About that CNN Hit Piece on Michele Bachmann...

First of all, that CNN in general - Anderson Cooper in particular - is given any credibility is amazing in itself. CNN has a history of featuring dishonest flacks and news stories. Consider what Drew Griffin did to Walid Shoebat and Sarah Palin or what Sara Sidner reported from Gaza, or the Pallywood news footage that featured a large man faking an injury that Cooper was busted airing on his program and had to retract.

In the case of Sidner, she featured a news story that left viewers to believe that a Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli rocket fire. When it became apparent the boy had to have been killed by an errant Palestinian rocket, CNN's Don Lemon issued a pseudo-retraction right before he went to... wait for it... Sara Sidner for an update.

At about the same time, Cooper had to issue a retraction for airing the footage of the large man faking an injury. It's good he did so but c'mon, Palestinians staging scenes and passing it off as news is incredibly pervasive and none of it should be trusted, which would seem to indicate the retraction was issued only because the error was so egregiously obvious.

This brings us to the hit piece on Michele Bachmann this week by Cooper and Dana Bash, which focused on aspects of Bachmann's CPAC speech that included examples of Barack Obama's extravagant lifestyle as President. Cooper's report began with a short clip of Bachmann demanding answers to the attacks in Benghazi, after which Cooper said CNN has been critical of Benghazi and then began to move on to the small portion of Bachmann's speech about lavish White House spending.

The items of interest for Cooper were Bachmann's reference to a book that charged Obama as being the $1.4 Billion president. Examples provided were five chefs on Air Force One, two projectionists at the White House, and someone being paid to walk BO the dog. Cooper then proceeded to introduce reporter Dana Bash, who was almost apoplectic that she had to chase Bachmann down a hallway to ask her about the Congresswoman's statements during the speech.

Roger Aronoff does a good job of dismantling the report by Cooper and Bash and exposes it for what it is - a hit piece. It's quite apparent after reading it that Bachmann's words were twisted to intentionally smear. By airing a clip of Bachmann's comments on Benghazi and then saying CNN has been critical of the handling of Benghazi, Cooper asks viewers to accept the premise that he is balanced, objective, and without an agenda.

The premise is faulty. Whatever criticism CNN has had for Benghazi, it's been nowhere near interested enough in getting to the truth and unless I've missed something, I don't recall Bash chasing / badgering any administration official for answers, though I could be wrong. In any event, the attention given to a small part of a CPAC speech by a congresswoman could have been better spent doggedly pursuing answers to Benghazi, hey Dana?

The larger picture that CNN is obviously missing is the runaway spending, a $17 Trillion debt, and annual deficits the likes of which we've never seen. Focusing exclusively on Bachmann's examples without seeming to care about those larger issues is also quite revealing. In fact, instead of doing so, perhaps Cooper could do his job and investigate why there IS so much spending and where all the money is going?

At the 5:00 mark, Cooper also makes reference to the Huma Abedin controversy, saying:

"Congresswoman Bachmann has made other claims that simply do not stand up as well, namely that Huma Abedin, a top adviser to then Secretary of State Clinton, may be under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood. That allegation was found factually groundless, drew sharp criticism at the time from both sides of the aisle..."

Hey Anderson, how would you know? You never addressed the facts about Abedin's familial background and actually aired news reports that defended her without exploring any of those facts. Ironically, while Cooper was dismissing Abedin's connection to the Brotherhood, he aired B-roll of her actually talking to the president of the Muslim Brotherhood's group in America - Mohamed Magid of the ISNA - at the 5:19 mark (though Magid not seen in the portion of the video that was aired during Cooper's report).

As for the Bash-chasing-Bachmann footage that was shown shortly thereafter, Cooper and Bash were both amazed that Bachmann turned the question about Obama having a "dog walker" back on Bash, when it was Bachmann who brought it up. Actually, as Aronoff points out, Bachmann never said Obama pays for a "dog walker", only that someone is paid to walk it, which is true.

A central theme of the Tea Party that was formed in early 2009 was that its members were willing to defend neither Obama nor his predecessor, George W. Bush when it came to spending. Hindsight is 20/20 but Bachmann could have responded to Bash by reinforcing this sentiment, saying that both administrations have been responsible for our monstrous debt, though it can't be denied that Obama shifted the debt-mobile into overdrive. Bash and Cooper wanted to contrast the money spent on the Obama presidency with that of the Bush presidency.

The fact is that both were (and are) out of control. If only Cooper was as interested in that self-evident truth as he is in smearing a congresswoman who desperately wants to do something about it.

