Edit: Simpson Takes On McCarthyism

Mike Simpson isn’t the first fellow Republican in Congress to blast Rep. Michele Bachmann — who has suggested Muslim extremists have inflitrated the U.S. government. House Speaker John Boehner has called Bachmann’s accusations “pretty dangerous.” Sen. John McCain said the attacks were “specious and degrading.” But the 2nd Congressional District lawmaker’s candid comments still deserve applause. “I thought it was outrageous,” Simpson told the Statesman editorial board Friday. “We don’t need to go back to those days. I thought we’d learned our lesson when (Wisconsin Sen. Joseph) McCarthy finally went down.” Bachmann, not too many months removed from her brief time as a trendy presidential candidate, managed to make it back into the national headlines with an escapade deserving of the McCarthyesque label/ Kevin Richert , Idaho Statesman. More here.