If this hit piece (screen shot below) from Tucker Carlson's rag is any indication of the zeitgeist among Washington Republican insiders, then the GOP political establishment is completely flipping out about Michele Bachmann's surge.

Sources who spoke to The Daily Caller said they did so because they are terrified about the impact the condition could have on Bachmann’s performance if she actually became president. They also worry that the issue could blow up in the general election campaign, giving President Obama an easy path to re-election. [...] TheDC agreed to provide the sources anonymity because they were providing information only a select group of people could know, at great professional risk.

According to the "report," Michele Bachmann's "stress-related condition" is that she's a migraine sufferer, and her "heavy pill use" is taking medication to combat the ill-effects of migraines. This, the publication suggests, makes her unqualified for the presidency. And they think it's such an important story that they told it without using a single named source:

If that doesn't fit the textbook definition of a political smear, then I don't know what does. A couple of people go off-the-record to say she has migraines and suddenly it's a huge scandal proving she's not qualified to be president? Are you kidding me?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this to defend Michele Bachmann. Lord knows, she's repellant. But Republicans must really be afraid Markos was right, otherwise they wouldn't be going after her like this.