Michele Bachmann recently issued some typically stupid statements accusing Huma Abedin, Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton and wife to Anthony Weiner, of having ties to the (gasp) Muslim Brotherhood. McCain, who is apparently in one of those moods where he acts honorably instead of cravenly, defended Abedin, whom he described as a "friend" and a "fine and decent American."

From the letter Bachmann signed:

"The Department's Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin, has three family members - her late father, her mother and her brother - connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and /or organizations. Her position affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy making"

As McCain noted in his speech, these accusations are rooted in complete, total bullshit and have no business being sent in a letter signed by five congressmen to the Deputy Inspector General at the Department of State as well as the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Said Senator McCain, in full on righteous mode:

"These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma's family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way. These attacks have no logic, no basis, and no merit and they need to stop. They need to stop now.
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To say that the accusations made in both documents are not substantiated by the evidence they offer is to be overly polite and diplomatic about it. The letter in the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department or as a member of then-Senator Clinton's staff that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government."

McCain said that no one, "not least a member of Congress," should launch such a "degrading attack against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of that hey stand for."

Bachmann's office says, of course, that the quote was taken out of context, a claim that's fucking bonkers considering that it's taken verbatim from the letter's second paragraph, which then leads in to this: "The State Department, and in several cases, the specific direction of the Secretary of State, have take actions recently that have been enormously favorable to the Muslim Brotherhood and its interests."

But just in case you don't believe me and feel like reading through pathetic ramblings that wouldn't be out of place in the commets at MichelleMalkin.com, here's a PDF of the letter in full.

[photo via AP]