It wasn't just Bachmann, though; as Cillizza points out, the attacks on Secretary of State Clinton's long-time personal aide Huma Abedin, supposedly that she's some sort of Muslim fundamentalist mole within the bowels of the U.S. government, actually came from Bachmann "and four other House Republicans" - Trent Franks, Thomas Rooney, Louie Gohmert, and Lynn Westmoreland. In response to this appalling, despicable, insane letter, 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain took to the floor of the Senate to call the attacks "sinister," while even John Boehner felt compelled to condemn the attacks as "dangerous."

Good for them, although shouldn't it be automatic for Republican leaders to condemn insane, destructive, vicious comments from leading members (Bachmann was a presidential candidate this year, leading in the primary polls for a while) of their party? Sadly, the answer is no; the responses of McCain and Boehner were definitely the exception, NOT the rule. Think about it: when was the last time any GOP leader condemned Steve King, Alan West, or any of the other (many) crazies in their party? As Dana Milbank points out, not only do Republican "leaders" like Willard "Mitt" Romney refuse to condemn the most vile, frothing-at-the-mouth conspiracy theories floating around out there, they actually flirt with them or even full-on embrace them.