Joseph McCarthy

Allen West Goes Rogue: Calls 80 Democratic House Members “Communists”! The Rise Of A Black Joseph McCarthy!

Ronald 3 Comments

Florida Congressman Allen West, who defeated Congressman Ron Klein in 2010, and went on a rampage against Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, head of the Democratic National Committee, insulting her in the most despicable terms, is running for a new term in a newly created Congressional district in Northern Palm Beach County, as well as Martin and St Lucie Counties further north.

Holding a town meeting, the former Army Lieutenant Colonel, forced out of the military for his inappropriate behavior against an Iraqi detainee in 2003, went off the deep end literally, accusing 80 members of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives of being “Communists”, bringing back the ugly reminder of Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, who ran rampant from February 1950 to December 1954, accusing everyone under the sun of being a Communist or sympathetic toward Communism, promoting the Red Scare, and in so doing, undermining the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations for nearly five years, until he was finally censured for his misbehavior after nearly five years of demagoguery!

Allen West is a literal wingnut, a whacko, a mentally ill person who has had undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and is behaving in a dangerous, aggressive manner, which requires complete denunciation by the House leadership of Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, as well as GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney!

But will this happen? Of course NOT, and the conservative radio talk show hosts and Fox News Channel will take advantage of his irresponsibility to spread the conspiracy theory and try to connect it to Barack Obama as well!

The lunatic fringe of the party is backing Allen West as a possible Vice Presidential nominee, with Sarah Palin and Herman Cain endorsing West for VP. Is there a need to say anything after that statement, that these two leading examples of totally unqualified political leaders would endorse someone just as dangerous and reckless as they are?

Were Romney to pick West, which he will not do, then we would have to order men in white coats to take him forcibly to a mental hospital for observation and testing!

Romney is not that impractical and crazy, but a repudiation by Romney and a censure of West in the House of Representatives, and a chorus of criticism from party members in the US Senate should be seen as a question of character and legitimacy, if the Republican party is to retain ANY respect with the American people!

Allen West needs to be silenced by the voters of his new congressional district, who have the great alternative of Patrick Erin Murphy to represent them in the 113th Congress!

Everyone, no matter where one lives, needs to contribute to Murphy to save that district and the nation any more public attention paid to this lunatic, dangerous, unstable, reckless excuse for a Congressman! The defeat of Allen West needs to be on the front burner for the next seven months!

Newt Gingrich: The Demagogue, The Bully, The Narcissist, Revealed Again!

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been shown to be a full scale demagogue, and Mitt Romney showed Gingrich’s hypocrisy again and again in last night’s debate, leading to the belief that Romney has recovered from his defeat in very conservative South Carolina, and now is more likely than ever to be the GOP nominee.

Gingrich is a demagogue on the level of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon; he is a bully; he is a narcissist par excellence; he is a man without any morals, ethics or scruples, except his own aggrandizement!

Newt Gingrich is willing to victimize the poor; he is willing to behave as a racist; he is willing to lie without any shame; he is willing to stir up anti Islamic hatred; he is willing to stir up trouble in the Middle East by claiming that Palestinians do not exist; he is willing to sacrifice wives as disposables for his own ambitions; and he is willing to use incendiary language against the President of the United States, and in so doing, encourage lack of respect for the person holding the office, in a way that no other President has EVER been treated!

The people he has worked with in the Republican Party and in Congress have turned against him, and the conservative ideologists have mostly abandoned him, with the major exception of Michael Reagan, Ronald Reagan’s adopted son, and conservative talk show host.

It cannot be soon enough for Newt Gingrich to be removed from the attention of the national news media. Maybe Florida will be the place of his “Waterloo”, and if so, NOT soon enough, as he makes the word “politician” a dirty word, which it should not be!

Newt Gingrich: Lover Of Chaos, Tumult, Turmoil, Divisiveness. And Rhetorical Bomb Thrower!

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The ABC debate in Iowa on Saturday night demonstrated clearly that Newt Gingrich has not changed, and has no desire to change!

He is reveling in being a “bad boy’, and it seems as if the Republican base is eager for such a candidate.

Gingrich revels in promoting chaos, tumult, turmoil, and divisiveness, and is a constant rhetorical bomb thrower!

Mitt Romney is a “nice guy” and even says that Barack Obama, while judged a failure by Romney, is also a “nice guy”, and that he will not attack the personality or character of the President, just his policies. Romney also says that attacking in a vicious way is no way to win the election, and that it will not succeed.

