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Gee, where would anyone get the idea that Fox and Bill O'Reilly would like for their Obama-hating viewers to get the impression that he just might be a secret Muslim? I can't imagine. Apparently Bill-O is very upset that MSNBC's Alex Wagner said something bad about him, so now he's going on his own "jihad" to get even.

Good luck with that tough guy. What are you going to do? Screech like a banshee even louder than you normally do every night?

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On Friday, the uncle of two brothers suspected of planting bombs at the Boston Marathon earlier this week called on his nephews to "turn yourself in, and ask forgiveness for your crimes."

During a press conference outside his Boston home, Ruslan Tsarni was asked by reporters what provoked nephews, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, into carrying out the bombings.

"Being losers," Tsarni explained. "Hatred to those who were able to settle themselves. These are the only reasons I can imagine of. Anything else to do with religion, with Islam, it's a fraud, it's a fake."

Tsarni described the brothers as Muslims who were ethic Chechnyans, and speculated that the young men could have been "radicalized" by someone outside the family.

The uncle insisted that he "loved this country" because it "gives chance to everybody else to be a human being."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was reportedly killed in a firefight Thursday night, but Tsarni had a message for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who police were searching for on Friday.

"If you're alive, turn yourself in!" he exclaimed. "And ask for forgiveness from the victims, from the injured and from those who [survived], ask for forgiveness from these people! We're not requiring forgiveness in this family. He put a shame on our family, Tsarni family. He put a shame on the entire Chechnyans ethnicity! Because everyone now names, now play with the word Chechnyan. So, they put that shame on the entire ethnicity!"

"Those who suffered, we're sharing with them with their grief. I'm ready just to meet with them, I'm ready just to bend in front of them, to kneel in front of them, seeking that forgiveness."

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Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) on Wednesday connected the Monday bombings in Boston to the immigration debate and warned that "radical Islamists" were "being trained to come in and act like Hispanics."

During an interview on C-SPAN, host Greta Wodele Brawner asked the Texas Republican about a bipartisan "Gang of Eight" proposal in the Senate that would increase funding for border security by $5.5 billion over ten years and establish a 13-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

"What I first thought after my prayers went for the victims and the families in Boston is, 'My gosh, we've seen this in Israel,'" Gohmert recalled. "And after Israel had to suffer the slings and arrows and the deaths and the maimings... Finally the Israeli people said, 'You know what? Enough.' They built, over 70 percent of it is just a fence, and the rest is a wall, prevents snipers from knocking off their kids. And they finally stopped the domestic violence from people that wanted to destroy them."

"And I'm concerned we need to do that as well," he insited.

Pressing Gohmert, the C-SPAN host noted that Rep. Steve King (-R-IA) had speculated that the Boston bombings were perpetrated by a "foreign national" and that Congress should proceed with caution on immigration reform.

"We know that al Qaeda has camps with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border," Gohmert agreed. "We know that people are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanics when they're radical Islamists. We know these things are happening, and it's just insane to not protect ourselves and make sure that people come in -- as most people do, they want the freedoms we have."

(h/t: Think Progress)

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If anyone needed any more proof that the butthurt Rep. Keith Ellison administered to Sean Hannity still smarts, here you go. After having his ass handed to him Tuesday evening by Ellison, Hannity decided for the third night in a row to attack Ellison, and for the second night in a row to hide behind black conservatives to go after Ellison for him.

This Friday, Hannity's guests were David Webb, who is one of Fox's favorites that you can read more about here, and another Astroturf "tea partier" Niger Innis, who again attacked Ellison for daring to attend the Million Man March, and played the guilt by association game we saw from his other two black conservative guests the previous evening.

If Hannity had an ounce of courage or integrity, of which he has neither, he'd allow Ellison back on his show so he could respond to these drummed-up allegations. But he's probably afraid of being made to look like an ass if he allowed Ellison to speak freely.

I really thought I'd seen the worst from Hannity when he went on his months-long attack on President Obama for his association with his former preacher Rev. Wright, but I was wrong in that assumption. With his continued attacks on Rep. Keith Ellison, simply because he dared to let Hannity know to his face what he thought of him, is right up there with that same racial hatred and disgusting flame-throwing we saw over and over from him back then.

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An Indiana man convicted of setting fire to a mosque in Ohio told a judge on Wednesday that he committed the crimes because Fox News and conservative talk radio had convinced him that "most Muslims are terrorists."

