[scottw]

Originally Posted by PaulS

The Repubs. have a long history of this. I bet she has West on her speed dial. Another good one is to claim someone hates the Constituion. As someone mentioned, McCarthyism as its best. Other than John M., I haven't heard any Rs denouncing her. It prob. helped out the re-elect. bank acct.

....

something tells me Paul that if Jim had made a generalized statement like this you'd have suggested that he is full of hate and out of line for suggesting that a party or certain people had a long history of anything in addition to the other suggestions.....we can make a list if you'd like, of insulting, offensive claims or things that were construed as offensive by members of congress from both sides and compare the reaction of their fellow congress people and it might paint a far different picture than what you've suggested. as for McCarthyism, while it's an easy word for some to remember and toss about(an endless supply of ism's) whenever it is convenient, it's little more than one of the many pejoratives that some keep close at hand and throw out in self satisfied fashion not understanding that they actually have little relevance .....but I guess it sounds good ...if you know anything about FDRism or Woodrow Wilsonism, Mccarthyism might seem tame in comparison

it seems awfully easy for some to simply dismiss anything that disagrees with their own world view and also deride others for behaviour that they find deplorable but yet justify their own similar behaviour as long as it was apparently prompted by others....it's an odd standard but one that we've come to expect

did you know that Mccarthy(ism) was more popular that Obamacare?

In January 1954, a Gallup poll found that 50% of the American public supported McCarthy, while 29% had an unfavorable opinion of the senator.

and it was a bi partisam effort


The overwhelming support provided by the liberals has attracted much attention from historians such as Mary McAuliffe (The Journal of American History). McAuliffe argues that, despite the liberals’ traditional role as the protectors of fundamental rights and civil liberties, the perceived gravity of the threat of Communism during the Cold War led some liberals to ignore the fact that the CCA suspended the citizenship rights of the Communist Party members. Most liberals did not even offer a token opposition to the Act; on the contrary, they ardently supported it.

The Communist Control Act of 1954 was passed with overwhelming support in both houses of Congress after very little debate. Jointly drafted by Republican John Marshall Butler and Democrat Hubert Humphrey, the law was an extension of the Internal Security Act of 1950, and sought to outlaw the Communist Party by declaring that the party, as well as "Communist-Infiltrated Organizations" were "not entitled to any of the rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies.

The House Committee on Un-American Activities - commonly referred to as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) - was the most prominent and active government committee involved in anti-Communist investigations. Formed in 1938 and known as the Dies Committee for Rep. Martin Dies(democrat)

The SISS was headed by Democrat Pat McCarran and gained a reputation for careful and extensive investigations. This committee spent a year investigating Owen Lattimore and other members of the Institute of Pacific Relations. As had been done numerous times before, the collection of scholars and diplomats associated with Lattimore (the so-called China Hands) were accused of "losing China," and while some evidence of pro-communist attitudes was found, there was nothing to support McCarran's accusation that Lattimore was "a conscious and articulate instrument of the Soviet conspiracy".

On June 1, 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican, delivered a speech to the Senate she called a "Declaration of Conscience". In a clear attack upon McCarthyism, she called for an end to "character assassinations" and named "some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought". She said "freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America", and decried "cancerous tentacles of 'know nothing, suspect everything' attitudes".[80] Six other Republican Senators—Wayne Morse, Irving M. Ives, Charles W. Tobey, Edward John Thye, George Aiken, and Robert C. Hendrickson—joined Smith in condemning the tactics of McCarthyism.


there's an important lesson here with regard to the various legislation that was passed which empowered the government to have the expanded power to commit what some consider atrocities....