Bill Moyers: The Ghost of Joe McCarthy in Today's Republican Party

[kpete]

Bill Moyers: The Ghost of Joe McCarthy in Today's Republican Party
Tea Party favorite Allen West was asked at a local gathering how many of his fellow members of Congress are “card-carrying Marxists or International Socialists.”
April 26, 2012 |
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Photo Credit: National Archives



We’ve talked at times about George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, and the amnesia that sets in when we flush events down the memory hole, leaving us at the mercy of only what we know today. Sometimes, though, the past comes back to haunt, like a ghost. It happened recently when we saw Congressman Allen West of Florida on the news.

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By now, little of what Allen West says ever surprises. He has called President Obama “a low level Socialist agitator,” said anyone with an Obama bumper sticker on their car is “a threat to the gene pool” and told liberals like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to “get the hell out of the United States of America.” Apparently, he gets his talking points from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, or the discredited right wing rocker Ted Nugent.

But this time, we shook our heads in disbelief: “78 to 81 Democrats… members of the Communist Party?” That’s the moment the memory hole opened up and a ghost slithered into the room. The specter stood there, watching the screen, a snickering smile on its stubbled face. Sure enough, it was the ghost of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin farm boy who grew up to become one of the most contemptible thugs in American politics.

MORE:
http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/155169/bill_moyers%3A_the_ghost_of_joe_mccarthy_in_today%27s_republican_party_/

[gordianot]

1. Compared to my State Senator Brian Nieves R Missouri, McCarthy was a moderate.

Just calling someone a Communist would be a come down for Brian. Brian is potentially violent bullies constituents, has had Capital Police called on his behavior, wrote legislation to exempt Missouri from Federal law (essentially secessionist) and openly expresses sympathy for right wing militias.

Just google his name or see link: http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2011/06/07/brian-nieves-keeps-bringing-the-crazy-to-missouri-politics

[Lawlbringer]

2. I often wonder how far McCarthy would've gotten

if he was around in this Digital Age.

Soledad O'Brien rubbing Allen West's face "in it" the other day was one of the best things I've ever seen on TV. Like, EVER. But I guess in this day and age, you'll find that our political landscape has shifted so far right, that as a matter of perspective, the super-duper-far right nincompoops like West would see anyone left of him as a Communist (even though today's left is left-center at best)