Thank You Senator McCain for Standing up for Facts and Fairness

Once again Senator McCain has stood up to the far right to call out Bachmann and others with their ridiculous charges against Huma Abedin who works in the State Department for Hillary Clinton.  Their charges are baseless but attacks like this have had adverse consequences in Egypt where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was attacked with tomatoes and shoes because some Egyptians believe what Fox News puts out along with people like Bachmann who have no regard for the truth.  

I have had my doubts about Hillary Clinton and have stated them over the years but no matter she is the Secretary of State, and it is time the far right quit attacking with baseless allegations.  Never thought Bachmann was too bright as she has proved it over and over but now she is interfering in foreign policy.  Frankly Speaker Boehner was nuts to put her the Intelligence Committee with her strange allegations over the years.

What has happened to the Republican Party?  Is this what the National Tea Party movement has caused in the Republican Party?  The group that doesn't seem to understand how Government works and only believes in continual attacks on leaders without regard to consequences.  Is this going to end up splitting the Republican Party with Mitt Romney cozying up to them and their lack of reality.  The lack of empathy out of today's Republicans plus their continual attacks on innocent people who are not running for office is flat out wrong.

Thanks Senator for making me proud I voted for you in 2008 and supported you in your Senate race!

McCain defends top aide to Clinton from fellow Republicans
By NBC's Libby Leist 

Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) offered a personal and passionate defense of top State Department aide Huma Abedin in the face of conservative allegations that she is using her position in "unduly influencing" foreign policy in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

McCain called allegations that Abedin has ties through her family to the Muslim Brotherhood "sinister" in a rare speech on the Senate floor taking fellow Republicans to task. 

"Rarely do I come to the floor of this institution to discuss particular individuals. But I understand how painful and injurious it is when a person's character, reputation, and patriotism are attacked without concern for fact or fairness," McCain opened. 

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (R), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, led four other Republican lawmakers in writing a letter last month requesting that the State Department investigate whether Abedin, who is Muslim, has any ties through her family to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group that found success in recent Egyptian elections. 

Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. 

Bachmann has expressed concerns about how Abedin, who is married to former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), was able to obtain a security clearance. 

McCain condemned these accusations as unsubstantiated. 

"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," he said. "These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now."  

McCain called Abedin a "friend" who is an "intelligent, upstanding, hard-working and long servant of our country and our government."

"Put simply, Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully," he added. 

McCain picked apart the rationale of Bachmann and her colleagues, who wrote their June letter based on a report "The Muslim Brotherhood in America," produced by the Center for Security Policy. 

"The letter alleges that three members of Huma's family are 'connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.' Never mind that one of those individuals, Huma's father, passed away two decades ago. The letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision, or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government." 

McCain has spent time traveling with Abedin while she served as a personal aide to Hillary Clinton during Clinton's time as a senator from New York. 

He ended his floor speech with a strong show of support. "I have every confidence in Huma's loyalty to our country, and everyone else should as well." 

Source:  MSNBC