The New McCarthyism

Some of you may be too young to remember Joe McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin between 1947 and 1957.  He was noted for claiming that certain members of our government were either Communists and Soviet spies or sympathizers.  Ultimately, when most of his claims went unsubstantiated, he was censured by the United States Senate.  The term McCarthyism was used in reference to his practices, in particular anti-communist activities.  Today, there is still disagreement over whether his anti-communist accusations were true.

While Senator McCarthy may have failed in his attempt to convince others of his fear of communists in Congress, he did provide fertile political substance and tactics that would be used in politics (by both Republicans and Democrats) for the next half century.

Lately the term is used in reference to reckless and unsubstantiated claims against the character and/or patriotism of political opponents.  These attacks are usually a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public.  Recent examples of this "New McCarthyism" can be found today in the following situations:

. Suspension of ACORN funding after its abuse of federal funding
. Activities against suspected terrorists, mostly Muslims (following 9/11)
. Collection of emails opposed to Obama Care by the White House
. Bashing corporate travel by banks and Wall Street during the 2008 recession
. Blaming a "climate of hate" for the shooting of Arizona congress woman Gabrielle Giffords

The left has been using New McCarthyism to paint conservatives with a broad brush for some time.  If you can stomach it, watch MSNBC, CNN, HBO, Comedy Central and Saturday Night Live or listen to the left's version of talk radio -- Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, Randy Rhodes and Mike Malloy.  Not a single day goes by when the right isn't wrongly characterized as being misogynistic, homophobic, racist or anti-Semitic.

Not surprising, it has influenced national media outlets like ABC, NBC and CBS.  Taxpayer-supported PBS and NPR have been documented on my blog for having their own bias towards conservatives, including the character assassinations of recent political candidates Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain.

Within the last few days, however, the left has taken its version of McCarthyism to new heights, with its conservative "war on women" campaign, spearheaded by the hypocritical assault against talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh.  I think most of us have heard what happened.  Rush -- in a poorly worded attempt to show absurdity by being absurd -- called Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke "a prostitute and slut."  Rush's description, which was meant to illustrate how we were paying someone to have sex (tax payer support of contraception), was greeted with near universal condemnation.

Went too far?

This week on his national radio program Rush apologized -- in his words he had "sunk to the level of liberals" and that he didn't mean harm to Sandra Fluke.  In typical McCarthyism fashion, the left -- including the aforementioned media, as well as members of Congress -- is calling on advertisers to boycott his show, and for Rush to step down from his hugely popular show.  To date, 12 advertisers have chosen to do so, and a handful of radio stations have dropped his three hour broadcast.  Sandra Fluke has refused to accept his apology, since such action would signal the end of this fabricated controversy.

This is nothing new for Progressives.  The left has been calling for the Fairness Doctrine as a way of silencing political dissent since conservatives began dominating talk radio.  Unfortunately, Rush's outburst has only intensified the left's determination.

In addition to the attacks on Rush is the left's demonizing Catholics as aggressors trampling a woman's "right" to contraceptives.  The whole war on women's rights started as a political strategy to frame the conservative right as a bunch of good 'ol boys who want to take contraceptives away from women.  It was classic politics -- initiated by ABC's George Stephanopoulos when he asked Mitt Romney during a a Republican debate if states had the right to ban contraceptives.  Shortly after, President Obama took to the podium to announce that through Obama Care, contraceptives were going to be made free to all women.  The debate -- and pressure on Catholic institutions to provide them -- came full circle with the testimony of Sandra Fluke.

As I mentioned earlier, the New McCarthyism is an attempt to influence (censor) political behavior by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public.  If you didn't know better, you would think women were losing their ability to buy birth control, much less affordable birth control.  None of which is true.  They may be losing touch with reality, but certainly not their ability to enjoy sex without the threat of unplanned pregnancies.  Which is the main goal of this argument about contraceptives.  The left looks at families -- in particular children -- as a disease.  Abortions are a backup to those who require contraceptives to make it through law school.

On a final note, I'd like to point to the hypocrisy of the left while trying to intimidate the voting public on the matter of Rush and Sandra Fluke.  It was laughable to listen to President Obama's news conference today when some "reporter" asked him what he thought about Rush's "prostitute and slut" comments.

His response:

"I don't know what's in Rush Limbaugh's heart, so I'm not going to comment on the sincerity of his apology.  What I can comment on is the fact that all decent folks can agree that the remarks that were made don't have any place in the public discourse."  He called Fluke he said, "because I thought about Malia and Sasha (his daughters) and one of the things I want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about... and I don't want them attacked or called horrible names because they're being good citizens."

Maher -- see you in hell

The hypocrisy in Obama's response is his avoidance of Bill Maher, who contributed $1 million dollars to Obama's re-election.  Maher, a foul-mouthed little man, well-known militant atheist and one of America's nastiest talk show hosts, is unapologetic about saying the following:

George Bush - "retarded child emperor" and "terrorist's wet dream"
Catholics - "child-abusing religious cult' with a pope that "used to be a Nazi"
Rush Limbaugh - "Why couldn't he have croaked from (Oxycontin) instead of Heath Ledger?" and "Do it (repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell) because it will make Rush Limbaugh explode like a bag of meat dropped from a helicopter.  Do it because it will make Sarah Palin 'go rogue' in her pants."
Glenn Beck - "When we see crazy, senseless deaths like this, we can only ask why, why couldn't it have been Glenn Beck?
Sarah Palin - "Sarah Palin screaming about death panels?  You know what, Sarah, if we were killing off useless people, you'd be the first to know."  He recently called her "a dumb twat" and dropped the C-word in describing the former Alaskan governor.
Michelle Bachmann - "She's not a mean girl.  She's a crazy girl with mean ideas."  He compared Palin and Bachmann to "boobs" and "Two bimbos."

Get the idea?  This man makes his living with this "comedy act", then makes a million dollar donation to Obama.  And the president is silent on the issue, with his hand out, eagerly taking donations for this year's election.

Don't expect the media to ask Obama about calling Bachmann, Palin, Bush or Beck to see if he defended their good citizenship.  Because he didn't.  It's politics as usual for the left and their supporters in the mainstream media.

McCarthyism is alive and well.