I like to keep it silly here. But sometimes I am jolted out of my little blog games with something so incredibly stupid and evil that I just have to comment on it. This morning’s example: Ann Coulter defends McCarthyism.
Coulter writes in her new book “Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism” that “The myth of ‘McCarthyism’ is the greatest Orwellian fraud of our times.” She goes on to say that “Everything you think you know about McCarthy is a hegemonic lie.” No doubt, she is going to offer up the same argument as the morons before her who blame the demonization of McCarthy on the Jews. Except with out the Jew part. Wouldn’t sell too many books that way, now, would she?
No, she’ll probably fall back on the safer line: “See! McCarthy was right. There really were Commies in the government.”
Well, hurrah. I’m so glad that being right makes it ok to destroy the lives of American citizens who don’t happen to agree with you.
This is the same kind of “attack-the-attacker for being unpatriotic” crap that McCarthy himself used when responding to Edward R. Morrow on his TV show “See It Now” and notably resurgent in today’s political debate… just replace the word “Communist” with “terrorist”.
Finally, the 1954 Republican Senate, which sat across the Capitol from the Republican House and operating under a Republican President, censured the good Senator for being an ass. But, of course, they were forced to do that by the liberal media. You know, the ones that broadcast live the poor, beset upon McCarthy, finally showing the country that he had whipped into such a frenzy what a petty, lying wad he really was by browbeating witnesses and making up evidence.
True, McCarthy was just the most rabid of the anti-Communist hunters of the 40’s and 50’s. He didn’t invent the Red Scare. He just made it his own stepladder to prominence. The House Un-American Activities Committee was doing its dirty work long before McCarthy decided to become an anti-Red crusader. So, maybe it is unfair tie his name to any sort of witch hunt that rears its ugly head. But making him out to be some kind of martyred hero? Puh-leeze.
What I fear most are the hordes of book buyers who will latch onto Coulter’s claptrap and turn the “undeniable facts” into more excuses for things like The Patriot Act. I urge you not to take Coulter’s history or mine or the media’s as fact. Read it yourself from the source material at the Eisenhower Library or the transcripts of the McCarthy hearings, released by the Senate this year after a 50-year gag rule.
While you’re at it, flip through the pages of Red Channels, a booklet that listed all the “subversives” in radio and television and their “anti-American” affiliations, or read the transcripts of testimony given to the House Un-American Activities Committee by Ayn Rand, Judy Holliday, Pete Seeger and the creator of today’s “our copyrights shall never expire!” mega-corporation, Walt Disney.
It’s lengthy reading, but well worth it. And if you have kids, let them know about this stuff. It’s amazing what they don’t get taught in school. While I was writing this, Whiny looked over my shoulder and said, “Un-American Activities?? What’s an ‘un-American activity’?”
I’m not sure, but I think putting Joe McCarthy on a pedestal is a good way to start.
[wild applause] Nicely said, Lester. Anyone viewing Coulter as an honest, sincere writer is in need of some medication.
I salute you too, good sir!
I wonder if these people would just shut up, and stop trying to justify the idiocy, maybe we’ll forget all of this by Election 2004.
Us Americans are notorious for our short-term memories. :0)
Wow, this makes what I wrote look pathetic in comparason. 🙂
Ann Coulter defends McCarthyism.
The Drudge Report is offering up a few quotes out of Ann Coulter’s upcoming book titled TREASON: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism that would suggest that AC views former Senator Joe McCarthy as a sort of martyred hero: “The m…
If it wasn’t for us…
Having endured the pro-war crowd’s cries of “If it wasn’t for us you’d all be speaking German by now!” for…
Outstanding resource use. Good work on supporting your well spoken indignation.
In her next book, Coulter will prove that Hitler didn’t murder 6 million Jews and was really a much better guy than we all give him credit for. She will source this from Pat Buchanan.
Feed that woman a cheese burger and smack her in the head ok? The scarry thing is they will believe ther the big “They”….dumbasses.
Ooh — I just had to share this with you: Ann’s gonna blog. And the name of her blog is… CoulterGeist. Insert your own joke.
Coulter on Joe McCarthy
Love her or loathe her, Ann Coulter is back and she’s got some interesting thoughts on McCarthyism: “The myth of
You like baseball, and you have a wonderful blog, and you aren’t blinded by beauty…I think I love you…did I say that outloud?
