I'D BE HAPPIER IF BILLY CUNNINGHAM

was on the fringe of the conservative movement but he isn't. Last Sunday, he had virulently anti-Muslim author Dave Gaubatz on his show. This is the fellow who wrote Muslim Mafia, a paranoid fantasy about Muslims infiltrating Congress. The real problem is not this nut, it's that he's taken seriously by the GOP:

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) wrote the foreword to Muslim Mafia, which came out last month. And she is the leader of a group of four House Republicans -- including Myrick, John Shadegg (AZ), Paul Broun (GA), and Trent Franks (AZ) -- pursuing the book's claims of Muslim intern "spying" on Capitol Hill.

Just last week the Denver Post published an op-ed by former congressman Tom Tancredo outlining the supposed revelations in Gaubatz's book.