"Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?

[Stern21]

The republican's haven't changed their M.O.

McCarthy, McCain still use the issues of fear and obedience to party to quell dissent and questions.

Today, it's sexist to ask Palin any questions or question her qualifications.

Tomorrow, it's treasonous to question their decisions.

Today is the day we need to make a difference. Or, we will die as a country.

Step up and make a difference.

[Kutjara]

1. It used to be that protesting the government made you a communist.

Today, it makes you a terrorist.

The end result is the same.

[RNdaSilva]

2. McCarthyism, not many here were probably around in that era.

Scary!

This is a very serious issue. Rove is the incarnation of McCarthy. Bush, Cheney and Palin his pawns, puppets.

[liberal N proud]

3. And they are not getting things like McCarthyism in school these days

Schools don't teach history like they used to.

[Benhurst]

6. or civics ...

or geography ...

or ... .

[Stern21]

5. You are too spot on.

It IS scary. Things have gotten crazy in the last eight years.

[RNdaSilva]

14. "McCarthy, have you, at long last, no sense of decency?"

"Have you no shame sir, have you no shame?

Applicable to Rove, Bush and McCain.

McCarthy never had a sense of decency. Gray matter-wise, about equivalent to Palin.

[RC]

16. Ahhh..., Cheney is no puppet.

Rove and Cheney have a problem working together. Not only different view points on what needs to be done and how to do things, but there is also the problem of not enough room for both their egos to fit in the same stadium at the same time.

[denem]

4. I plead the first amendment .

to be followed by the second ;)

[katmondoo]

7. I was around in the McCarthy era

and I have been thinking since Palin came on the scene (even before) how much the same it feels. America has become a scary place.

[Stern21]

8. I feel that we are reliving a replay.

Things are scary. Especially in the fact that there are so many "morans" buying into it.

But that's a different thread.

[coalition_unwilling]

13. Where's Joseph Welch? He or

his like is sorely needed.

Ah well, I shall start:

"Senator McCain and Governor Palin, have you no decency? Have you no shame?"

[Stern21]

15. Sweet. I'd love to hear that one, n/t

[tomg]

9. HUAAC was finally broken

as a force when people simply started calling them on their bullshit. Murrow started the end of McCarthy, but when Otto Preminger with Exodus and Kirk Douglas with Spartacus simply ( oh, and courageously - sometimes they go together) stood up for Dalton Trumbo, and other followed, that was the end of the blacklist.

Finally, when asked the question "are you now or have you ever been a communist," people in the New Left just laughed at the question.It was never illegal. I think, I could be wrong, Hoffman when asked said no but wanted to explain that it was because communists didn't have a sense of humor. It was never about being a communist. It was always about naming names, about getting people to buckle out of fear. They simply wanted to show others they could do it. Same as the terror list. Get people to break solidarity with each other.

Obama is already at the laugh at them stage: "I've been called worse things on a basketball court." A polite equivalent of "fuck them and their bullshit. Assholes. We have some serious shit to do. Out of the way"

[Stern21]

11. Soviet Spy Ring Revealed at Hollywood Red Inquiry...

is an actual headline from those years in the LA Times.

[FlaDem83]

10. It is frightening and disheartening.

I think the founding fathers would be gravely disappointed by what the republic has become.

[No Elephants]

12. Seems as though questioning their decisions has been treasonous for a good

while. Choose to lose a war in order to win an election? Sounds like treason to me. Real Americans don't criticize the CIC during war time? Etc.