>>> these allegations about houma al madine and the report from which they're drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated american, and a loyal public servant.
>> representative michele bachmann is facing republican blowback from an accusation she lobbed at hillary clinton 's aide. the congresswoman helped pen a letter warning of the influence of the muslim brotherhood in the president's administration. and notes abidine having three brothers connected to muslim brotherhood operatives and/or organizations. ed rollins slams her judgment writing, her unsubstantiated charge against abedin is extreme and dishonest. having worked for bachmann's campaign for president, i'm fully aware she sometimes has difficulty with her facts but this is downright vicious and reaches the late senator joe mccarthy level. patricia? michele bachmann was on glenn beck earlier and said, we did not infer she's a member of the muslim brotherhood or working on behalf of the husbamuslim brotherhood which is a great walkback. isn't it? i don't know what it is. it's some kind of walkback. i think it's, oh, people are paying attention to what i was saying? let me rephrase that. it's offensive. i have to say, it's a very good sign for the republican party that these two men that john mccain and her former campaign manager came out immediately and knocked this down. and there was a time, i would say, in this country when people wouldn't have come out quite so quickly and knocked that down. i think that it shows, even -- i mean, what else can you say? it's just so offensive. somebody like huma abedin who has worked for secretary clinton for 15 years and is very well trusted. mccain is very close to both she and to secretary clinton, and i do think it's refreshing that at least somebody's coming out and saying this is total, complete bunk and nonsense and nothing sort of conspiracy theory. it's most disturbing that other people sign on to this letter in addition to michele bachmann .
>> well, right. it's worth noting speaker of the house john boehner today said i think accusations like this being thrown around are dangerous. it's a moment we've been waiting for for a long time, eric, in terms of someone in the republican party or republican leadership planting a flag in the ground saying this is wrong, this is not acceptable. it's worth noting at an event in ohio yesterday, a questioner called the president a monster. mitt romney sort of pushed back on that. let's take a listen to it.
>> because of this awful economy that obama's created, now he's had to lay off people, and he may have to close some stores and it's all because of what this monster has done to this country. we have to have you as president.
>> that's not a term i would use.
>> that was romney saying that's not a term i would use. he went on to answer the question. are we maybe beginning to see a turning point in terms of the vitreal that has been thrown at this president? which i think is disproportionate to any other administration, incidentally.
>> well, any step in that direction, given the vitreal there has been, is obviously hardening. i think the republican party all along has realized that it kind of opened this pandora's box with the tea party . and it drove them for a while and kept them alive at a time when they thought they were finished. but they also realized that it had the potential to blow up in their face and to go so far that they wouldn't be able to contain it. so i think there is an effort to rein that in and say we like being nasty and like being partisan but this is where we draw the line. they're clearly doing that here. in senator mccain 's case, at least, he's also doing it out of honest conviction. i mean, this is a guy who believes in that kind of sense of personal honor, whether you think he applies it uniformly or not is another question. but i do think that springs from his own belief system and it is heartening. we've gone through lots of periods in this country when people didn't stand up immediately and shoot down this kind of viciousness and lies and to see people from her own party doing it so instantaneously is a great thing.
>> remember, it was mccain in 2008 at that rally who stood up to the woman who called president obama a muslim. forgive me if that's not the right term. he said no, ma'am, he's a good man, i just happen to disagree with him. so to see somebody of his stature taking a lead on this is a great thing to see.
>> which is not to say the vitreal is all gone. it's worth noting vermont committee chair and republican chair in vermont rob towel on his facebook posted today i received my 2012 social security stimulus package . it included two tomato seeds, cornbread mix, a prayer rug , a machine to blow smoke up my butt, two discount coupons to kfc, obama hope and change bumper sticker and blame it on bush poster for the front yard. the directions were in spanish. watch for yours soon. there's so much racism and hatred in that facebook post, richard wolffe . towle said the post was to be satirical and said, i realize now that there were those that were deeply offended.
>> i find it hard, i'm going to take a different tone i'm afraid. i find it hard to be heartened by these minimal efforts at this late stage to try and put a lid on racist anti-muslim, anti- arab american sentiment that has been whipped up since 9/11. there's a whole industry of it. republicans are by no means the only people, but they are the leading force in this in terms of our politics. when people on the left say president obama failed to close guantanamo bay , let's face it, though, democrats and republicans who fell down and this industry of fear and said, these people are terrifying, we can't have them in the mainland even if they're in a high security , maximum security facility that nobody's ever escaped from. that's part in parcel of the weakness of the politics we've had and frankly the exploitation of fear. it didn't end with even the killing of bin laden . this kind of stuff, yes, i'm glad people are going out there saying it, but we have got so far to go. it's -- nobody can say, oh, great, we've got john mccain out there, yet thank goodness he did it. it 's wonderful , but it's nowhere near enough. fact people still feel confident enough to write letters and publish them and circulate them is actually much more depressing.
>> indeed it is. it's worth noting state representative sheryl grossman introducing potential vp bobby jindal said, i can't recall any time in my memory that i feared a president as much as i fear our current president. disagreed with maybe the policy in the past, but this is fear. so don't be too hard. not that anybody was really heartened.
