"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
There are old-timers out here, like me, who believe that Joe McCarthy was indeed an American hero. Please don't associate "Tailgunner Joe" with a freaking liberal journalist who thinks like those who "blackballed" the WI senator.
Correct me if necessary, but was McCarthy ever proven wrong about an allegation of communist ties? Seems that he became unpopular enough to the left that Edward R. Morrow did a hatchet job on him, but somehow, in the discourse and characterizations, the fact he was right in his accusactions has been lost
There are old-timers out here, like me, who believe that Joe McCarthy was indeed an American hero.
Sorry, Gadfly...gotta respectfully disagree with you on this one. IMO, McCarthy seriously damaged the cause of anti-Communism, and made it downright respectable among certain parts of society (yeah, Hollywood and the media, I'm looking at both of you) to be, if not outright pro-Communist, then at least "anti-anti-Communist." Per Bill Bennett, quoted on Wikipedia's page on McCarthy:
"...McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions."
Jeff is right. Yes, there were Communists, yes the Comintern was an arm of Soviet foreign policy and yes, there were many dupes who meant well but enabled the communists.
But when Joe said he had a list in his hand, he was holding a blank sheet of paper. He made it up. And along the way he ruined a lot of decent people, ran roughshod over the constitution (can you imagine anything more unAmerican than HUAC?) and gave anti-Communism a bad name with his excesses.
Jeff and Gadfly: I think you've both got right on your side. McCarthy ultimately turned out to be far more accurate in his assessment of communist influence than was thought at the time, but he also damaged the cause due to some unfounded charges against specific individuals (haven't read Coulter's book, incidentally, but intend to).
In any event, my aim in in this post was not to insult McCarthy, but to fling McCarthyism back in the faces of liberals like Klein.
What Klein does not know about sedition - as defined by law - could fill a whole issue of Time.
"... on this little napkin here" seems about as deep as Klein ever gets. But of course, Klein is wrong. Sedition is illegal under Title 18, US Code, which Klein could have found online as easily as I did if only Klein was as interested in accuracy as I am.
...And per Bill bennett's book, no less of an anti-Communist crusader than Ronald Reagan, then working in the film industry, spoke out adamantly against McCarthy's witch hunt, even while noting that the influence did exist, as being anti-American. Ditto President Eisenhower, also very much anti-Communist.
McCarthy is a fine example of someone who believes that the ends justified the means, with little regard for the cost. Ike and Reagan embraced what's best about American freedom and America's constitutional system and used that to fight communism, not blank sheets of paper and congressional intimidation. That's a big part of why those two men were so successful and are so admired to this day, while McCarthy died not long after his censure, a bitter, discredited old alcoholic.
McCarthy was a Senator, what did he have to do with the HUAC? I agree that he wasn't very clever in his strategy, but how would one point out infiltrators and propagandists and the role they were playing in making Communism and the Soviet Union more palatable to regular Americans?
Can we please dispense with "McCarthyism" as anything at all relevant to the battles we're faced with today? I'd also add "Red Scare" to that. Those things happened a half century ago, and we are a different people and a different society today.
Communism is not dead. The difference is, it's not an alien ideology connected to the Russian Bear anymore, it's a homegrown, insidious worm-like philosophy tirelessly promoted by our own academics, Hollywood personalities, politicians in power, and media... all without a true understanding of what it is they're touting. A few may believe in it, but the vast majority of useful idiots just spout it because it's trendy, fashionable, the kind of thing the "right" kind of people do. That's what makes it so subversive. Anti-human cant without any critical examination.
We need a new trope, a new name for this internal rottage, and we need to recognize the new faces of it. Some of those faces will be the likes of Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Vladimir Putin among others. But the most destructive faces will be the apologists,
So now political dissent is seditious. Let's hope for change.
ReplyDeleteWhile we can.
ReplyDeleteThere are old-timers out here, like me, who believe that Joe McCarthy was indeed an American hero. Please don't associate "Tailgunner Joe" with a freaking liberal journalist who thinks like those who "blackballed" the WI senator.
