08/06/2012
Here's what editorial boards of newspapers across the United States are saying about Michele Bachmann's claim that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has made "deep pe*******on" at the highest levels of the U.S. government:
The Washington Post
Bachmann’s politics of slime (July 19, 2012) — It would be simple to ignore the baseless and paranoid assertions of Ms. Bachmann were she not a member of Congress and an also-ran in the recent race for the Republican presidential nomination. ... Ms. Bachmann’s accusations are in the squalid tradition of McCarthyism and other shameful chapters of our history in which politicians have slandered their rivals as un-American, allied with enemy forces or guilty by association with shadowy forces. Her tactics are no less ugly than those of her predecessors. …
Seattle Times
Michele Bachmann, have you no shame? (July 19, 2012) — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann often plunges recklessly into controversy, but her latest sally is most damaging: an attack on the reputations of an individual and five federal-government departments. … Bachmann’s claim that Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, deserves the same censure in Congress that Joseph McCarthy received for his witch hunt for Communists 60 years ago. …
Los Angeles Times
Michele Bachmann’s dangerous paranoia (July 20, 2012) — In the 1950s, Sen. Joe McCarthy and other paranoid anti-communists saw Reds under the bed – and in the State Department. Today a fringe group of conservatives believes similarly that Islamic fundamentalists have infiltrated the deepest recesses of the American government. In refuting such an aspersion made by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) against a State Department official, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has struck a profile in courage that should encourage other conservatives to distance themselves from crackpot conspiracy theories. … Such delusions have consequences. … The notion of an Islamic Fifth Column in this country is poisonous not only to domestic tranquility but also to effective diplomacy. Leaders of both parties should repudiate it. …
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Michele Bachmann’s verbal bomb-throwing (July 21, 2012) — If Bachmann has hard evidence linking Ellison to the Muslim Brotherhood, she is obliged to publicly produce it. If she does not, she owes him and his district a prompt apology. Refusal to produce either should lead to censure by the U.S. House. Bachmann appears to be back in prepresidential campaign form, tossing rhetorical bombs with little concern for the damage she inflicts. There may be no convincing her to change her ways. But Sixth District voters have it in their power to disconnect their region’s reputation from hers. …
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
McCarthyism redux: Bachmann’s wild claim deserves condemnation (July 28, 2012) — Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has never been one of the most respected voices in Congress. In her brief run for the Republican presidential nomination, she could not broaden her appeal much beyond Tea Party activists and far-right nativists. … The congresswoman has used only a guilt-by-association argument to make her case … It all sounds familiar. Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy used similar tactics in the 1950s when he insisted Communists had infiltrated the State Department. …
Las Vegas Sun
A baseless attack; McCarthy-era tactics can’t be allowed to go unchallenged in Washington (July 29, 2012) — Rep. Michele Bachmann and four of her congressional colleagues … haven’t offered any real proof. Instead, they have relied on rumor, innuendo and things they found on the Internet. Given the gravity of their allegations, that is unconscionable. They have smeared the name of Abedin and others without any evidence. This is reminiscent of the McCarthy era, when a whisper of a connection to Communism was enough to scuttle a reputation and sink a career. … [W]e would say to Bachmann and those who allow her to continue her un-American activities: You, too, have done enough. Have you also no sense of decency? …
Charleston Gazette-Mail
McCarthyism: Rumbling again (July 29, 2012) — A half-century ago, flamboyant Sen. Joseph McCarthy was censured by Congress because he falsely accused many Americans of being treasonous secret communists. Now, a Tea Party leader and failed presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is playing the same witch-hunt game. … Tea Party leaders — especially Bachmann — have a ludicrous streak. She and her husband operate a clinic that claims to turn g**s “straight” through prayer. Apparently she has expanded to smearing Muslim-Americans. …
Links to full text of editorials: http://www.immelman.us/news/michele-bachmann-is-a-nut/
