Is it possible that Michele Bachmann has finally gone too far even for many of her fellow Republicans to tolerate? Yesterday, it was John McCain taking to the floor of the Senate to denounce her for the Islamophobic conspiracy theories she's been pedaling, among other things accusing Hilary Clinton aide Huma Aberdin of being a moll for the Muslim Brotherhood. She even went to far as to send a letter with four of her colleagues to the State department demanding an investigation.
One of the real-world, unintended consequences of all this unhinged talk is that mobs in Egypt, citing Bachmann as one of their sources, pelted Clinton's motorcade in retaliation for what they believe is the US's role in securing a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood in the recent election.
Apparently, this was a bridge too far even for some of Bachmann's Congressional colleagues.
From Think Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/...
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has joined a growing list of Republicans in condemning Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) unsubstantiated Islamophobic attacks against top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
When asked about the letter specifically, Boehner responded:
I haven’t seen the letter, but — I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character. And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.
Boehner is not alone in his criticism of Bachmann:
Appearing on NPR, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined the growing chorus of Republicans to distance themselves from Bachmann’s Islamopbic with-hunt. Salon reports that Rubio said:
I can tell you that I don’t share the feelings that are in that letter. And in fact, I’m very very careful and cautious about ever making accusations like that about anyone.
Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald also noted that Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) said on Twitter that Bachmann’s accusations were “out-of-line” and have “no place in our public discourse.”
It's nice to see these individuals taking a principled stand on this issue. But, let's face it. The party they belong to has gone off the deep-end, yet the leaders enable the wackos to wield far too much influence because they fear the backlash from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the world if they don't. Much as Brown, Boehner, McCain and Rubio may want to bring sanity to their party on this particular issue at least, they are finding themselves subsumed by the very beast they helped to create.