'50s redux -- Rove revives McCarthyism

[CAcyclist]

by E.D. Dionne, Jr.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/28/EDGM9DETLE1.DTL


Washington -- IN THE 1950s, the right wing attacked liberals for being communists. In 2005, Karl Rove has attacked liberals for being therapists. Thus is born a kinder and gentler form of McCarthyism.
>snip<
That's how guilt-by-association works. Make a charge and then -- once your attack is out there -- pretend that your words have been misinterpreted. Split your opponents. Put them on the defensive. Force them to say things like: "No, we're not soft on terrorism," or, "I'm not that kind of liberal." Once this happens, the attacker has already won.

Respectable opinion treats Rove's speech as just another partisan flap. It's much more. It's the reincarnation of a style of politics that turns political opponents into traitors or dupes who are soft on the nation's enemies. Welcome back to the '50s.
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I think Dionne has nailed it. I agree that by arguing the details that people are in essence saying they are not that type of liberal. It's far better to tell Rove and the Bushies to stop trying to divide America than it is to argue whether or not we wanted indictments.

Not that I think indictments are a bad idea. I magine we'd find a whole lot out if we indicted the bin Laden family and the Carlyle group. If going madly rushing off to war didn't work , maybe indictments and court trials might.