Michele Bachmann’s hateful cronies

[Douglas Carpenter]

She's taken the heat for her Muslim witch hunt, but what about the other congressmen who signed her letters?

By Alex Seitz-Wald

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/19/michele_bachmanns_hateful_cronies/


Clockwise from upper left: Louie Gohmert, Trent Franks, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland (Credit: AP)

Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona who signed onto Bachmann’s letter, joined three colleagues in 2009 to launch a similar witch hunt against Muslims on Capitol Hill that drew calls of McCarthyism. The four lawmakers alleged that the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a major mainstream Muslim group, was planting “spies” in lawmakers’ offices. Their evidence came from a book called “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America.” Franks suspected that Muslim interns and junior staffers placed by CAIR were conspiring to kill the Patriot Act. “One of the target policies that they might be concerned about is the Patriot Act itself — those things that give us the greatest tools to be able to surveil those conversations outside of this country … and I think organizations like CAIR would like to diminish that,” he said.

As with Bachmann’s witch hunt, the lawmakers went public with their accusations before going to the authorities. “We have not received any request at this time,” a spokesman for the House sergeant-at-arms, who is responsible for keeping members safe, said at the time.

Rep. Louis Gohmert, meanwhile, was making up his own Muslim conspiracy theories before he signed on to Bachmann’s. The colorful Texas Republican, who is closely aligned with the Tea Party movement, took to the House floor and Fox Business in 2010 to warn the world about a flood of terrorist babies invading our shores from Muslim nations. “It appeared they would have young women who became pregnant [and] would get them into the United States to have a baby. They wouldn’t even have to pay anything for the baby,” Gohmert said on the floor in June of that year. “And then they would return back where they could be raised and coddled as future terrorists. And then one day, 20, 30 years down the road, they can be sent in to help destroy our way of life,” he explained.

Gohmert’s source on this explosive accusation was a retired FBI agent whom he met on an airplane, or at least someone who said she was a retired FBI agent. In a heated interview with Anderson Cooper, Gohmert lost control as he admitted he hadn’t contacted authorities about the terror babies. A former FBI official debunked the claim.

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/19/michele_bachmanns_hateful_cronies/

[DocMac]

1. Oh FFS, I thought we burned all the witches? nt

[spanone]

2. about 18 I.Q. points between them....but, i exaggerate.

[freshwest]

3. DHS contractors worried over contracts subject to automatic budget cuts called their stooges.

This article shows what's up. They don't care about Muslims, this is just a way to justify keeping their payments in January. If they can get enough demagogues to spout the lies, they may hold their majority next year and keep the cash flowing in. They're preparing now, just as the Tea Party machine was created to stop the Bush tax cuts from sunsetting, this is the second string working to keep screwing the taxpayers. EOM.

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. one kic

[hifiguy]

5. Mental defectives and genetic throwbacks,

every one. Toenail-chewing imbeciles.