Romney is more than ever becoming the Nelson Rockefeller of this election against a combination of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy in Newt Gingrich!

But even Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon were never as outrageous in their rhetoric as Gingrich is, so Gingrich is more like Joseph McCarthy, who had no limits to his willingness to DESTROY the opposition! Like McCarthy, he has no scruples at all in his lust for power!

So Newt Gingrich is displaying himself as a real danger to the American nation, and can be seen as more dangerous than any previous candidate for President, as he would destroy any sense of civility in his search for power!

And more than ever, the thought of a President Gingrich is terrifying, and guaranteed to lead to corruption and scandals and a country in much greater trouble in all respects than it is now, or has ever been, at least since the Great Depression and the Civil War!

Gingrich must be stopped at all costs for the survival of America as a country of freedom and justice, and to avoid warfare all over the globe!

Newt Gingrich: Vitriol, Hatred, Confrontation, Tumult, Division, Distortion–The New Joseph McCarthy!

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As former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich continues to surge in the polls for the Republican Presidential nomination, it becomes more obvious that the Republican Party “establishment” is horrified at his rise.

Former Congresswoman Susan Molinari of New York, Congressman Peter King of New York, former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu (who worked as Chief of Staff to the first President Bush), former Florida Congressman and MNSBC talk show host Joe Scarborough, and innumerable others are ringing the alarm bell about the dangers of Newt Gingrich as the GOP nominee.

They and those who know politics best see Gingrich as a disaster for the party, similar to Barry Goldwater in 1964, but in many worse worse than Goldwater.

Goldwater did not have the ethical and moral problems of Gingrich. Goldwater did not set out to be another Joseph McCarthy, as Gingrich has done in modern terms.

Why call Gingrich another Joseph McCarthy? Gingrich, similar to McCarthy, levels ridiculous charges and accusations; utilizes virtriol and promotion of hatred; promotes confrontation and tumult and division and distortion with a great relish; does not care how many corpses he leaves behind in his lust for power; and would make the stalemate and gridlock that exists in Washington even worse than it is now!

Newt Gingrich cannot unite the country; cannot solve any of the major problems we are facing; and likely would take us into more foreign wars; promote more wild spending leading to a greater national debt; cause more corruption and scandals (both in government and personally); create more centralization of the powers of the Presidency in dangerous, abusive ways; and would make us wish for the times of Richard Nixon, the most divisive President of the 20th century!

This man is reckless, dangerous, and does not work well with others of his own party, let alone the opposition and the news media. He is a danger to the nation’s future, and one would hope that he would lose massively to Barack Obama, and cause a reassessment of the right wing madness of the Republican Party!

The Republican Party Again Doing What They Are Best At: Self Destruction!

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The Republican Party has suicidal tendencies since the years of the Great Depression.

When the Great Depression began in 1929, the party in Congress refused to abandon laissez faire economics, and some even fought President Herbert Hoover’s attempt to provide some public works projects and federal aid through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

During the New Deal years of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the party stood in the way of reform and change and continued to decline.

As World War II came on, most Republicans were isolationists who failed to see the threat of Fascism and Nazism.

As World War II ended, Republicans set out to to weaken labor unions and set back the New Deal, and after two brief years in control of Congress in 1947-1948, they lost control and saw Harry Truman stage an upset victory in the Presidential campaign.

The party pursued the Joseph McCarthy anti communist agenda in the late 1940s and early 1950s, undermining America’s effort in the Korean War, but with a popular World War II general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, they were given another chance in 1952, and won back control of Congress, but with their conservative agenda, lost control again after two years.

From that point on, the party failed to gain control of Congress for 40 years in the House, and 26 in the Senate, and after six years of a divided Congress under Ronald Reagan, lost the Senate again in 1986 and for the next eight years.

Despite Eisenhower’s personal popularity, it did not transform into party control after two years, and while Richard Nixon won over a divided Democratic Party in 1968, he could not translate his victory into a Republican majority, and Watergate damaged any hope again of a soon to occur change in party loyalties and success.

Ronald Reagan managed a divided Congress with Republican control of the Senate for six years, but again it did not change party loyalties and success in the long run, and the party was bitterly divided during the administration of George H. W. Bush, with Pat Buchanan helping to divide the party and lead to the defeat of Bush in 1992.

Then in 1994, the Republicans gained control of Congress for the next twelve years, but Bill Clinton, despite personal problems leading to impeachment, was able to control much of the political agenda.

