At CIA headquarters in Virginia today, Rep. Michele Bachmann viewed photos of the late Osama bin Laden who was killed in a U.S. military raid in Pakistan and confirmed his identity. “I am convinced that this was Bin Laden,” she said, according to the Star Tribune. “We got our man.”

A member of the House Intelligence Committee, Bachmann is among a small number of legislators who got a chance to see the documentation.

“While these photos provide certainty of bin Laden’s identity,” the Sixth District Republican said, “I also believe the best evidence of bin Laden’s identity is found through the release of the terrorist’s DNA match.”

She reiterated the point in a tweet an hour ago:

Because of his role on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. John Kline was also invited, but declined.

“I have absolute confidence that he is dead, and looking at the picture doesn’t make him any deader,” Kline said, in a report by the Strib’s Kevin Diaz.

President Barack Obama has decided not to release the photos publicly, a move backed by a majority of Americans, according to a recent NBC poll.

Calling Osama bin Laden a “truly evil man,” Rep. Keith Ellison commended the U.S. military, American intelligence officers and President Obama for the raid yesterday that killed the al Qaeda leader. Meanwhile, Muslim groups locally and nationally also applauded the military raid.

Like his congressional counterparts, Ellison called Sunday’s mission “the most significant accomplishment yet in the war against Al-Qaeda.”

“I commend the work of the U.S. Armed Forces and intelligence community for finding the world’s most wanted terrorist. I also wish to recognize President Obama for his decisive leadership as Commander in Chief,” he wrote in a statement released Monday afternoon. “Today my thoughts are with the families of those Bin Laden murdered in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Even before 9/11, Bin Laden killed Americans and others at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and on the USS Cole.”

“Americans of all faiths recognized the end of a truly evil man last night,” Ellison, Congress’ first Muslim member, added. “Osama Bin Laden was a murderer. I hope his death marks the beginning of the end of the Al-Qaedaism ideology.”

The Minnesota office of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sent out the national group’s statement to the media today, as well:

We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world through the actions of American military personnel. As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide. We also reiterate President Obama’s clear statement tonight that the United States is not at war with Islam.

Nationally, Muslim groups expressed relief over the success of the mission and extended sympathies to the victims of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks.

“We hope this is a turning point away from the dark period of the last decade, in which bin Laden symbolized the evil face of global terrorism,” said Muslim Public Affairs Council President Salam Al-Marayati. “His actions and those of Al-Qaeda have violated the sacred Islamic teachings upholding the sanctity of all human life. His acts of senseless terror have been met with moral outrage by Muslims worldwide at every turn in the past decade.”

Sharing its “great relief,” Muslims for Progressive Values wrote:

…Osama Bin Laden has singularly disgraced Islam and dragged our faith through the mud with his promotion of terrorism throughout the world from Indonesia, the Middle East, Africa and here in the United States

MPV applauds the resolve and dedication of President Obama in pursuing Osama Bin Laden. As Muslims, we hope this will forever quench the flame of terrorism and that with the rise of democracy throughout the Middle East we can all finally begin to heal. Our condolences continue to go out to the families of those who perished on September 11, 2001 as well as all the victims of terrorism committed in the name of Al Qaeda throughout the world.

Likewise, the Islamic Society of North America shared similar sentiments. ISNA President Imam Magid said in a statement:

ISNA joins President Obama and prays that as the nation continues to heal from the devastation inflicted upon them at the hands of Bin Laden, we will turn to each other today, united, and emerge tomorrow with an even stronger resolve to take every action necessary to protect the precious ideals of our nation that Bin Laden attempted to destroy on 9/11: peace, tolerance, respect, and freedom for all.

During his address Sunday night, Obama underscored that America’s war on terror isn’t a war against Islam.

“I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims,” he said. “Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”

“The problem when you do something late in the campaign is that you lose the believability,” Rollins said. “Unless it’s something totally outside any control of the campaign, I just don’t see it changing… People are now getting more comfortable with the idea that Barack Obama is going to be the next president, so I think some of these swing voters in the end fall into play as wanting to be with the winner, and I think that’s tough for McCain.”

I wonder: is there a parallel with Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign? While he’s faring far better than McCain in the polls, today’s announcement that his campaign would be suing Al Franken for breaking campaign laws seems to suggest a similar 11th-hour strategy. This is the fourth complaint filed against a Coleman challenger late in the election season. Will it work? Ask Ed Rollins.

Strib to nix AP deal: MinnPost’s David Brauer writes that the Star Tribune has filed the requisite two-year notice to cancel its syndication agreement with the Associated Press. But who will provide all that delightful filler? Meanwhile, City Pages reblogs that the Pioneer Press is devoting 15 reporters to the RNC, while the Strib is sending twice that — and shelling out “$25,000 for equipment, telecom services, and food for those stationed inside the Xcel Center.”

Fox drops the act: A recent Fox News onscreen graphic recently read: “OBAMA BIDEN… OSAMA BIN LADEN… COINCIDENCE?”