If CNN is effective at anything, it's smearing those it wants to marginalize and running interference for those it wants to protect.

Bachmann Five now the Bachmann Four on Huma Abedin

It appears that those five congressmen who sent five letters to five separate Inspectors General now have a significant fracture in their already small coalition. The most controversial aspect of all the letters was found early on in the letter to the State Department's Deputy IG. In it, Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin was identified as a possible "security concern".

Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) now says Abedin's name shouldn't have been singled out.

Via TC Palm:

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney said Tuesday it was a mistake to name Hillary Clinton's chief of staff in a letter as a potentially "serious security concern" when he and four lawmakers urged officials to study the Muslim Brotherhood's role in the federal government.

Led by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., legislators signed five letters in June beckoning federal departments to study how the Muslim Brotherhood can gain influence or intelligence. The letter sent to the Department of State singled out Huma Abedin, Secretary of State Clinton's chief of staff, while citing three of her family members' alleged ties to the Brotherhood.

The reference to Abedin struck a nerve the next month in the national media and in Congress, where criticisms came from as high up as House Speaker John Boehner and U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Bachmann, the Minnesota Republican who spearheaded the effort, didn't backtrack or apologize afterward.

Rooney, R-Tequesta, reiterated the investigation's importance Tuesday, specifically regarding Department of Defense issues and the tragedy at Fort Hood. Unlike Bachmann, however, he said the initiative was muddled by wrongly mentioning Abedin.

"With Mrs. Abedin, we made a mistake including her name in there," Rooney said. "What got lost was a legitimate question, for the sake of using Congressman (Anthony) Weiner's wife and Sec. Clinton's assistant's name specifically in a letter. It was unfortunate."

Yes, it's election season and maybe Rooney's polling shows he's losing as a result of some bad press over this issue but backtracking at this point will only disenfranchise voters who were behind him on the matter and give those who had a problem with it more reason to back his opponent.

Nowhere does Rooney explain why he thinks naming Abedin was a 'mistake'.

Ambassador's Diary pitting CNN vs. Hillary Clinton?

The contents of a seven-page diary penned by Libyan Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens belies the narrative coming from the Obama administration, that the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi was not a terrorist attack and that there was no intelligence to that effect beforehand. We know this because CNN came into possession of that diary and reported about its contents.

This has apparently caused a bit of a riff between Secretary of State Clinton and the liberal cable network.

Via Buzzfeed:

“Perhaps the real question here,” CNN responded to the State Department criticism, “Is why is the State Department now attacking the messenger.”

That is the real question, and State Department’s bizarre criticism of CNN gives clues to the answer. Foggy Bottom is now in full-on damage control mode, with the primary goal of keeping Hillary Clinton’s legacy in Libya — and in Washington — intact.

We're also looking at the possibility of Hillary taking the fall for the attack according to a former State Department official:

...in reality, the fiasco appears to be largely — if not entirely — a State Department botch. It was the State Department that failed to provide its ambassador adequate security; it was the State Department that fled Benghazi in the aftermath of the attack, apparently failing to clear or secure the scene, leaving Stevens' diary behind; and it was State that had taken the lead on the ground after the Libya intervention.

“When it comes to specific critiques about the attack, if either [the White House or State] should be getting blamed, it seems to me the primary one to be getting blamed should be State itself more than the [White House],” says one former State Department official with extensive experience in the region. “I mean if you take away the 'buck stops here' parsing of this stuff, if Stevens was issuing warning or expressing concerns he was doing so primarily through his own chain of command. The security on the ground belongs to State.”

In light of these developments, isn't it about time to take another look at the letters from the Bachmann Five to various Inspectors General, including the one sent to the Deputy IG of the State Department that was the most controversial just a few months ago because it singled out Hillary's Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin for the latter's connections to the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Bachmann Five gave that Deputy IG for State a 90-day deadline to respond with a report. That deadline came and went two days after the Benghazi attack.

John McCain and John Boehner: Ignorant or Complicit?

It's an age old tradition. Politicians will always choose looking ignorant or stupid over revealing a cold hard truth they don't want to deal with. In politics, being perceived as foolish is preferable to being perceived as cowardly. That's where Senator John McCain and Speaker John Boehner come in. Frankly, it's simply not possible for them to be as ignorant about why Reps. Michele Bachmann, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Tom Rooney, and Lynn Westmoreland have raised questions about Deputy Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin and others.

And if they are as ignorant as they'd like you to believe, they're grossly unqualified to be in the jobs they're in.

