I was around when Tail Gunner Joe held his hearings. They were broadcast on live TV for all to watch and I heard that exchange between Welch and McCarthy. My dad who was also watching said “About goddam time somebody spoke up!”.
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It’s not really history. It’s a metaphor for how one morally corrupt individual can infect an entire organization. McCarthy was such an egregious and distinctive example that an era is named after him. And as many have pointed out, this didn’t start with Trump. Trump is merely a reductio ad absurdum – the result of following the trajectory of the Republican Party since Nixon was forced to resign to its logical conclusion. Once the “Southern Strategy” brought the Dixiecrats into the Republican fold, the outcome was inevitable. When you invite all the racists and bigots to join your party, you end up with a party of racist bigots. Trump has merely brought the racism and bigotry into the open instead of hiding it behind dog whistles and insinuendos. Before Trump Republicans were afraid to be identified as racists and bigots; now they are proud of their racism and bigotry. They wear their label of “deplorables” as a badge of honor. The only question is whether they will self-destruct in the face of “American core values” or whether, like the Nazis, they will have to be reduced to smoldering rubble by the combined forces of an appalled world.
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Indeed. The moral failings and mendacity of the Dubya admin should have been the final breaking point. Lied our way into a war, decided torture was good (and had fucking secret torture sites), blew up the deficit, put anti-gay marriage initiatives on the ballot in nearly all states, flooded the DoJ with Liberty University graduate students, etc… “Clean skies act”? What. The. Fuck. The writing has been on the wall since the 80’s, the 90’s was fucking nutz with the Contract on America, but there was simply no excuse by Dubya. None. If you were fine with that, why do you give a fuck about Trump?
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I would be for the “smoldering rubble” version except for the large collateral damage that inevitably goes along with it. If that were pulled off with out the collateral part I’d then be for an application a version of the Versailles Treaty on the remains. You might say I am no fan of today’s GOP.
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The Republican Partly has been heading in this direction for quite some time; it just got there a little sooner under Trump, and now Flake is shocked that the lunatics have taken over his asylum.
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On the 15th anniversary of his death, let Paul Wellstone respond to your empty words.
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The major difference, however, is this time there are actual foreign agents undermining our democracy. Yet not a single Rethugliklan is actually investigating.
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Flake did 6 terms as a Congressman before running against Richard Carmona for the Senate in 2013. Jeff got to watch the trajectory of the GOP from up close. I think this move was a long time coming.
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What the author of this article seems to forget is that Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine stood up to McCarthy 4 years prior with her “Declaration of Conscience” speech.
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It is more in their nature to walk away from public controversy and make an impact by their absence, rather than fighting in public.
I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
“…and that’s why, like a True Conservative, I’m going to go hide under my bed, rather than trying to fix the problems I helped to build.”
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I’m glad you raised that, and I am sure a lot of people remember the Mormon involvement in the California gay rights issue with pain. That was kind of their high water mark in terms of taking the spotlight in public controversy. I think they were uncomfortable with that role and have backed off since. Others might have better insight.
Unfortunately, these later-comer Republican critics are too late to stop the damage caused by Trump voters: https://twitter.com/scottmcmurrey/status/923193189829349376
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All I (well, not me personally) have to say about Corker and Flake is this:
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I hope people understand how closely moron modeled himself after Cohn who was about a vile a creature who ever roamed the earth.
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Sorry, but when Welch and Murrow went after McCarthy they were administering coups de grace.
McCarthy was a safe target by then. BTW, I’m old enough to recall both events - with Welch on live TV, not technically courtroom drama, but of the same spirit and ambiance. It was after school entertainment to stick in one’s gizzard for a lifetime. I’ve always suspected that Welch, a seasoned trial lawyer, laid an ambush for McCarthy, then sprung it with relish.
And this is much,much worse than the McCarthy era. Then, we were dealing with usually baseless accusations or innuendo and suggestions of treason & disloyalty to the US.
Now, we’re flirting with nihilism, autocracy and nuclear destruction.
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Yes, perhaps a lot of Americans don’t realize there’s only one degree of separation between McCarthy and trump, filled by one of the slimiest ratfuckers in our history.
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This website’s always been useful, tracks how each critter voted, and Flake did support moron 90% of the time. Now it’s a problem for him to disavow because of his record of his support and others will simply go along to get along and keep their seats in order to not antagonize moron. But I welcome his criticism.
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moron sat at Cohn’s knee and learned how to be the monster he is today. No one has ever deserved to die from AIDS except Cohn who was a gay hating, Jew hating gay man.
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Another instance of what might have been had he lived longer, but I think Al Franken tries to honor Wellstone in his conduct in office.
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