On this day in 1950, Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy came to notice when he accused the Truman Administration of being “soft on Communism”.   This began a nearly five year rampage of accusations against government officials, college professors, journalists, actors, and many ordinary citizens, that they were either “pinkos” or were actually Communists who had undermined the nation in favor of the interests of the Soviet Union and Communism.
Many politicians and others joined the crowd of attacks, and many others in and out of government were terrified, and kept silent, as people’s lives were ruined. This had begun even before McCarthy became infamous, and the film TRUMBO well portrays what happened to Hollywood writers in the later 1940s, and the role of actor John Wayne, actor Ronald Reagan, and Congressman Richard Nixon, among others, in that “witch hunt”.
This is a day to recall, because it is clear that we are witnessing the beginning of attacks on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a democratic Socialist, who just became a member of the Democratic Party this past year, and is now, contending for the Democratic Presidential nomination seriously. Bernie Sanders is no danger in any sense, but he is now facing vicious attacks beginning, and they will not stop as long as he has a serious chance to be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2016.
Donald Trump has called Sanders a “Communist”, and if Sanders becomes more of a serious contender beyond his expected win in New Hampshire, then we will see a slew of such attacks by Republicans and the right wing, making Sanders out to be Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh, and Fidel Castro, all wrapped in a 74 years old Senator, who is the longest serving Independent in all of American history!
This is very disturbing, and all good people MUST, whether they support or oppose Bernie Sanders, fight against a new “McCarthyism”, as to have a new period of a Red Scare is simply intolerable, and it must be exposed for the evil that it is!
Projections are in. Trump and Bernie have won in New Hampshire. http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/politics/new-hampshire-primary-live-updates/index.html
Kasich has come in second. Maybe that will give a boost for him.
Steve Kornacki (MSNBC) said the demographics of Sanders voters included people who identified as center and center-right.
They’ve already started. E. W. Jackson, who was the unsuccessful Republican Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2013, has posted some extremely crazy Tweets about Bernie. http://www.bluevirginia.us/2016/02/ted-cruz-surrogate-ew-jackson-goes-on.html
Win or lose, once Democrats pick a nominee it’s vital that everyone on the left come together to support the candidate. Today’s Supreme Court ruling against President Obama’s EPA rule to combat climate change should be another huge wakeup call for anyone who thinks Republicans winning in November wouldn’t be that big of a deal. There’s far too much at stake to let petty pride among liberals and progressives lose this election.
E. W. Jackson is a total whacko, and an embarrassment in every sense.
Yes, Democrats MUST stick together, or else the GOP will create a right wing paradise, much worse than now!
According to this, part of what has given Sanders his strength is how mainstream many of his standard political arguments are. If one listens to what he has been saying, it is possible to see that Sanders is not that radical at all. In many respects, his campaign directly addresses fundamental concerns that a wide range of Americans have about their future.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/10/opinions/sanders-views-are-mainstream-zelizer/index.html