John Guandolo over at Breitbart, gives them the benefit of the doubt, concluding that they're just ignorant and foolish when it comes to their defense of Huma Abedin in response to a request by those five Congressmen, for an investigation:

Speaker Boehner said in defense of Abedin, “From everything that I do know of her, she has a sterling character. Accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.” What is actually dangerous is that the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives remains so grossly ignorant about a threat inside our nation nearly eleven years after 9/11.

For his part, Senator McCain came to Abedin’s aide by saying that the comments made about her “rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma's family." This necessarily means that Mr. McCain did no study at all of the facts of the matter, because they clearly and specifically reveal the organizations in which her parents and family are involved and their ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Guandolo is being too kind. Sometimes the preponderance of evidence lampoons political pleas of plausible deniability. When it comes to the Muslim Brotherhood's presence in American politics, this is one such instance.

If McCain and Boehner are this ignorant, they're beyond incompetent. Therefore, assuming that they're not ignorant, why are they acting this way? Could it be that they're too invested in flawed policies that have, for years, involved welcoming Muslims with ties to nefarious groups (like the ISNA, MSA, CAIR, etc.) into the halls of power? Could it be that they feel duped and are too ashamed to 'fess up?

McCain was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986; Boehner was first elected to the U.S. House in 1990. The welcoming of Muslim’s with questionable affiliations into the halls of U.S. power really started in earnest a few yeas later during the Clinton Administration. Abdurahman Alamoudi was actually a State Department employee and served as the Clinton administration's Islamic affairs advisor for years. Alamoudi was arrested in 2003 and sentenced in 2004 for funding terrorism. All of this happened while Boehner and McCain were in Congress.

How about Sami al-Arian? He began to buy influence during the Clinton administration and even had access to the Bush administration. He was later convicted on charges related to funding terrorism.

If they didn't know who he was then, they certainly knew who he was in 2003, when he made major news. Did McCain and Boehner begin looking around and notice that there were potentially a lot of other Sami al-Arians roaming around the Capital? Did they feel partially responsible as members of one branch of our government?

Muslim Brotherhood groups and individuals got access to the Bush administration too. That would be the same Bush administration that belongs to the same Republican Party to which McCain and Boehner belong.

Consider Muzzammil Siddiqi, the former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a Muslim Brotherhood group; that would be the same Muslim Brotherhood to which Huma Abedin's mother belongs. Siddiqi had access to George W. Bush AFTER 9/11. Ditto for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Executive Director, Nihad Awad.

How about the man who inspired Fort Hood Jihadist, Nidal Malik Hasan? His name is now infamous; Anwar al-Awlaki; he was given a plush luncheon in 2002 by the D.O.D. Later, he would teach at a University headed by one of Osama bin Laden's buddies, Sheikh Abdel Majeed Zindani.

On whose watch in Congress did all this happen? Uh, yes, McCain's and Boehner's. This is not to say that such things were their fault but if they knew about such things and chose the path of silence and least resistance, their culpability goes up, which could help to explain their inexplicable ignorance today.

As I wrote about here, Alamoudi had access to George W. Bush and Karl Rove both before and after 9/11. At one meeting, believed to be about a year before 9/11, Rove can be seen holding a book authored by the founder of two other Muslim Brotherhood groups. Despite red flags about the individuals Bush and Rove met with, the background of the author of that book - who was killed in 1986 -  apparently wasn't studied thoroughly enough. The two Brotherhood groups he co-founded are:

• The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
• The Association of Muslim Social Scientists of North America (AMSS)

Given all that we know about the Muslim Brotherhood today, are we to believe that McCain and Boehner didn't learn about a lot of this shortly after 9/11, a heinous attack that occurred on their watch? One thing we have come to learn about politicians is that they all know a lot more than they'd like you to think they know. In this case, the American people are supposed to believe that they know more about the Brotherhood / Huma Abedin's background than do McCain and Boehner?!

They're either lying or have descended to a level of incompetence that requires major therapy.

I don't buy their ignorance. It's just not plausible.

Consider the Penn State football program. The more that time passed without Jerry Sandusky being turned into police for raping young boys, the more the inaction of those who knew he was doing it implicated them. It also made them more ardent defenders against the truth about Sandusky being revealed.

In that case, not coming clean led to disaster for a college university.

If Boehner and McCain know the truth about the Muslim Brotherhood in America, their attempt at ignorance could lead to disaster for their country.

Despite the efforts of McCain and Boehner to have you think they're ignorant, they're just choosing to be perceived as fools because the alternative is worse. Believing otherwise is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. The fact that they've remained silent in the face of all the facts now available only underscores that conclusion.

