There are a growing number of high level Republicans who are condemning Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s Islamaphobic attacks against top aide to Secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin. Bachmann singled out Abedin claiming she has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. All this garbage started with a bogus report from Frank Gaffney’s Center For Security Policy and as Senator John McCain put it she is being attacked: “without concern for fact or fairness.”
Beyond McCain, there’s a whole slew of Republicans attacking Bachmann’s unsubstantiated attacks on Abedin. Her former campaign chief, Ed Rollins wrote an op-ed on Fox News’ website slamming the factually challenged Bachmann:
I have been a practitioner of tough politics for many decades. There is little that amazes me and even less that shocks me. I have to say that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's outrageous and false charges against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin reaches that threshold.Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest.Having worked for Congressman Bachman's campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level.[...]Shame on you, Michele! You should stand on the floor of the House and apologize to Huma Abedin and to Secretary Clinton and to the millions of hard working, loyal, Muslim Americans for your wild and unsubstantiated charges. As a devoted Christian, you need to ask forgiveness for this grievous lack of judgment and reckless behavior.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said “from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character. And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also condemned the attacks calling them “ridiculous, really off-base, inappropriate.”
Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) tweeted, "Rep. Bachmann’s accusations about Sec. Clinton aide Huma Abedin are out-of-line. This kind of rhetoric has no place in our public discourse."