I can remember my mom watching the Army-McCarthy hearings on TV in 1954. Mom never watched daytime TV, so this was a rare sight. Never one to let an opportunity to get some work done slip by, she ironed while she watched. Years later she joked that the hearings went on so long she managed to reach the bottom of the ironing basket where she found one of my baby socks. This was remarkable because I was 8 years old at the time.
While many of the methods employed by McCarthy were less than savory, history eventually exonerated him regarding many of his allegations concerning communist influence in our government. Today, we have Allen West making many similar allegations about members of congress and Michele Bachmann questioning the vetting process for people in high security clearance positions.
The backlash against Rep. Bachmann has been particularly harsh, considering she is just one of 5 people (and the only woman) who wrote letters to several different government agencies requesting that they look into the possibility of undue influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in our government.
Even several high-end Catholic bloggers are demanding she explain her position and have allowed wholesale Bachmann bashing in their comboxes. The fact that these individuals did not read any of the letters in question, thereby having no clue as to their content, did not deter them from slamming Rep Bachmann. One of them laughingly calls for Bachmann to provide documentation of her "allegations." Problem is, she made no allegations against any individual, something they would have known if they had bothered to read the letters.
In today's article at the American Spectator, Jeffrey Lord has put together an easy to read, but very comprehensive, look back at the times in our history where this sort of thing has happened before. It's a fascinating read and one I highly recommend.
Is Huma Abedin the New Alger Hiss?
Is Huma Abedin to the Muslim Brotherhood what Alger Hiss was to the Soviet Union?
Why are Republican Senator John McCain, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rodgers (R-MI) acting in the growing Abedin controversy as Washington Establishment Democrats of the 1940s did in the Hiss episode? Which is to say, writing off the dangers of a foreign enemy whose goal is to infiltrate the U.S. government -- because, well, the people in question are part of the Washington Establishment?
And last but certainly not least, why is the Republican Establishment pursuing a losing strategy in the war against Islamic radicalism? Is it returning to the losing strategy it pursued during the Cold War -- a strategy that was overturned over Establishment opposition by Ronald Reagan's victorious "we win, they lose" strategy?
These questions arise because of McCain's vehement attack on Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Bachmann, along with four other conservative House members (Louis Gohmert of Texas, Trent Franks of Arizona, Thomas Rooney of Florida and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia), has written a series of hotly controversial letters.
What did Bachmann and the others do to infuriate McCain? And draw a rebuke from Boehner and Rodgers?
The five House members wrote letters to the Inspector Generals of the Departments of State, Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security -- along with a fifth to the IG in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Asking?
Asking that the recipients take seriously the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming a security threat within the government of the United States itself. read the rest
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