Take a look at when the five congressmen who want answers about Huma Abedin's access to the State Department were first elected to Congress:

• Trent Franks - 2002
• Louie Gohmert - 2004
• Michele Bachmann - 2006
• Lynn Westmoreland - 2006
• Tom Rooney - 2008

Gee, that would mean they weren't around when all these people connected to the Muslim Brotherhood began getting access to the halls of power, to include both the Clinton and Bush White Houses. How is it that they know more about the Muslim Brotherhood's access to those halls than McCain and Boehner, two men who were roaming them at the time?

Instead of calling McCain and Boehner ignorant, perhaps it's time to demand they come clean because it's really getting difficult to tell the difference between them and Nathan Thurm:

Huma Abedin's Sister (Heba Abedin) comes to her defense

It appears that Huma Abedin has a new defender - her sister. Heba Abedin, known on twitter as @hebs23 is pushing her followers to sign a petition demanding that Michele Bachmann apologize for raising very legitimate questions about Huma Abedin connections to Muslim Brotherhood groups and individuals.

One can certainly understand why anyone would come to the defense of his / her sibling. However, in this case, the evidence of Huma's connections is so strong that her family members should be demanding that she disprove them. Does Heba know that her mother is a member of the Muslim Sisterhood? Does Heba know that her sister served on the Board of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA) for at least six years? Does Heba know that her brother is connected to both Abdullah Omar Naseef and Yusuf al-Qaradawi through the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies? What does Hema know about the IMMA that her parents jointly headed for many years and her mother leads now? Does Heba know about her mother's involvement with the IICWC, an organization that condones marital rape and Female Genital Mutilation?

Nonetheless, Heba is siding with the likes of John McCain and Ed Rollins and lining up against Michele Bachmann. Perhaps this is nothing more than family loyalty but at some point, people choose sides after all of the facts are out there. When it comes to Huma there are a LOT of very disturbing facts available.

Here is a screen shot of some of Heba's tweets on this matter:



It seems that Heba is on the same page as CNN's Anderson Cooper and Arianna Huffington as well. After receiving a snarky tweet from Arianna Huffington, Heba tweeted Arianna a link to the petition that's demanding an apology from Bachmann:



Heba also re-tweeted what appeared to be a tweet from a jubilant Anderson Cooper, who appeared to love McCain's deplorable attack on Bachmann:



On a separate but semi-related note, as the Weiner 'sexting' scandal was breaking last year, both the Daily Mail and Global Grind identified Heba Abedin as one of "the Girls of Weinergate." Heba was apparently a follower of Huma's husband.



The NY Daily News also identified Heba as Huma's sister.

While writing this post, twitter went down and we have not been able to pull additional screen shots.

Cross-posted at Shoebat.com

Huma Report UPDATE: Huma Abedin served on Editorial Board with Al-Qaeda Godfather

I hate deleting posts but thought it best in this case to delete from yesterday that linked to the initial report on Huma Abedin's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and replace it with this one to avoid confusion. Yesterday, a report was published on the Shoebat website that exposes the ties of Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff - Huma Abedin. Since that report was posted, additional bombshell discoveries have been made and they've been incorporated into the new, revised report (I refer you to pp. 14-15 specifically).

Among the discoveries...

1. Huma Abedin served as Associate Editor on the Editorial Board of IMMA from at least 12/02/02 - 9/24/08
2. Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef served on IMMA's Advisory Editorial Board from at least 12/02/02 - 12/03/03. This means, unequivocally, that Huma Abedin worked with Naseef for at least one year.
3. On October 12, 2001 the U.S. Treasury Department identified Naseef as being connected to Al-Qaeda, more than two years before Naseef left IMMA and Huma continued to serve.

Paging John Boehner, John McCain and all the rest of you spineless establishment Republicans.

Here is the Revised Report

This might just become the official theme song for this scandal.

Bachmann goes after Keith Ellison's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood

Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media reports on Michele Bachmann's decision not to back down in the face of attacks from her own party who object to her raising legitimate questions about Huma Abedin. Instead, Bachmann appears to have turned her sights on Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison and his connections to the Muslim Brotherhood through CAIR.

Rep. Keith Ellison Rewrites History on his Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR Ties.

As I wrote here, Ellison's decision to go on the Congressional record with his public letter to Bachmann that defended individuals like Suhail Khan, Mohamed Magid, Huma Abedin, and others may ultimately be a decision he will regret.

If his ties to the Brotherhood are exposed, his defense of those individuals only implicates him further.

