Hi folks, just ran into this today and thought it was a good starting point for a discussion on political ideology and strategy by both parties ...
The article:
Judging by how well this McCarthyism mash-up (via The Huffington Post and comprised of McCarthy-era footage and claims that Obama and company are
a band of Communists from the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh) plays, I’d say we’re a stone’s throw away from Congressional hearings.
Don’t think so? At around the 6:05 mark, footage taken from the Chris Matthews helmed Hardball (from last October) features Congresswoman Michele
Bachmann laying out what she would like to see occur:
“What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look, I wish they would, I wish the American media would take a
great look at the views of the people in Congress and take a look at whether they are pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see
an expose like that.” blogs.current.com...
The video:
Related definition: Red Baiting
Red-baiting is a term that refers to the act of accusing someone, or some group, of being "red" as in communist, socialist or, in a broader
sense, significantly more leftist at their core than they may appear at the outset. The tactic is used mainly with the intention of discrediting the
individual's or organization's political views as dishonest and/or haphazard. The implication in red-baiting is usually that the target represents
an ill-intentioned external force which has no proper place in a given political party, coalition, or union.
Now please keep in mind that the reverse accusation of fascism was rather prevalent during the Bush administration ... yet we didn't have
representatives use the term as readily as some current opposition representatives and pundits use the word socialism.
Hyperbole has always been a significant aspect of political rhetoric but it seems to me that someone has decided that this tactic is one that will
yield results ... never mind that we are as far from a socialist country as a country could be and a couple of bailouts ain't going change that.
Sure a health care bill is before us and as a result the Red Baiting has increased exponentially ... but I often wonder if that isn't simply based in
the hope of those who scream it that no one is actually not going to look up what socialism/communism means.
Anyhoot, it's an interesting video worth the 10 or so minutes. 
[edit on 21 Sep 2009 by schrodingers dog]
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