Randolph Linn, 52, accepted a plea deal in which he pled guilty to all charges in connection to setting a fire in the prayer room at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo on Sept. 30. Under the deal, Linn is expected to serve 20 years in prison instead of 40.

Linn explained to the court that he had gotten "riled up" after watching Fox News.

"And I was more sad when Judge [Jack] Zouhary asked him that, 'Do you know any Muslims or do you know what Islam is?'" one mosque member who attended the hearing recalled to WNWO. "And he said, 'No, I only know what I hear on Fox News and what I hear on radio.'"

"Muslims are killing Americans and trying to blow stuff up," Linn also reportedly told the judge. "Most Muslims are terrorists and don't believe in Jesus Christ."

Linn claimed that he had consumed 45 beers in the 6 hours before leaving his Indiana home to set fire to the mosque, which he had discovered while working as a truck driver.

After his arrest on Oct. 2, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ava Dusten said that Linn had told officers, "Fuck those Muslims... They would kill us if they got the chance."

Linn is due back in court on April 16, 2013 for a formal sentencing.

A survey released by Fairleigh Dickinson University earlier this year determined that Fox News viewers were actually less informed that Americans who watched no news at all. In fact, at least seven studies in recent years have confirmed that Fox News viewers are more likely to be misinformed than other Americans.

(h/t: News Corpse)

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Friday refused to condemn Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) suggestion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, had infiltrated the U.S. government on behalf of radical Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) accused Bachmann and four other Republican lawmakers of “specious and degrading attacks” after they called on inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments to investigate “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of the Obama administration by Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

McCain was just the first in a series of Republicans -- including House Speaker John Boehner, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and former Bachmann campaign manager Ed Rollins -- who spoke up to condemn the anti-Muslim accusations.

Although Cantor had recently said his party needed to be more tolerant of LGBT people and Muslims, he seemed on Friday to legitimize Bachmann's call for an investigation.

"If you read some of the reports that have covered this story, I think that her concern was about the security of the country," the Virginia Republican insisted to CBS host Charlie Rose. "So, that's about all I know."

In an interview with BuzzFeed last week, Cantor called on Republicans for an "acceptance of diversity."

"I’ve always said we need to be a party of inclusion not exclusion," Cantor explained. "We need to be promoting tolerance and, you know, as someone who is a religious minority, I sort of grew up with having that mindset, knowing full well that I am in a very distinct way from a religious background, separate and apart from the mainstream of this country."

He added that it was "absolutely wrong to stereotype or look badly at anyone because of their religion."

(h/t: Think Progress)

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Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert on Tuesday lashed out at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and other Republican "numbnuts" who have criticized Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) for suggesting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, had infiltrated the U.S. government on behalf of radical Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week, McCain accused Bachmann, Gohmert and three other Republican lawmakers of "specious and degrading attacks" after they called on inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments to investigate “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of the Obama administration by Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

Other Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and former Bachmann campaign manager Ed Rollins have also condemned the anti-Muslim accusations.

"Well, it’s obvious that John McCain didn’t even read the letter because of what he said in accusing Michele and us of making these horrible accusations," Gohmert told conservative radio host Dennis Miller on Tuesday.

"And I wish some of these numbnuts would go out and read the letter before they make these horrible allegations about the horrible accusations we’re making."

He added: "But we also know that John McCain himself had said back in the early stages of stuff going on in Egypt that he was, in his words, 'unalterably opposed to helping the Muslim Brotherhood.' Well, obviously the unalterable person has been altered, so he is OK with it now."

Last week, Gohmert told U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that his suggestion that Homeland Security Advisory Council member Mohamed Elibiary was working for the Muslim Brotherhood had nothing to do with the fact that he is a Muslim.

“The allegations are not because he is Muslim,” Gohmert insisted at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “You’ve followed me around the world, you’ve seen me huggin Muslims around the world, because the ones I hug are our friends, and this administration seems to have a hard time recognizing members of terrorist groups who are allowed into the White House."

"Numbnuts" is derogatory slang term that mostly likely originated in the U.S. military. It is often used to to describe an ignorant person, but it can also imply cowardice, sterility or impotence.

Better late than never but it appears Michele Bachmann's over the top fearmongering is losing her some more friends on the right. Last week it was House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers. Now we've got her fellow Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner pushing back at her nonsense as well.