Poole has much more evidence in his article but here is video of Ellison giving a videotaped address to a CAIR National fundraiser shortly after he won his election back in 2006:

More Disgrace: Boehner sides with Huma's Al-Qaeda-connected family against Bachmann

The Republican establishment appears to be lining up with Huma Abedin against Michele Bachmann. Yesterday, it was John McCain and Bachmann's former campaign Chief Edward Rollins throwing her under the bus. Today, it's none other than Speaker John Boehner, who is coincidentally still trying in vain to find a spine over Operation Fast and Furious.

Via The Inquisitor:

House Speaker John Boehner has also rushed to the defense of Abedin, warning lawmakers against making serious reputation-tarnishing allegations without hard evidence to back them up, reports the Huffington Post. “From everything that I do know of [Abedin], she has a sterling character and I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous,” he said.

Senators Scott Brown (R-MA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) have also decided to line up against Bachmann. These politicians are etching their names in a book that will disgrace their legacies, whether they know it or not.

**UPDATE** Here's the video of Boehner defending Huma and chiding Bachmann. Note that he doesn't even know how to pronounce Abedin's first name. That could be a clue that Boehner is clueless about the facts but maybe that's just me.

Disgrace: McCain rips Bachmann, defends Abedin family

He has defended the Libyan rebels, calling them his 'heroes'. He has called for the arming of the Syrian rebels. Now, he is coming to the defense of Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin while ripping Rep. Michele Bachmann for raising legitimate questions about Abedin's familial connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.

There is no evidence - other than a screen shot that shows Huma as an assistant editor of a group founded by her now deceased father - that Huma herself either is or embraces Muslim Brotherhood. Both of her parents - and her brother - are quite a different story.

The Institute on Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA) - the group founded by her now-deceased father - had the quiet support of Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef, who was also General Secretary of the MWL, a group that supported Al-Qaeda. Huma's mother, Saleha Abedin, is a confirmed member of the Muslim Sisterhood. Those facts make this statement by McCain on the Senate floor demonstrably false:

“Huma Abedin represents what is best about America,” said McCain. “The daughter of immigrants who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies.”

“I am proud to know her,” McCain continued. “And I am proud – even with some personal presumption – to call her my friend.”

Abedin's parents were not immigrants; they were infiltrators with confirmed - and very close - connections to an Al-Qaeda leader.

Via GMBDR:

Saleha Abedin, along with her late husband Syed Z. Abedin, were also founders of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, a London organization that is known to have been close at one time to the Saudi Muslim World League.

John McCain is coming precariously close to a legacy similar to that of Henri-Philippe Petain, a French WWI hero who became a traitor in WWII when he conspired with the Nazis.

Yes, it's that serious. By ignoring the Brotherhood / Al-Qaeda connections of Huma's family, McCain is taking far too much on faith.

The connections of Huma's parents should have prevented her from passing a background check for the position she now holds. That's just a fact and McCain is egregiously wrong.

Via MediaIte:

Bachmann fires off 16-Page letter to Muslim Congressman, Keith Ellison

It looks like Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) may rue the day he decided to respond with a written letter to five congressman who have legitimate concerns about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration. In response to a 2-page letter from Ellison that accused Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) of only using one source to express concerns to five Inspectors General (State, Justice, DoD, DNI, and DHS) about the possible influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. Government, Bachmann sent Ellison a 16-page Bombshell.

Via SC Times:

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is asking how a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got security clearance given what Bachmann describes as the aide’s family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Bachmann also says an investigation of “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of President Barack Obama’s administration is needed because of interactions between federal agencies and what she calls U.S. front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamist group that recently came to power in Egypt.

The comments come in Bachmann’s new response to U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison’s call for Bachmann to back up the information on which she based a request for federal investigations into whether the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government.

In his July 12th letter, Ellison attempts to assert that the charges / claims made by Bachmann and four other Congressmen are based solely on one source - Frank Gaffney. Ellison attempted to smear Gaffney in the letter before ending the 2-page letter thusly:

Despite Mr. Gaffney’s record of unsubstantiated allegations, you appear to have based your letters to the Inspectors General on his views. 

I request that you provide my office a full accounting of the sources you used to make the serious allegations against the individuals and organizations in your letters. If there is not credible, substantial evidence for your allegations, I sincerely hope that you will publically (sic) clear their names.

In her 16-page retort, Bachmann refutes the notion that she only has one source and includes 59 new footnotes. Bachmann writes:

I do note that the facts we presented in the Inspector General request letters are based on information presented by U.S. Government officials in court documents, court evidence, correspondence and briefings with Congress and public statements, in addition to known media reporting. These letters were far from sole-sourced as you maintain in your letter.