ReplyDeletehttp://ronbosoldier.blogspot.com/2007/12/senator-joe-mccarthy-american-hero.html
Ann Coulter has documented the story of McCarthy in one of her books, proving he was right about the infiltration.
ReplyDeleteBTW, congrats on your recognition by Glen Reynolds on Instapundit.
ReplyDeleteI'd say from the current situation that McCarthy had a point.
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if necessary, but was McCarthy ever proven wrong about an allegation of communist ties? Seems that he became unpopular enough to the left that Edward R. Morrow did a hatchet job on him, but somehow, in the discourse and characterizations, the fact he was right in his accusactions has been lost
ReplyDeleteThere are old-timers out here, like me, who believe that Joe McCarthy was indeed an American hero.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Gadfly...gotta respectfully disagree with you on this one. IMO, McCarthy seriously damaged the cause of anti-Communism, and made it downright respectable among certain parts of society (yeah, Hollywood and the media, I'm looking at both of you) to be, if not outright pro-Communist, then at least "anti-anti-Communist." Per Bill Bennett, quoted on Wikipedia's page on McCarthy:
"...McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions."
Jeff is right. Yes, there were Communists, yes the Comintern was an arm of Soviet foreign policy and yes, there were many dupes who meant well but enabled the communists.
ReplyDeleteBut when Joe said he had a list in his hand, he was holding a blank sheet of paper. He made it up. And along the way he ruined a lot of decent people, ran roughshod over the constitution (can you imagine anything more unAmerican than HUAC?) and gave anti-Communism a bad name with his excesses.
Jeff and Gadfly: I think you've both got right on your side. McCarthy ultimately turned out to be far more accurate in his assessment of communist influence than was thought at the time, but he also damaged the cause due to some unfounded charges against specific individuals (haven't read Coulter's book, incidentally, but intend to).
ReplyDeleteIn any event, my aim in in this post was not to insult McCarthy, but to fling McCarthyism back in the faces of liberals like Klein.
What Klein does not know about sedition - as defined by law - could fill a whole issue of Time.
ReplyDelete"... on this little napkin here" seems about as deep as Klein ever gets. But of course, Klein is wrong. Sedition is illegal under Title 18, US Code, which Klein could have found online as easily as I did if only Klein was as interested in accuracy as I am.
...And per Bill bennett's book, no less of an anti-Communist crusader than Ronald Reagan, then working in the film industry, spoke out adamantly against McCarthy's witch hunt, even while noting that the influence did exist, as being anti-American. Ditto President Eisenhower, also very much anti-Communist.
ReplyDeleteMcCarthy is a fine example of someone who believes that the ends justified the means, with little regard for the cost. Ike and Reagan embraced what's best about American freedom and America's constitutional system and used that to fight communism, not blank sheets of paper and congressional intimidation. That's a big part of why those two men were so successful and are so admired to this day, while McCarthy died not long after his censure, a bitter, discredited old alcoholic.
McCarthy was a Senator, what did he have to do with the HUAC? I agree that he wasn't very clever in his strategy, but how would one point out infiltrators and propagandists and the role they were playing in making Communism and the Soviet Union more palatable to regular Americans?
ReplyDeleteMcCarthy was addressing a genuine problem but did it in the worst way possible and mostly for personal political gain.
ReplyDeleteCan we please dispense with "McCarthyism" as anything at all relevant to the battles we're faced with today? I'd also add "Red Scare" to that. Those things happened a half century ago, and we are a different people and a different society today.
ReplyDeleteCommunism is not dead. The difference is, it's not an alien ideology connected to the Russian Bear anymore, it's a homegrown, insidious worm-like philosophy tirelessly promoted by our own academics, Hollywood personalities, politicians in power, and media... all without a true understanding of what it is they're touting. A few may believe in it, but the vast majority of useful idiots just spout it because it's trendy, fashionable, the kind of thing the "right" kind of people do. That's what makes it so subversive. Anti-human cant without any critical examination.
We need a new trope, a new name for this internal rottage, and we need to recognize the new faces of it. Some of those faces will be the likes of Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Vladimir Putin among others. But the most destructive faces will be the apologists,