Republicans Claiming Muslim Intern Spies at White House

North Carolina Rep. Susan Myrick is making these accusations, along with Trent Franks and others. They're calling for a federal probe into CAIR, a Muslim civil rights group.
Apparently, Myrick is helping to promote a new book called Muslim Mafia, that's concerned about the "Islamizing" of America. Read the forward Myrick wrote for the book here. I'm going to look into this further. A terrorist intern would be a mighty fine way for terrorists to make inroads in federal government.

But a terrorist and a Muslim are two different things. I'm betting Myrick is mostly smearing Islam as a religion. Conservatives believe Islam is bad. If Myrick had respect for Muslims she'd be speaking in a more mature manner.

It also fits into the wingnut/birther conspiracy that Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist, who hates Christmas trees and is masterminding the makeover of the U.S. into a Muslim nation. I'm certain that this is what Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity believe. Not sure about Limbaugh.

The fact that this story is being heavily promoted on the incredibly slanted and biased Fox News, Human Events and in World Net Daily, the equivalent of Weekly World News (the paper that likes to put aliens on the cover), suggests that it's likely more wingnuttery.

Read CAIR's response to Myrick here. Myrick talks about the FBI severing CAIR ties. Read about that here.

Gibbs says he hasn't heard anything:

Friedman: Rightwing Putting Obama's Life in Danger

I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing.

I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995. We had a beer in his office. He needed one. I remember the ugly mood in Israel then — a mood in which extreme right-wing settlers and politicians were doing all they could to delegitimize Rabin, who was committed to trading land for peace as part of the Oslo accords. They questioned his authority. They accused him of treason. They created pictures depicting him as a Nazi SS officer, and they shouted death threats at rallies. His political opponents winked at it all.

And in so doing they created a poisonous political environment that was interpreted by one right-wing Jewish settler as a license to kill Rabin — he must have heard, “God will be on your side” — and so he did.

Others have already remarked on this analogy, but I want to add my voice because the parallels to Israel then and America today turn my stomach: I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination.
....
And Mr. Obama is now having his legitimacy attacked by a concerted campaign from the right fringe. They are using everything from smears that he is a closet “socialist” to calling him a “liar” in the middle of a joint session of Congress to fabricating doubts about his birth in America and whether he is even a citizen. And these attacks are not just coming from the fringe. Now they come from Lou Dobbs on CNN and from members of the House of Representatives.

Again, hack away at the man’s policies and even his character all you want. I know politics is a tough business. But if we destroy the legitimacy of another president to lead or to pull the country together for what most Americans want most right now — nation-building at home — we are in serious trouble. We can’t go 24 years without a legitimate president — not without being swamped by the problems that we will end up postponing because we can’t address them rationally. NYT

Obama's Pre Super Bowl Interview

Update: See the interview with Matt Lauer here. 

If you haven't already heard, Obama's rooting for the Steelers.
Before the game, Matt Lauer will interview Obama live: 

NBC News' Matt Lauer before the game. (This would be the TV network delivering the game in all its 6 pm EST kickoff glory.)

Obama's Super Bowl party partial guest list:

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)

Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Congressman Artur Davis (D-AL)

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA)

Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ)

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC)

Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA)

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI)

John McCain was invited but said he'll be watching with his family.