I think she just gets off on screwing with people. There’s no logic to any of her arguments, and she freaks if you confront her about any of it. I think it’s all a carefully orchestrated image to sell books.
Just my $0.02 anyways. Do with it as you please.
Just watch your mouth, or I’ll sit on you
“You
/applause/ Well done. In addition to the usual common-sense thoughts about McCarthyism (i.e., in a word, it sucked), I have also thought, “So what if they were communists?” I mean, seriously, was that the most horrible thing on earth? It has largely proven to be untenable (as in the USSR) or – it’s too early for me to think of a good word – well, we all know China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. are not good places to live. But anyway. Is communism actually worse than, say, dictatorship (Hussein’s Iraq, Congo), or theocracy (Taliban Afghanistan, Iran)? Or, for that matter, whatever our country is turning into? (Oy, I’ll get in hot water for that. I’d better get to work before I say anything else that’ll get the Patriot Act after me.)
A scathingly negative critique of a book which you have not even read? That sounds…McCarthyite.
With all due respect to the truth that Coulter is always “over the top”, I look forward to your followup after reading her book in which you directly debate whatever it is she actually ends up writing on McCarthy.
Not critiquing the book. Yet. Just that one lameass statement in it.
Well, a year and a half ago, I wanted to see the Army invade the offices of National Review Online, “massacre the leaders, and convert the rest to Christianity”. Ann Coulter gave me that idea. This is particularly strange of me, since I am a Jew.
In the end, has she any decency?
Sooner or later you will get what you deserve because you are a criminal. There will be no place for you and your kind to hide. Our peoples will be free from all your lies and distortions.
Not that I am a fan of McCarthy or his tactics, but one fact about him is indisputable. Because of the paranoia he invoked we added “In God We Trust” to our money and the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. This was to differentiate us from the godless horde that made up Communism.
Um, no. “In God We Trust” was put on the money in the civil war. http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.html
And “under God” was added to the Pledge in 1954 after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus and popular opinion, not because of Communist fears.
http://history.vineyard.net//pledge.htm
http://www.umcscouting.org/reverant/how_under_god_was_added_to_the_p.htm
The phrase did first appear on some of our coins during the Civil War, but not all. The first coin to bear the motto was the bronze two-cent piece issued between 1864 to 1873. The issue would come up again under Theodore Roosevelt who sought to have the motto removed from a redesign of the coins as he felt is was blasphemous. In a letter to William Boldly on November 11, 1907, Roosevelt wrote:
Outcry from the religious community over this resulted in Congress passing the first law specifically detailing that the motto was to be used on all coins.
And yes, the Cold War is responsible for both A) the phrase In God We Trust being added to our paper money and B) it becoming our National Motto shortly there after.
Personally, I’d like to know what was wrong with the original motto adopted by the Founding Fathers of “E Pluribus Unum” meaning “One Unity composed of Many Parts” that was first used on coins in New Jersey in 1786 and later used by the United States Mint starting in 1795. A much better phrase in my mind that seems to echo the intent the Founding Fathers had for this country.
As for the Pledge, when Sen. Homer Ferguson, a Minnesota Republican, introduced the resolution to modify the Pledge to the Senate he remarked, “I believe this modification of the Pledge is important because it highlights one of the real fundamental differences between the free world and the communist world, namely belief in God.”
In addition to that the Knights of Columbus weren’t the only organization that pushed for the addition of the words “under God.” The American Legion also had a part in this process and their constitution includes the following goal: “To foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism.” One of its major standing committees was the “Americanism Commission” and its subsidiary, the “Counter Subversive Activities Committee.” Clearly worries about setting America apart from the Communists did contribute to this change in the Pledge.
Incidentally, Francis Bellamy was pissed the first time his Pledge was changed from “my flag” to “the flag of the United States of America” in 1923. He died in 1931 and thus wasn’t around to get pissed a second time when “under God” was added in 1954, but his granddaughter was and she felt he would’ve been furious because Bellamy had specifically left out references to God intentionally. The significance of which becomes even more so when you consider that he was a Baptist minister and Christian Socialist.