After the Republicans won the battle over Florida’s electoral votes with George W. Bush in 2000, it seemed as if finally they had become the majority party, but September 11, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the economic collapse of 2008, took away any gains it seemed that the party had made.

While they won the House of Representatives in 2010, the emergence of the Tea Party Movement has now destroyed any chance of Republican success, as again they are seen as obstructionist in so many ways, and public opinion polls still see the party as to blame much more for the economic recession we are suffering through, rather than to hold Barack Obama accountable.

With an image of negativism, concern only for the rich and powerful special interests, isolationism, corruption, and obstructionism, the Republican Party is again in the process of committing political suicide, and relegating itself to minority status in American politics!

The Long Range Significance Of Wisconsin! Survival Of The Middle Class, Public Education, And Democracy!

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The Wisconsin labor struggle is a battle against corporate interests who wish to destroy the working middle class’s right to collective bargaining and labor representation. It is a calculated attempt of conservatives, Tea Party Movement, and Republicans (who have always hated and opposed labor rights) to diminish the middle class and destroy public education, the only way for upward social mobility in this society!

The labor movement helped to create the middle class, but it had to face entrenched business and conservative interests in the 19th century and in the 20th century. Now, in the 21st century, it faces new attempts to take away the hard earned rights and benefits that generations of workers struggled for, earned by the sweat of their brow, and deserve respect and dignity for their commitment to their work.

Every social movement in this country has required marches, demonstrations, lawsuits, and civil disobedience to win support–including the anti slavery movement, the women suffrage struggle, the recognition of labor rights, the civil rights movement, the women’s rights movement, and the gay rights battle!

It is appropriate that Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party in 1854 at Ripon, and which had a platform of opposition to the expansion of slavery and included abolitionists in its midst; and also the birthplace of the progressive movement in Madison with the election of Governor Robert LaFollette, Sr in 1900–is the “ground zero” location of the new fight for labor rights and the survival of the middle class and public education!

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin might be intransigent, but those opposed to his use of fear and hysteria–just as the GOP has always been good at utilizing, as in the Red Scare led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the manipulation of September 11 to promote the Iraq War–must not give in, and must continue the struggle, and it must be fought in Florida, Ohio, New Jersey and elsewhere with no surrender, as it will determine the future of the American middle class and the survival of a society that can still be termed a democracy!

Congressman Darrell Issa: Publicity Seeker And Witch Hunter! :(

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Congressman Darrell Issa of California is about to become Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and that means he will be in the news on a daily basis, as he seeks to promote an agenda.

And what is that agenda? It is to prove what he believes: that the Obama Administration is the most corrupt administration we have had in a long time!

On the Rush Limbaugh radio show in October, Issa went so far as to say that Barack Obama was the most corrupt President of modern times, but has now changed it to say it is not him, but his administration, without clarifying what the difference is, or to explain what he means!

But then, is it necessary to have facts, or is it not just enough to throw around charges and accusations, and make the front pages of the news, and prevent the administration from trying to deal with real problems, by having to deal with constant subpoenas for material, and appearances by officials at constant hearings? 🙁

Is Darrell Issa anything more than a publicity seeker and witch hunter, in many ways similar to Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who claimed Communists in every bed and under every bed and everywhere else? 🙁

It might be interesting to investigate Darrell Issa himself, who never saw any problems during the Bush Administration, and happens to be the wealthiest member of Congress, and is only surpassed in personal wealth by one politician in America–Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City!

This is also the man who led the movement to “recall” Governor Gray Davis of California only months after he won a solid re-election victory in 2002, leading to the special “recall” election which made Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor, after Issa came to the conclusion that he was unable to compete in that race itself! 🙁

Is Darrell Issa the savior of America, when he fails to realize that the Nixon, Reagan, and second Bush Administrations had plenty of scandal, which he conveniently forgets, while he throws around wild accusations against Barack Obama and his administration? 🙁

What it comes down to is that Darrell Issa is a nightmare for the country, and will contribute nothing positive to deal with the many problems the nation faces in the next two years! 🙁

Profile In Courage Needed By Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Richard Lugar, And Lindsey Graham Against Tea Party Movement Threat To Honored Traditions Of GOP!

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In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy began his anti Communist rampage, promoting fear and hysteria in millions of Americans; destroying the reputation of many public figures in government, media, Hollywood, and the professoriate; and silencing most members of the Senate who feared to speak up against him and his witch hunt! 🙁

But early on, a courageous woman Republican senator, Margaret Chase Smith, spoke up against McCarthy when no one else was willing to do so!

