Saturday, July 21, 2012

Joe McCarthy in Lipstick


My thing is history and I like to write about it in the sense that empower those who either don't know it or believe what is recorded in what I call “His-Story”. As we witness the “silly season” of politics I find myself having an opinion on what is represented to us. Having been part a group that has historically been discriminated I know and understand that Freedom of speech is the most precious right we have as Americans. However, there are people on the “right” who produce such vitriol that it is so extreme that it falls into the category of “insane”.

We know much of what the so-called Real American’s say about the president is grossly untrue but it is not exclusive to the president. They will do this to anyone they believe do not agree with their agenda and we know that agenda is very harmful and dangerous to the least of thee.
Some of the comments made by these folks harkens back to a time when “Jim Crowe was the law of the land. I can remember what they call the good old days and those days were not that good. Now, some of the speech out there, by this group comes very close to the era of Senator Joe McCarthy’s witch hunt in the 1950’s that ruined so many people wrongly.  

The comments by  recently, for example, remind me of that sad time in the country’s history. He most recent were so extreme and dangerous that even her follow republicans feel the same way – if not to say nearing insane. He former campaign manager has joined the bipartisan chorus criticizing the Minnesota Republican for alleging that a State Department aid has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. Ed Rollins said, “There is little that amazes me and even less that shocks me. I have to say that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s outrageous and false charges against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin reaches that threshold… Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest”.

Her former campaign manager went further to demand that Bachmann apologize for the letter, which was signed by four other GOP lawmakers. He went on to say “Having worked for Congressman Bachman’s campaign for president I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level”.

For those who don’t know who McCarthy is; Joe McCarthy falsely made claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies inside the State Department in the early 1950’s to which the Senate voted to "condemn" McCarthy on two counts. Bachmann’s unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme, dishonest, and rises to that level. 

Fellow Republicans like Senator John McCain, an American hero, stood on the floor of the Senate Wednesday and condemned Bachmann, if not by name then by her actions:

“These allegations about Huma and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant… Shame on you, Michele! You should stand on the floor of the House and apologize to Huma Abedin and to Secretary Clinton and to the millions of hard working, loyal, Muslim Americans for your wild and unsubstantiated charges. As a devoted Christian, you need to ask forgiveness for this grievous lack of judgment and reckless behavior.”

Senators in her own party, congressional candidates, a lawmaker in her state’s delegation and leaders of the House Republican Conference are all lambasting Bachmann for saying this woman has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Speaker John Boehner said, “I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character… And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”

Bachmann’s accusation came in a handful of letters to intelligence and national security agencies raising questions about the Muslim Brotherhood to which four other Republicans signed accusing her late father of having ties to the Brotherhood. Sen. Scott Brown added: “Rep. Bachmann’s accusations about Sec. Clinton aide Huma Abedin are out-of-line. This kind of rhetoric has no place in our public discourse.”

Bachmann elaborated during an interview Thursday with conservative radio host Glenn Beck; “She is the chief aide … to the Secretary of State,” Bachmann said of Abedin. “And we quoted from the document, and this has been well reported all across Arab media, that her father, her late father who is now deceased was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, her brother was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, and her mother was part of what’s called the Muslim Sisterhood.”

Former New Jersey GOP Gov. Christine Todd Whitman wrote in POLITICO’s Arena, that “the sort of unfounded attack unleashed by Congresswoman Bachmann and her [colleagues] brings back painful memories of a low point in our history.”

Former Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a recently retired Florida Republican, said “Michele means well but she sometimes doesn’t let proven facts get in the way of a possibility of having national television coverage.” Brown-Waite added, “Michele would be better served by having competent staff to check out these accusations before she goes out there sometimes appearing to be a ‘bomb thrower,’”
In making statements like this and others she remains a top House fundraiser, bringing in $1.8 million in the second quarter, bringing the total in her campaign account to $1.72 million. At this point in the previous cycle, she had $2.4 million on hand.

This behavior is like going back to the future (meaning reliving America’s dreadful past). The problem here is lies to support bigotry causes more harm than good and as it appears with the actions to suppress the vote or the twenty first century “Pole Tax”. What next – public lynching’s of minorities? And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

Legacy – A New Season the sequel is now available on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HJRPE0

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