While I can't speak on behalf of the other signatories of these letters, nor am I able to get into the private discussions and documentation received by the various House committees represented by the signatories on these matters that motivated these letters to the various Inspectors General, out of respect to you I am happy to respond to some of your concerns, provide the sources you ask for, as well as clarify a few points that may have been misunderstood or misrepresented.

Of all the areas of concern in the letters to the various OIG's, the subject of Hillary Clinton's closest aide - Huma Abedin - having familial ties to the Muslim Brotherhood may have struck the biggest nerve with Ellison. One of the sources Bachmann cites in her letter to Ellison is Jorgen S. Nielsen of the BYU Law Review:

Professor Syed Z. Abedin (Huma's father) took a different approach in dealing with the contemporary challenged to the traditional Islamic views. Trained in social science and being of Indian origin, Professor Abedin was the founder of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, an institution that had the quiet but active support of the then General Secretary of the Muslim World League, Dr. Umar Abdallah Nasif.

Incidentally, Nasif (Nasseef) is widely regarded as a Godfather of al-Qaeda. Bachmann continues:

For us to raise issues about a highly-based U.S. Government official with known immediate family connections to foreign extremist organization is not a question of singling out Ms. Abedin. In fact, these questions are raised by the U.S. Government of anyone seeking a security clearance.

Something tells me that this is far from over but Ellison has put himself in a bit of a box by penning a letter that puts him on the Congressional record as essentially, defending enemies of the United States (Hamas / Muslim Brotherhood).

For more about Ellison's letter, click here.

Video: Ron Paul says Bachmann 'Hates Muslims'

Just when you thought Ron Paul couldn't be more clueless on the Islamic issue, he demonstrates he may be intellectually in debt as opposed to simply vacant.

While on with Jay Leno, Paul told the audience that Michele Bachmann 'hates Muslims.' How would he know if he hasn't heard her say that? There is a big difference between having serious, legitimate, and verifiable concerns about Islam and hating Muslims.

Well, after all, he IS Ron Paul. He knows everything. Just ask his tin foil hat wearing minions.

Via Daily Caller:

Audio: Rush Limbaugh Introduces Michelle Obama with Sir-Mix-a-Lot

As a response to how Michele Bachmann was treated by the house band as she was introduced by Jimmy Fallon, Rush Limbaugh returned fire by introducing Michelle Obama as a guest on his program to the music of Sir Mix-a-Lot's 'I Like Big Butts.'

Vintage Rush:



Here is what prompted what you just heard:



h/t Hapblog

Video: Does Michele Bachmann Agree with Impeaching Obama?

It will be very interesting to see what this does to Michele Bachmann's poll numbers because if it helps her, it ups the ante for the other candidates. While meeting with voters in Iowa after a stump speech, a man she was talking with brought up the issue of impeaching Obama. Bachmann said that she agreed. Her campaign team is apparently already trying to back away from her comments. This may not be the best course of action for a few reasons.

First, she said it. She should stand by it. If members of the Tea Party who agree with the sentiment see her back away, they may become a bit disenfranchised with her as a candidate. She needs the opposite right now.

Second, with her sagging poll numbers, she needs to take a few more rhetorical chances. Perry did that early on and it helped him greatly.

Third, whether team Bachmann likes it or not, there is a significant contingent within the voting bloc whose support she seeks, that wants Obama impeached. If she goes on record as rejecting those concerns after appearing to have expressed support for them, it could lose her votes, instead of keeping her in the game.

Conversely, if she is going to stand by the comments - which she should - she needs to put forth solid, credible reasons why Obama should be impeached. If she were able to do that, she would probably take some of Cain's support away.

VIa MediaIte:

Debate Videos: Candidates Finally go after Rick Perry

Last night's debate was the first indication that Republican candidates had any real interest in seeing the bloom come off the Rick Perry rose. In this first video, both Santorum and Bachmann go after the Texas governor for his signing of the Texas DREAM Act, which grants in-state tuition for illegal aliens. Santorum hits Perry first but Bachmann delivers the money line when she says that people who break our laws should not be eligible for government benefits. Perry's defense was quite pathetic and may have done him more harm than if he'd have deferred. He implied that those who disagreed with him were racist when he said he wasn't going to hold back benefits because of someone's last name.

Via CNN:



Bachmann wasn't done. Neither was Santorum. Both also went after Perry over the Gardasil controversy. Bachmann got the better of it when she went for the jugular by rightly pointing out that not only did Perry sign the Executive Order that mandated 12-year old girls be vaccinated for a sexually transmitted disease but in doing so, he helped his former chief of staff who was a lobbyist for Merck, the company responsible for the drug.