>> representative michele bachmann is facing republican blowback from an accusation she lobbed at hillary clinton 's aide. the congresswoman helped pen a letter warning of the influence of the muslim brotherhood in the president's administration. and notes abidine having three brothers connected to muslim brotherhood operatives and/or organizations. ed rollins slams her judgment writing, her unsubstantiated charge against abedin is extreme and dishonest. having worked for bachmann's campaign for president, i'm fully aware she sometimes has difficulty with her facts but this is downright vicious and reaches the late senator joe mccarthy level. patricia? michele bachmann was on glenn beck earlier and said, we did not infer she's a member of the muslim brotherhood or working on behalf of the husbamuslim brotherhood which is a great walkback. isn't it? i don't know what it is. it's some kind of walkback. i think it's, oh, people are paying attention to what i was saying? let me rephrase that. it's offensive. i have to say, it's a very good sign for the republican party that these two men that john mccain and her former campaign manager came out immediately and knocked this down. and there was a time, i would say, in this country when people wouldn't have come out quite so quickly and knocked that down. i think that it shows, even -- i mean, what else can you say? it's just so offensive. somebody like huma abedin who has worked for secretary clinton for 15 years and is very well trusted. mccain is very close to both she and to secretary clinton, and i do think it's refreshing that at least somebody's coming out and saying this is total, complete bunk and nonsense and nothing sort of conspiracy theory. it's most disturbing that other people sign on to this letter in addition to michele bachmann .
>> well, right. it's worth noting speaker of the house john boehner today said i think accusations like this being thrown around are dangerous. it's a moment we've been waiting for for a long time, eric, in terms of someone in the republican party or republican leadership planting a flag in the ground saying this is wrong, this is not acceptable. it's worth noting at an event in ohio yesterday, a questioner called the president a monster. mitt romney sort of pushed back on that. let's take a listen to it.
>> because of this awful economy that obama's created, now he's had to lay off people, and he may have to close some stores and it's all because of what this monster has done to this country. we have to have you as president.
>> that's not a term i would use.
>> that was romney saying that's not a term i would use. he went on to answer the question. are we maybe beginning to see a turning point in terms of the vitreal that has been thrown at this president? which i think is disproportionate to any other administration, incidentally.
>> well, any step in that direction, given the vitreal there has been, is obviously hardening. i think the republican party all along has realized that it kind of opened this pandora's box with the tea party . and it drove them for a while and kept them alive at a time when they thought they were finished. but they also realized that it had the potential to blow up in their face and to go so far that they wouldn't be able to contain it. so i think there is an effort to rein that in and say we like being nasty and like being partisan but this is where we draw the line. they're clearly doing that here. in senator mccain 's case, at least, he's also doing it out of honest conviction. i mean, this is a guy who believes in that kind of sense of personal honor, whether you think he applies it uniformly or not is another question. but i do think that springs from his own belief system and it is heartening. we've gone through lots of periods in this country when people didn't stand up immediately and shoot down this kind of viciousness and lies and to see people from her own party doing it so instantaneously is a great thing.
>> remember, it was mccain in 2008 at that rally who stood up to the woman who called president obama a muslim. forgive me if that's not the right term. he said no, ma'am, he's a good man, i just happen to disagree with him. so to see somebody of his stature taking a lead on this is a great thing to see.
>> which is not to say the vitreal is all gone. it's worth noting vermont committee chair and republican chair in vermont rob towel on his facebook posted today i received my 2012 social security stimulus package . it included two tomato seeds, cornbread mix, a prayer rug , a machine to blow smoke up my butt, two discount coupons to kfc, obama hope and change bumper sticker and blame it on bush poster for the front yard. the directions were in spanish. watch for yours soon. there's so much racism and hatred in that facebook post, richard wolffe . towle said the post was to be satirical and said, i realize now that there were those that were deeply offended.
>> i find it hard, i'm going to take a different tone i'm afraid. i find it hard to be heartened by these minimal efforts at this late stage to try and put a lid on racist anti-muslim, anti- arab american sentiment that has been whipped up since 9/11. there's a whole industry of it. republicans are by no means the only people, but they are the leading force in this in terms of our politics. when people on the left say president obama failed to close guantanamo bay , let's face it, though, democrats and republicans who fell down and this industry of fear and said, these people are terrifying, we can't have them in the mainland even if they're in a high security , maximum security facility that nobody's ever escaped from. that's part in parcel of the weakness of the politics we've had and frankly the exploitation of fear. it didn't end with even the killing of bin laden . this kind of stuff, yes, i'm glad people are going out there saying it, but we have got so far to go. it's -- nobody can say, oh, great, we've got john mccain out there, yet thank goodness he did it. it 's wonderful , but it's nowhere near enough. fact people still feel confident enough to write letters and publish them and circulate them is actually much more depressing.
>> indeed it is. it's worth noting state representative sheryl grossman introducing potential vp bobby jindal said, i can't recall any time in my memory that i feared a president as much as i fear our current president. disagreed with maybe the policy in the past, but this is fear. so don't be too hard. not that anybody was really heartened.