U.S. Sen. John McCain took to the Senate floor Wednesday to issue a strongly wordly condemnation of Rep. Michelle Bachmann for targeting a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with allegations of ties to Muslim extremist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood. McCain said Huma Abdelin, a Muslim who is married to former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is Jewish, “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.”

This is the type of “inside the Beltway” politics we typically avoid, but Bachmann’s allegations were made in a series of letters sent in June and July to federal security agencies and a fellow member of Congress, one of which was co-signed by Rep. Tom Rooney, who is running to represent parts of Polk County in a newly drawn district.