Future proves past
Rollins rips 'extreme' Bachmann
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Rollins called Bachmann's comments 'extreme and dishonest.'
By Tomer Ovadia07/18/2012 06:35 PM EDT
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s former campaign manager has joined the bipartisan chorus criticizing the Minnesota Republican for questioning the loyalty of State Department aide Huma Abedin and alleging she has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“I have been a practitioner of tough politics for many decades,” Ed Rollins wrote in an op-ed for FOX News. “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.
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“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,” he continued.
Rollins, like Sen. John McCain in a floor speech earlier today, called out Bachmann for writing a letter urging the State Department to investigate whether Abedin — a Muslim American and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner — and other officials were trying to influence U.S. foreign policy to aid Islamist causes.
Rollins demanded Bachmann apologize for the letter, which was signed by four other GOP lawmakers, and compared Bachmann’s claims to Joe McCarthy’s hunt for communists in the 1950’s.
“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,” he wrote.