Smith was the first long serving woman in the US Senate, ultimately serving four terms from 1949-1973 for the state of Maine! She was truly a “profile in courage”, the title of a Pulitzer Prize winning book by Senator John F. Kennedy a few years later, although Kennedy was unwilling to speak out against McCarthy, particularly because his own father was supporting and financing the Wisconsin Senator!

The kind of courage Smith displayed, showing she had principles and was willing to risk her career to speak out against McCarthy’s tirades, needs desperately now to be copied by several Republican Senators, who are decent, mainstream Republicans, and who in their heart and mind, cannot be imagined to be supportive of the Tea Party Movement trying to usurp power and take over the Republican Party! 🙁

I am referring to Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Graham has, actually, been courageous to express doubts and criticism about the Tea Party Movement, but the others have remained silent. It could be because Snowe and Lugar face reelection contests in 2012, while Collins and Graham face it in 2014.

Graham has set the standard and needs to convince Collins, Snowe and Lugar to condemn what is going on, even if the result is a challenge to their seats when reelection time comes!

Sixty years later, we need some reputable GOP Senators to uphold the honored tradition of the party at a time when the party is in deep trouble and about to commit potential suicide!

The Republican And Conservative Exploitation Of September 11 :(

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On the eve of the 9th anniversary of the most horrific day in American history since Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it is shocking to recognize how the Republican leadership and conservative talk show hosts have utilized September 11 to divide this country by promoting hate, hysteria, and panic on a level WORSE than Joseph McCarthy and his Republican and conservative backers stirred anti Communist “witch hunts” during the late 1940s and early 1950s!

There is nothing that these despicable public figures will not do to promote their agenda, including comparing Pastor Terry Jones’s threat to burn Korans with the Islamic interfaith center that is planned for two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City! The former is designed to promote hate and bloodshed, while the latter’s purpose is to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue!

It is not too much for Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, and Sarah Palin, among others, to exploit this comparison, but also Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck find no problem in exploiting September 11 for financial gain, by holding a gathering in Anchorage, Alaska with highly expensive tickets to be bought on Ticketmaster, and selling liquor as well, to commemorate that fateful day! Any such event should not have a ticket charge, and liquor being served is totally against the somber nature of the event!

But Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have no shame and no limits to their hypocrisy, as also John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, and many others, including the many Republican leaders who chose to remain silent and avoid taking a stand for principle, on the evil of Pastor Terry Jones and the principle of religious freedom and diversity represented by the interfaith plans near Ground Zero!

Democratic Party Strategy Against The Republican Party: Finally Playing Hardball! :)

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The Democratic National Committee has finally decided to play “Hardball” against the opposition Republicans, something they have been lacking in for many years, going back to the time of Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry!

The Republicans have never had any problems with setting out to destroy the opposition, showing no ethics in their attacks on Democratic opponents at every level up to the Presidency! Now the DNC has decided to make clear to voters that there is a direct connection between the Tea Party Movement fringe and the GOP, so much so that at many rallies, the Republicans stand by as Tea Party extremists use racist, anti semitic language, and promote hate and division as they seek to repeal much of the Constitution and set back progress!

The message of the DNC will be that the GOP is linked to these anti government fanatics, and are outside the mainstream with candidates such as Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, along with other Tea Party favorites around the nation who have captured the local control of the Republican Party!

Tea Party extremists have called for the end of Medicare, repeal of the Obama Health Care legislation, privatizing of Social Security, extension of the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy, repealing the 17th Amendment and the 16th Amendment, modification of the 14th Amendment to take away birthright citizenship, abolition of the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, and the destruction of the Environmental Protection Agency! 🙁

It is hilarious that the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, is now asserting that the Democrats are promoting the “politics of fear”!

The Republican Party has long been the party of fear, a master of using scare tactics going back many years, including the years of Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s! Who are they to use that term against the Democrats, when the GOP is the master of distortion of the truth, lies, deception, and character assassination! 🙁

The Republicans have done everything in recent months to show the American people that they are willing to do and say anything, no matter how divisive and manipulative it is, to regain power and do the bidding of the corporations and the wealthy! 🙁

Under the circumstances, the Democrats have no choice but to respond in kind, as regrettable as that is! It would be preferable to have an honest, sincere debate of differences, but the playing field does not allow that! So, as the old saying goes, “what is good for the goose, is good for the gander!”