To his credit, Sensenbrenner defended Abedin and religious tolerance in general.
Making matters slightly worse for the unhinged Minnesotan, the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee went out of their way to make clear that Bachmann’s accusations are not supported by any evidence that has been presented to Congress and that the committee did not sanction Bachmann’s crusade. As genuinely heartening as it is to see some high-profile Republicans rebuke Bachmann, Mitt Romney, ostensibly the GOP’s new national leader, has said nothing to date. For her part, Abedin started receiving threats after Bachmann launched her ridiculous attack, and the Clinton aide is now receiving police protection.
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