Tracking Teh Crazie - Bachmann/Gaffney/Scaife

First let's start with the defense:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came to an unexpected and impassioned defense of Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying that "sinister accusations" by congressional conservatives about her alleged connection to the Muslim Brotherhood must end.

The attacks have been led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the chairwoman of the tea party caucus in the House, and four other lawmakers, who have asked federal officials to investigate whether Abedin, a Muslim American who is deputy chief of staff at the State Department, is influencing U.S. policy in ways beneficial to the pan-Arab Islamic group.

Senator McCain said on the floor of the Senate that the attacks have "no logic, no basis and no merit."

Good for him.

But where did Bachmann get her "info"?  Take a look:

The congresswoman drew on the report "The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy from Within," an online video project from the Center for Security Policy. The group's founder and president, Frank Gaffney, is a former Reagan administration defense official who hosts the nationally syndicated "Secure Freedom Radio" show.

Ah...Frank Gaffney.  We'll get to him in a minute.  What, exactly, was the evidence against Abedin?

Representative Keith Ellison explains it to Representative Bachmann in this letter:

In discussing this claim, you provide absolutely no information about Ms. Abedin herself. Instead, you write that “her late father, her mother and her brother [are] connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.” Your letters fail to explain your claims regarding Ms. Abedin's mother and brother.

With regard to Ms. Abedin’s father, you point to a single passage from an article claiming that he founded “the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, an institution that had the quiet but active support of the then General Secretary of the Muslim World League, Dr. Umar Abdallah Nasif.” You then write, “As the Pew Forum notes, the Muslim World League has a longtime history of being closely aligned and partnering with the Muslim Brotherhood.” Put together, the primary source of evidence for your serious claims against Ms. Abedin is that her deceased father founded an institute that received unspecified “support” from a man who at one point led an organization that was aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. In making this connection, which is five times removed from Ms. Abedin, you engage in guilt by association.

And she got this evidence, as stated above, from Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy.

The same Center for Security Policy that's received millions of dollars from Richard Mellon Scaife controlled foundations.

Nice to know his money's doing such good work.  Especially since today's editorial page accuses the Obama Campaign of "Distortions, lies & innuendo."