CLICK HERE to watch.

Then, after the debate, Palin piled on, saying that the crony capitalism displayed by Perry in the case of Gardasil is exactly the thing she stood up against when she was governor of Alaska. If pressed for time, the good part comes at about the 6:45 mark.



h/t Breitbart

Shocker! Liberal Writer may be Right

When it comes to conservative actions matching conservative rhetoric, Michele Bachmann far exceeds Rick Perry. When it comes to conservative rhetoric enticing Tea Party primary voters, Perry continues to far exceed Bachmann for some inexplicable reason; it's an unfortunate reality but Bachmann is slipping. When Perry got in the race, he took a significant amount of her support. I've maintained that Palin can get that back and then some. Campaign volunteer for Barack Obama and Claire McCaskill, William Browning, seems to agree.

Via Yahoo News:

In the aftermath of the GOP presidential debate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., may have been shown the exit door. The Washington Post reports a new poll conducted by the media outlet along with ABC News shows Bachmann at a paltry six percent, about half of what she had just one month ago.

Despite winning the Iowa Straw Poll, all bets are off for Bachmann's campaign. CBS News reports top staffers resigned and quit for fear the Minnesota Republican will mess up her own campaign. At the same time, Bachmann wants to have her own style while catering to her conservative base.

Bachmann's staffers may be right. Texas Gov. Rick Perry threw his name into the primary race the same time Bachmann won the straw poll Aug. 13. Since then, it's been all downhill.

Never thought I'd say it but I can't argue with three consecutive paragraphs penned by a liberal. Browning followed that up with three paragraphs in which I HOPE he's right:

The wild card in all this political posturing is Sarah Palin. The tea party darling made speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire but has still not mentioned if she is running for president. She may be the chess master as she watches the Republican pawns fight it out during each debate. The former governor of Alaska can then use her clout to dethrone any other competitors.

Palin has been unnoticed in recent polls. However, Perry was the same way until he declared he was running for president. All it takes is for Palin to say "yes" and then her name will eclipse Perry's in an instant. Politico reports Palin still hasn't said whether or not she is running for president.

The bat signal for Palin will be the next few weeks as candidates decide to drop out of the race. As more dominoes fall in front of her, the easier Palin's primary fight will be. She hasn't raised a lot of campaign cash and didn't participate in the Iowa Straw Poll. Yet her many fans may send chills down the collective spine of mainstream Republicans. Everywhere she goes, supporters urge Palin to run.

For those who like Bachmann more than they like Palin, I hear you but for whatever reason, Palin seems to have something that Bachmann does not. Call it panache, charisma, the ability to energize or anything else you can think of. Bachmann is struggling right now and Palin is the best person to take the baton. I just hope she does.

h/t Free Republic

Looks like Tea Party is Buying Rick Perry's Rhetoric

It's really unfortunate that Texas Governor Ricky Perry is siphoning off so much Tea Party support with his rhetoric. To his credit, he did it again in the MSNBC debate but as a Texan, I can tell you his words are not met with his actions. There was one specific topic that came up last night that should illustrate the point perfectly. When the subject of Obamacare came up, Perry said he would do all he can to repeal as much of it as he could. He seasoned the red meat by implying that he would use an Executive Order to do so.

This is just rhetoric and if there is any candidate who has a track record that demonstrates he will NOT be effective in doing what needs to be done when it comes to Obamacare, it's Rick Perry.

Consider this year's Texas legislative session. When the regular session began, Perry put 'Sanctuary Cities' legislation up as a priority item. However, as Governor, he could not put bills on the floor; his power was limited. Ultimately, the bill died in the regular session because it couldn't overcome the required super majorities. Then, a special session was called when some necessary legislation hadn't been passed. Perry had much more power in the special session. It was he who would put bills on the agenda and no super majorities were required to pass legislation.

He waited too long to put the Sanctuary Cities bill on the agenda and then skipped town. This legislation addressed the only remaining 'emergency item' Perry had identified at the beginning of the regular session; it should have been one of - if not the - first items added to the special session agenda. He did not use the bully pulpit and the bill died. Not only that but two of Texas' wealthiest men - Grocery store magnate Charles Butt and Developer Bob Perry - threw their weight around and threatened to withhold contributions to the Republican Party if the bill was passed. Reports were that these threats dealt a mortal wound to the bill. If the Texas governor couldn't hold firm to his principles in Texas, what makes us think he will do the same with Obamacare?

