Mitt Romney held a meeting Thursday with a group of right-wing activists that included several leaders who have been vocal supporters of Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) Islamophobic witch hunt, deepening his association with right-wing, anti-Muslim sentiment.

One of the guests at Thursday's event was Vice President of the Family Research Council Jerry Boykin, who has a long history of Islamophobia, and once said that Islam "should not be protected under the First Amendment." Most recently, Boykin piled on to Bachmann's baseless indictment that top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is part of a Muslim Brotherhood plot. "I believe in some aspects of this situation there is support for the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood into our government, that sounds extremist but it is just a fact, it's a reality," he said.

Two others in attendance at Thursday's event – American Values president Gary Bauer and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson – penned a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) defending Bachmann's witch hunt. In that letter, they argued there is legitimate concern about "senior federal officials or branches of the federal government could be animated or influenced by groups affiliated with, or a philosophy grounded in, radical Islam."

Boehner ended up rebuking Bachmann and her Islamophobic effort – which is more than Romney has done. The presidential candidate has refused to condemn Bachmann saying, "I'm not going to tell other people what things to talk about."

Think Progress, 8 August 2012

See "CAIR asks Romney to explain meeting with infamous Islamophobe", CAIR press release, 9 August 2012

Also "Muslim leaders: Mitt enables Bachmann", Salon, 9 August 2012

And "Jerry Boykin: Romney's new Muslim-bashing pal", Salon, 9 August 2012

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The Huffington Post examines the cases of Mohamed Elibiary, Mohamed Magid and Dalia Mogahed.

Elibiary, who serves as an advisor for the Department of Homeland Security, says of Michele Bachmann and her colleagues:

"They feel like there's no consequences to what they're doing, no negativity, and they just wrap themselves in the flag like they're the only uber-patriots out there. There are real peoples' lives that are affected. This is a witch hunt to just make sure that we ruin every Muslim who is serving in any capacity in the government, period."

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I can't say I'm generally an admirer of John McCain but the statement he delivered on the floor of the US Senate today in defence of Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin against the paranoid accusations of Michele Bachmann and her colleagues really is worth reading.

Here's an excerpt:

Recently, it has been alleged that Huma, a Muslim American, is part of a nefarious conspiracy to harm the United States by unduly influencing U.S. foreign policy at the Department of State in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist causes. On June 13, five members of Congress wrote to the Deputy Inspector General of the Department of State, demanding that he begin an investigation into the possibility that Huma and other American officials are using their influence to promote the cause of the Muslim Brotherhood within the U.S. government. The information offered to support these serious allegations is based on a report, 'The Muslim Brotherhood in America,' produced by the Center for Security Policy.

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. 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 citizen, 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.

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