Make an effort – Limo” :30

“Make an effort – Park” :30

“Make an effort – Pin” :30

The hyperventilating on the right was perplexing to those of us who long ago figured out that bin Laden was a kook, no more stable than Ted Kaczynski  or Tim McVeigh, just possessing more money and followers.  So bin Laden spouted some stuff from author and political activist Noam Chomsky?  Bully.  That doesn’t validate or invalidate Chomsky, any more than bin Laden’s support of a flat tax makes Steve Forbes look more right or wrong.  Osama bin Laden, like so many other pathetic thugs before him, was able to inflict a lot of damage despite having the political acumen of your average schizophrenic. 

Read moreBut the right’s wholehearted and panicky embrace of bin Laden’s words are understandable if one realizes that the most noteworthy thing about his statement was that it was given at all.  After all, tomorrow it will be six years since bin Laden’s followers murdered 3,000 people on American soil, and bin Laden himself is not only still breathing, he’s still free to issue his proclamations.

Frankly, I don’t care what Osama bin Laden wants or what he says.  I don’t know if he’s trying to head-fake us into staying in Iraq or if he seriously agrees with George W. Bush that it’s the central front in the war on terror.  And I don’t need to know.  If Osama bin Laden tells me to avoid older bridges in Minnesota, I’m not going to drive over a bunch of them just to spite him.  And if he tells me that the bridges are totally safe, I’m not going to avoid them.  What Osama wants is not relevant to me — because frankly, giving Osama a vote in what I do says that Osama bin Laden earned a vote with the murder of 3,000 of my fellow Americans, and I’ll be damned if I give him a vote.

No, bin Laden’s just the same nutball he’s always been, hiding in a cave somewhere in Pakistan, evidently dyeing his beard with shoe polish and putting together bizarre rants that wouldn’t fly in a late-night bull session with a bunch of stoned freshmen.  He deserves many things — to be captured, to be tried, and to be executed for mass murder.  But he doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously.  Every second we spend debating the meaning of bin Laden’s message is a second we spend doing exactly what he wants us to do.  And I’ll be damned if I give him that.

Conservative blogs generally took bin Laden’s statement as endorsing liberal ideals.  John Hinderaker at Power Line opined that he is “starting to think bin Laden is a regular poster on the Daily Kos.”  He added, “Presumably the American liberals who share so many of bin Laden’s beliefs don’t intend to convert. Sometimes I wonder, though, what their alternative is.”

Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs was more explicit, saying, “September 11th is a day of celebration for Islam and  Bin Laden mocking sounds eerily like the Democrat [sic] party platform. Invoking Chomsky and Scheuer,  leftists icon [sic] all.”

And Hugh Hewitt stated flatly that “bin Laden thought the Democrats were to be his partners in creating the world he wants to live in.”

Some conservative bloggers were too busy reacting in fear to worry about bin Laden’s politics, whatever they may be.  Reliapundit at The Astute Bloggers, meanwhile, focused on bin Laden’s reference to Hiroshima, saying, “I DON’T THINK HE BRINGS UP HIROSHIMA TO PROVE WHEN HE MADE THE TAPE. I THINK IT’S A NUCLEAR THREAT. I THINK HE’S SAYING THAT SINCE WE USED THEM ON OTHERS, IT’S OKAY IF HE USES THEM ON US.  [Caps in original.]“ 

In contrast to conservatives, most liberal bloggers were reacting with derision.  Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo ridiculed bin Laden, saying, “as an articulator of a vision, an expounder of ‘Islamofascism,’ or whatever the new trademarked word is now, he’s about as coherent and comprehensible as a 9th tier blogger or one of those whacks sitting on a stoop in Union Square talking about fascism and Texas oil barons before they get overcome by the shakes or decide to start collecting more aluminum cans.”

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon noted bin Laden’s championing of a 2.5 percent tax, and snarked, “So Steve Forbes isn’t off the hook, either.”

Writing at Daily Kos, L.C. Johnson said the tape was “meaningless,” because “the United States, and the Bush Administration in particular, is not serious about finding and eliminating Bin Laden.”

Mustang Bobby of Shakesville agreed, saying, “Sometimes I think al-Qaeda does it just to get a giggle out of how easily Homeland Security gets all twitterpated; it’s like playing with a cat with a laser pointer. And since the Bush administration has lost all interest in hunting down the guy who masterminded the attacks, they have every reason to to think they can get away with it.”

Finally, conservative Iraq war opponent Andrew Sullivan  reacted to bin Laden with mockery.  Posting on his Daily Dish blog, Sullivan gave bin Laden beard care tips.  Noting that bin Laden’s beard appears to have been dyed, Sullivan said, “Pick a color close to your own – dark brown or black, I’d say, in your case (95 – 100 on the JFM scale) – and dab just a little, just to take the edge off, no more. If in doubt, use less. If you fade it in slowly and gently over time, most people won’t notice. But be careful or one lazy dye-job will be with you for weeks. Leave Just For Mullahs on for three minutes max and then rush to the shower or waterfall or whatever you’re using at the moment. Presto. Your next video can blend back toward the whole 2004 look. It’s a shame you blew it, of course, with the latest disaster. But image is reparable.  Look at Hillary. With time, there’s hope.”