Conservative Congressman Blasts Bachmann’s Anti-Muslim Allegations, Stands Up For Religious Liberty:

One of the most conservative congressmen in the country stepped up to defend Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and the rights of all Muslim-Americans yesterday against Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) spurious accusations that she is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, calling them “the wrong thing to do.”

During a town hall held by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) on Sunday, a constituent lauded Bachmann’s anti-Muslim witchhunt about a supposed Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the U.S. government and called on her congressman to support her efforts. Sensenbrenner instead used the opportunity not only to defend Abedin, but to advocate for the larger notion of religious pluralism in America and a separation between church and state.

The longtime Republican congressman went on to praise the Constitution’s ban on religious tests to hold office, saying Thomas Jefferson’s vision “was right.” When the constituent responded with bigoted accusations about Islam, Sensenbrenner countered: “Religion is a personal issue to every one of the people who lives in the United States…And that has been one of the most cherished freedoms that this country has had since it’s beginning”:

SENSENBRENNER: Let me say that I do know Huma Abedin and I think that the comments that were made about her in that letter, whether or not they were taken out of context, were the wrong thing to do… I think the Constitution in saying that there shall never be a religious test for any office of trust and profit under the United States meant that people should not be judged on the basis of their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs. That was Thomas Jefferson that put that in the Constitution — I think he was right.

CONSTITUENT: I think that there’s a political ideology that’s a concern in Islam that is concerning and that should be looked at and we should know that this person is not a threat…

SENSENBRENNER: Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, the First Amendment prohibits the government from making a distinction between what is “good religion” and what is “bad religion.” That’s none of the government’s business. Religion is a personal issue to every one of the people who lives in the United States, whether you practice a faith, how you practice a faith, whether you don’t practice a faith, whether you say you’re a member of a faith but don’t practice it, it’s none of the government’s business. And this is the whole issue of religious freedom. And that has been one of the most cherished freedoms that this country has had since it’s beginning.

Read on...

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House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday refused to consider removing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) from the House Intelligence Committee even though he said it was "pretty dangerous" for her to accuse Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, of infiltrating the U.S. government on behalf of radical Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week, the St. Cloud Times reported the Bachmann and four other Republicans sent a letter to inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments calling on them to investigate “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of the Obama administration by Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Their accusations were based on a report by Frank Gaffney’s neoconservative Center for Security Policy.

During a press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Boehner if it was appropriate for a member of the House Intelligence Committee to make these types of unfounded accusations.

"I haven’t seen the letter, but — I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character," Boehner pointed out. "And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous."

"Would you consider taking her off the Intelligence Committee? Congresswoman Bachmann?" the reporter pressed.

"I don’t know that that’s related at all," the Speaker replied.

On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also blasted Bachmann and the four other Republican lawmakers for their “specious and degrading attacks” on Abedin.

“The allegations about Huma Abedin 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 Arizona senator said. “These attacks have no logic, no basis and no merit. And they need to stop. They need to stop now.”

“When anyone — not least, a member of Congress — launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation and we all grow poorer because of it,” he added.

The Minnesota congresswoman found herself fleeing from CNN cameras later that day as Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash tried to get her respond to McCain's comments.

“The good news is I can walk pretty fast in heels,” Bash told CNN host Anderson Cooper. “The bad news is Michele Bachmann can walk just as fast. And she proved to be pretty adept at not only avoiding my questions, but talking enough that I could barely get any questions out.”

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(h/t: Think Progress)

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Arizona Sen. John McCain took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to call out a fellow Republican lawmaker for "specious and degrading attacks" which allege that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff had infiltrated the U.S. government on behalf of radical Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week, the St. Cloud Times reported the Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and four other Republicans had called on inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice Departments to investigate "potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration" of the Obama administration by Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

"It has been alleged that Huma Abedin, a Muslim American, is part of a nefarious conspiracy to harm the United States," McCain explained on Wednesday, noting that the accusations were based on an "unsubstantiated" report by Frank Gaffney's neoconservative Center for Security Policy.

"The allegations about Huma Abedin 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 Arizona senator continued. "These attacks have no logic, no basis and no merit. And they need to stop. They need to stop now."

"When anyone -- not least, a member of Congress -- launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation and we all grow poorer because of it," he added.