Republican Congresswoman Follows Palin's Lead and Calls for Investigation Into Anti-Americans in Congress

The tenor of this election is getting scary. As I mentioned earlier today, Gov. Palin, campaigning in North Carolina yesterday, referred to the "pro-America" areas of the country which can only mean, by implication, that there must be "anti-America" areas of the country. Now Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minnesota) has latched onto the notion that parts of America are "anti-America" but she even goes a few steps further. For example, she thinks that the "people that Barack Obama has been associating with are anti-American, by and large" and she is concerned that Sen. Obama "may have anti-American views." I'm waiting to hear Sen. McCain's repudiation of those statements. But Rep. Bachmann goes even further: She says that liberals may be anti-America. I think that is the first time that I've ever been accused of being unpatriotic. Finally, and most unbelievably, she thinks that some members of Congress are anti-America and thinks the "news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would, I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they are pro-America or anti-America." In other words, in Rep. Bachmann's world, you either agree with her or you are anti-America. And I thought McCarthy-ism ended back in the '50s.

Here is a highlight reel of her comments:



and here is the entire seven minute interview (which includes Rep. Bachmann spewing idiotic vitriol and rhetoric on a number of other issues, too):



One funny thing to note: In the hours after this story was first reported, ActBlue has raised over $11,700 for Bachmann's opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg. How's that for the power of the Internet?

Incidentally, earlier today, Sen. Biden took aim at Gov. Palin's notion that there are "pro-America" areas and, by implication (as aptly demonstrated by Rep. Bachmann), anti-America areas:



If Rep. Bachmann represents the views of where this country could go, I for one am scared. And if Rep. Bachmann views are, in any way, encouraged or fostered by the rhetoric that Sen. McCain falsely claims to be repudiating, then we will have our evidence that his campaign has done true damage to the American democratic system. We don't need to agree with our neighbors on everything, but we shouldn't hate them just because of our disagreements. That way, lies danger. McCarthy-ism was wrong in the '50s and it's still wrong today. The only "anti-American" that I see right now is Rep. Bachmann who is so clearly ignorant of how a free and open democracy is actually supposed to work and who would sacrifice much of what make our country great in the quest to turn America into some kind of right-wing paradise.