When Politico first began spewing its pollution back in 2007, I wrote a series of posts examining its ownership and management, its heavy reliance on Drudge links, its biases, and its tawdry methods, and had a lengthy exchange with its Editor, John Harris, about those critiques. I long ago stopped doing that: aside from the handful of genuinely good reporters they have, it is widely recognized that Politico is little more than a glorified gossip rag, the belly of the media beast, the embodiment of everything vapid, reckless, and petty that drives America's media rot. Pointing out the latest examples is pointless and redundant. 
 
 But today Politico descended into territory so toxic that one would be remiss to ignore it. They gave Newt Gingrich almost 5,000 words to warn America of the grave danger posed by Muslims, to condemn "elites" for covering up the threat, and to defend the recent McCarthyite attack by GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann and four other members of Congress on Huma Abedin, the long-time Muslim aide to Hillary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, whom Bachmann essentially accused -- with zero evidence -- of being a secret agent for the Muslim Brotherhood (Politico gave Gingrich 2,500 words for the Op-Ed itself -- headlined: "In defense of Michele Bachmann, Muslim Brotherhood probes" -- and then another 1,800 words for an "appendix" prepared by the neocon-funded, Muslim-obsessed Foundation for the Defense of Democracies). This was the crux of the Bachmann accusations which Gingrich is defending: 
 
 "It appears that there has been deep penetration in the halls of our United States government by the Muslim Brotherhood," Bachmann told radio host Sandy Rios in June. "It appears that there are individuals who are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who have positions, very sensitive positions, in our Department of Justice, our Department of Homeland Security, potentially even in the National Intelligence Agency." 
 
 Then, "Bachmann singled out Huma Abedin" and "question[ed] why Abedin . . . was able to receive a security clearance despite having family members that Bachmann believes are connected to the Brotherhood." Bachmann wrote: "I am particularly interested in exactly how, given what we know from the international media about Ms. Abedin’s documented family connections with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, she was able to avoid being disqualified for a security clearance." Bachmann was joined in her crusade by four other House members (Gingirch calls them "The National Security Five," because nobody does self-victimizing, self-martyring melodrama like neocon Tough Guys). 
 
 So noxious was this attack that even people like John McCain and Wolf Blitzer -- along with Catholic bishops and other religious groups -- harshly condemned it (though it seems clear that the anger in official Washington was due more to Abedin's being deeply ensconced in Beltway power circles than it was due to revulsion over the rank Islamophobia underlying the attack; said Blitzer: "I have been very upset about a McCarthy-like attempt to smear one of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's closest aides, Huma Abedin, someone I have known for years"). Let me know when Islamophobic law enforcement and Surveillance State practices aimed at marginalized, powerless Muslims provoke similar rage in those circles. ||||| Report cited by Bachmann claims Norquist linked to Muslim Brotherhood 
 
 By Eric W. Dolan 
 
 Sunday, July 22, 2012 11:11 EDT 
 
 Like Raw Story on Facebook 
 
 Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist helped the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrate the U.S. government, according to the report that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) cited in an attack on top State Department aide Huma Abedin. 
 
 Earlier this month, Bachmann and four other Republicans sent a letter to inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments calling on them to investigate “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of the Obama administration by Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). 
 
 As evidence of their claims, the five Republicans cited “The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within,” a ten-part video course produced by the Center for Security Policy. 
 
 The movies claim that the “Muslim Brotherhood was helped in its efforts to achieve information dominance over the George W. Bush administration” by Norquist, a Christian. The influential anti-tax activist is also accused of using “various organizations to promote Islamist agendas.” 
 
 Nearly every Republican in Congress has signed Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, vowing to oppose any and all tax increases. Only 14 Republican members of 112th Congress have refused to sign the pledge. 
 
 Bachmann has been widely criticized for her attack on Abedin. Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner, Arizona Sen. John McCain, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Bachmann campaign manager Ed Rollins have all condemned the Minnesota congresswoman. But she has insisted the matter needs to be investigated. 
 
 “The letters my colleagues and I sent on June 13 to the Inspectors General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Department of State – and the follow up letter I wrote to Rep. Ellison on July 13 – are unfortunately being distorted,” Bachmann said last week. 
 
 “I encourage everyone, including media outlets, to read them in their entirety. The intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group’s access to top Obama administration officials.” ||||| Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) took to the Senate floor Wednesday to criticize fellow Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN) and four other Republican members of Congress about their request that various agencies investigate whether the government has been infiltrated by Muslim extremists. 
 
 Bachmann is joined in her request by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL) and Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA). 
 
 Among the issues they raise is a claim that long-time aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, has three family members connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, and is at risk of being influenced by her family members. The members of Congress want to know how she holds a high level security clearance. 
 
 "The concerns about the foreign influence of immediate family members is such a concern to the U.S. Government that it includes these factors as potentially disqualifying conditions for obtaining a security clearance, which undoubtedly Ms. Abedin has had to obtain to function in her position," Bachmann wrote in a letter defending the request. "For us to raise issues about a highly-based U.S. Government official with known immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations is not a question of singling out Ms. Abedin. In fact, these questions are raised by the U.S. Government of anyone seeking a security clearance." 
 
 State Department spokesman Phillipe Reines called the accusations "nothing but vicious and disgusting lies," in a statement to CNN. 
 
 McCain gave a full-throated endorsement of Abedin on Wednesday: 
 
 “To say that the accusations made...are not substantiated by the evidence they offer is to be overly polite and diplomatic about it. It is far better, and more accurate, to talk straight: These allegations about Huma, and the report from which they are drawn, are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American, and a loyal public servant. “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. Nor does either document offer any evidence of a direct impact that Huma may have had on one of the U.S. policies with which the authors of the letter and the producers of the report find fault. 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 on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now. 
 
 On Tuesday night, Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. also criticized the claims made by Bachmann in an interview with Anderson Cooper on Anderson Cooper 360. Bachmann's claims of 'deep penetration' of Muslim extremist infiltration into the highest levels of the U.S. government are "not true, it doesn't exist, its a phantom" and that "it just is the worst of guilt by association, it is a stark front to American values" and "we've got to stand up for this idea that we all count in this America." 
 
 Cooper and his team also took a closer look at the claims on the show last night (watch the interview with Ellison above):
– The latest fallout from Michele Bachmann's Muslim infiltration conspiracy theory: Now Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin—whose family, Bachmann claims, is vaguely connected to the Muslim Brotherhood—has been threatened by a New Jersey man. Abedin is under police protection following the threat, and the man—a Muslim—has been questioned, the New York Post reports. Also tangled up in Bachmann's theory: Grover Norquist. The Raw Story reports that a 10-part video cited by Bachmann and her cohorts in their report claims the conservative anti-tax crusader helped the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, Bachmann may not have found much support in DC—John Boehner, John McCain, and others roundly condemned her call for a probe into Abedin and others in government—but she has quite a bit of backing in her home state of Minnesota, Politico reports. In fact, her supporters seem even more energized now, which is why this incident almost certainly will not be Bachmann's undoing. Politico has quotes like these from about two dozen interviews with Bachmann supporters: Bachmann is the "only one telling the truth about this thing," or Bachmann wouldn't "make something up."