Even though she raised $1 million in the last month, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has decided she must address the fury over her allegations that radical Islamic groups are penetrating the top policy-making echelons of the Obama administration. In her first full-throttled mainstream media response to the firestorm she's encountered in both parties, the Minnesota Republican penned an op-ed in the Star Tribune today under the headline "Beware of Radical Islam." Underscoring the likelihood that the contretemps will shadow her 6th District congressional race, her DFL opponent Jim Graves posted a two-minute video today explicitly connecting Bachmann to the 1950s anti-communist crusader Joe McCarthy. In her piece, Bachmann calls the "panic-stricken reaction" to her request for multiple a government investigations "an illustration of exactly how unwary many of our leaders are here in the United States." She quotes former British Prime Minister Tony Blair saying "the West is asleep on the issue of Islamist extremism," and concludes "It is my duty as a member of Congress to ask why the Obama administration has repeatedly undermined America's national security and bows to political correctness on issues related to radical Islam." Bachmann's piece makes no mention of the Muslim Brotherhood ties she alleges against Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison, personal attacks which have been the central elements of the controversy. The Graves campaign emphasizes the personal nature of the attacks in this video, which is too long for TV:

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