Conversely, it was Bachmann who last night best laid out her priority to take Obamacare out by its roots by pushing legislation that would do so. Perry does not have that kind of political will and if he is elected president, he will not pursue the repeal of Obamacare like Bachmann would. That said, if Congress put such a bill on his desk, he would probably sign it but the importance of repealing Obamacare is severe enough that any presidential candidate should have to lay out exactly what he or she would do.

Michele Bachmann's Stock Likely to Rise with the Tea Party, West's is Falling

On July 29th, the Hill listed 22 Republicans that rejected John Boehner's debt ceiling bill. Michele Bachmann was one of those on the list. On August 1st, as the alleged final deal agreed upon by both Houses of Congress, Bachmann is still on that list when several Tea Party Reps sided with the establishment. Surprisingly, Lt. Col. Allen West was one of them and he's not even running for president. Bachmann passed a major test with the Tea Party over this vote. In fact, she's leaving Iowa just so she can got to Washington to vote 'no' on the deal.

Via CNN:

Washington (CNN) - Rep. Michele Bachmann is cutting short her presidential campaign trip to Iowa to return to Washington for a vote on a debt ceiling deal.
Bachmann was to make two appearances Monday - a midday event in Newton and a late afternoon backyard chat in Dexter - but her campaign said she was instead flying back to be ready to vote against the bill later in the day.

The Minnesota Republican has opposed any increase in the debt ceiling during negotiations.

"The 'deal'... spends too much and doesn't cut enough," Bachmann said in a statement released Sunday after President Barack Obama announced the agreement with congressional leaders.

"Is this the deal I would have preferred? No," Obama told reporters. "I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need, and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year."

"This isn't the deal the American people 'preferred' either, Mr. President," Bachmann said in her response. "Someone has to say 'no.' I will."

Mark this down. Every 'crisis' we've had in the past, whether TARP 1, TARP 2, Auto Bailouts, AIG Bailouts, Stimulus, etc. always ends up coming back to bite those who voted for them. Yet, the same crowd continues to do so. One day between now and November 2012, there will be some who voted for this deal that will wish they hadn't. Those who voted against it - like Bachmann - will proudly point to their vote.

In fact, when McCain dropped his campaign back in 2008 so he could return to Washington to help solve the financial crisis, it was a disaster. What Bachmann is doing will likely have the opposite effect with the Tea Party.

h/t Hapblog

Video: Michele Bachmann latest Victim of 'Glitter' Attack

Go figure. It's a leftwing tactic to throw glitter on conservative politicians. Aside from almost assuredly having some obvious emotional issues, this gay activist either didn't bring enough glitter or didn't get nearly close enough to Bachmann after the latter made a speech in her home state. In fact, to the untrained eye, the attempt actually carried an air of ticker-tape style celebration. After the incident, the gay activist was asked about why she would do such a thing and why glitter has become the new weapon of choice for the gay left.

Her answer was the same thing Lucifer might say: To 'Celebrate Pride.'



h/t Weasel Zippers

Videos: Did CNN Sabotage Michele Bachmann's SOTU Response?

If you watched Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) give her Tea Party rebuttal to Obama's State of the Union speech, you likely found yourself wondering why she was looking away from the camera. Actually, she was looking directly into another camera, set up by the Tea Party Express. The camera that provided the feed which showed Bachmann looking away was from CNN and if the claim over at Breitbart is correct, it just shows - again - that the left in general and the liberal media in particular, have absolutely no shame.

According to Breitbart, CNN originally agreed to use the Tea Party video feed to carry Bachmann's response but set up another camera during the actual State of the Union speech, which Bachmann was attending. Any inclination one may feel to give CNN the benefit of the doubt should be snuffed out by an extremely pathetic track record.

Here is the Tea Party Express feed:



Here is the CNN feed:



And of course, Saturday Night Live found the incident worthy of a skit. It'd be funny if you accept the false premise.

VIDEO: HELEN THOMAS ADMITS ANTI-SEMITISM

I guess if there's any good news here, it's that the left continues to reveal its true collective self. Helen Thomas, this week said that the Jews should get out of Israel. Almost as ridiculous is her solution, which is actually what led to the attempted final solution; Thomas thinks Jews should relocate to Poland, Germany, America, and anywhere else they're compelled to go after surrendering their country to stated enemies.

Listen as Thomas identifies "home" for the Jews as another diaspora. Michele Bachmann has it right at Big Government. Helen Thomas should be fired. Either that or she should audition for the role of wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of OZ remake. That may have been low but it comes nowhere close to what Thomas does in this video.

Despicable.



h/t to Gateway Pundit