Michele Bachmann has fully established what can happen when stupid people acquire power: they become dangerous.

In what can only be perceived as a desperate move to remain relevant during an election year (or perhaps just a case of complete insanity), Bachmann has joined four other Republican House members who clearly have no other pressing matters in a crusade to reveal the covert Muslim Brotherhood threat deep within our own government.

Bachmann, along with Florida Rep. Tom Rooney, Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Arizona Rep. Trent Franks and Texas Rep. Louis Gohmert, have voiced their concern in letters to the inspectors general in the State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the Office of National Intelligence.

Strangely, the quintet of stupidity did not cc the FBI or CIA on their mass mailing of crazy. The reason why may be because Bachmann has as much evidence to back her claims this time around as she did when she declared the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation.

The most public figure singled out in Bachmann’s attack has been top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin.

According to Bachmann, Abedin’s father, Professor Syed Z. Abedin (who has been dead for nearly twenty years), founded an organization that received funds from a former director of the Muslim World League that had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe from the 1970s through the 90s.

Abedin now has a security detail after receiving threats since Bachmann’s allegation of the top aide’s connection to the Muslim Brotherhood.

When Democratic lawmaker Keith Ellison called out Bachmann for attacking Abedin in such a public manner without any evidence, Bachmann, in true McCarthy fashion, alleged Ellison himself may have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. On Glenn Beck’s radio show (seriously, what better forum?), Bachmann claimed Ellison “has a long record of being associated with (the council on American-Islamic relations) and with the Muslim Brotherhood.” Ellison denied the ridiculous allegation.

Ellison is not alone in his concerns. Bachmann’s former presidential campaign chief, Ed Rollins wrote:

“I have to say that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s outrageous and false charges against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, reaches that threshold. Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest.

Having worked for Congressman Bachmann’s campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level.”

Republican House Speaker John Boehner also commented on the situation, saying Abedin  “has a sterling character.  And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”

Senator John McCain spoke on the Senate floor in defense of Abedin, while displaying common sense the Republican Party is capable of when it’s not run by Tea Party-favored candidates like Bachmann.

As mentioned by McCain, the report used by Bachmann, titled “The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within,” comes from a group called the Center of Security Policy, founded and operated by a man named Frank Gaffney Jr. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified Gaffney as “the anti-Muslim movement’s most paranoid propagandist.”

The Anti-Defamation League, in a report on the anti-Sharia movement, wrote:

Gaffney has been active in opposing mosque construction and has made several statements about Islam that raise concerns. For example, in a 2009 article in the Washington Times, Gaffney claimed that “there is mounting evidence that the President not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself.”

In addition to attacking Muslims working in our government, it also appears this circus may serve to harm the reputation of the current administration.

After hearing the complete insanity of Bachmann’s unsubstantiated allegations and the background of the source material, who would continue to support such an investigation?

Mitt Romney’s foreign policy advisor, John Bolton appeared on Gaffney’s radio show (the home of unbiased opinion on this issue) earlier this week, saying:

“What I think these members of Congress have done is simply raise the question, to a variety of inspectors general in key agencies, are your departments following their own security clearance guidelines, are they adhering to the standards that presumably everybody who seeks a security clearance should have to go through, are they making special exemptions? What is wrong with raising the question? Why is even asking whether we are living up to our standards a legitimate area of congressional oversight, why has that generated this criticism? I’m just mystified by it.”

As Bachmann and four other Republican representatives continue to waste taxpayer dollars and time on a fictional plot that would have been thrown out of the 24 writer’s room, American citizens continue to demand legislation towards jobs and the economy.

In her quest to stay in the public eye, Representative Bachmann may have lost sight of one of life’s most important lessons. Those that don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.