Not that I’ve studied up on this much…
Mark Twain had a couple of comments on this that I’ve always thought were not only funny, but highly relevant:
Sorry, I get wrapped in this topic easily. Perhaps I should have made it an entry on my own blog…
Neither the original post nor the comments deal with Coulter’s actual charges. If you go case by case you find an awful lot of organized, Soviet backed communist activities in the US in the 40’s and 50’s. Today’s terrorist infiltration, being documented before our eyes, shows how practical this is to accomplish in a (relatively) free society.
Methinks you protesters are protesting too much, and reasoning too little.
I read Coulter’s book last night. And you know what? It is exactly what I thought it would be: Arthur Herman’s book on McCarthy re-written with a lot of “liberals do this” and “liberals do that” asides. Oh, and her face on the cover.
Yes, there were plenty of Soviet-backed Communist activities taking place in the U.S. Duh! I’m sure there were just as many anti-Communist activities going on in Russia. Or do you think their spies were better than ours?
I have no doubt that some of the history around McCarthy is muddied up by using his name as an epithet (kinda like “liberal”). He was an ass, not a mythological demon. The problem is when the historical backlash against McCarthy gets turned into some kind of ongoing liberal plot that’s continued to this day. Yes, there are plenty of liberal nutjobs. I don’t agree with them all. But tossing around the label “liberal” like it’s a rational argument is wrong.
That’s why my post wandered into the area surrounding his activities (HUAC for example, which he had nothing to do with). I thought I was making a point about witch hunting in general and how turning the witch hunters into heroes is a load of crap.
Ann Coulter is wrong, wrong, wrong. Joe McCarthy was a dirtbag. All you need to know about McCarthy is that he employed Roy Cohn. Cohn was maybe the sleaziest lawyer ever. Cohn tried to bend the 1950’s draft rules to keep his gay lover David Schine out of the Army, with Cohn all the while denying the two were gay. When the relationship between Cohn and Schine was reported on, McCarthy considered suing the journalist, but changed his mind after being informed that he would have to answer questions about his own sexual preferences. In an attempt to quash those questions, McCarthy married his secretary and adopted a baby girl.
In an attempt to gain preferential treatment for Schine, McCarthy impugned the patriotism and integrity of such “communists” as Dwight Eisenhower.
In the 1970’s, Cohn, practicing law in New York, defended the owners of the Studio 54 disco. As Carter White House staff members Jody Powell and Hamilton Jordan have described, Cohn informed prosecutors that if charges against his clients weren’t dropped, he’d accuse Jordan of having usede cocaine at Studio 54. The charges were not dropped, and Cohn made his false allegations against Jordan public, causing the government to spend millions investigating Jordan and Jordan to spend hundreds of thousands defending himself. In short, Cohn lied and smeared a public servant in an attempt to gain advantage for his friends. Sound familiar?
In the 1980’s, Cohn was disbarred for having faked a client’s signature on a will. And he continued to deny that he was gay even while being seen in public with known male prostitutes. In fact, Cohn continued denying his sexual preference right up until he died of AIDS.
You couldn’t find people with less integrity than McCarthy and Cohn. Except maybe Coulter.
A few brief notes.
Ann Coulter – Historical revisionism at it’s best – Reverend Mykeru reviews ‘Treason’… who comes to the same conclusion that Solonor did about everyone’s favorite rabid, soiciopathic she-male. Apparently, great minds DO think alike.
Haha – “At the base of our freedom is our faith in God and the desire of Americans to live by His will and His guidance.” Is that a self-contradiction?
I hope all of you who criticized Ann Coulter book “Treason” had read it. I do agree with it because, unlike those criticizing her, she gives a lot of references to support her claims. And, yes, the references are very much against liberals because most of them have been written by them.
I suggest to all of you who haven’t read the book and still are criticizing, at least have the decency to start your comments with something like “I have not read the book but…”
I absolutely agree. That’s why my original post was not so much about Coulter as about the absurdity of anyone trying to put McCarthy on a pedestal. My follow-up comments came after I read it and concluded that it was the ludicrous piece of self-promoting crap that I thought it would be.
I can’t speak for the other commenters, but I am pretty certain that at least one of them has done extensive research into the history of the Red Scare, even if they hadn’t read Coulter’s book.
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