Redbait and Switch: An Arms Race of Outrage
His remarks sparked outrage and charges of "McCarthyism" among Democrats -- for good reason. The late Republican Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin similarly claimed to know a list of subversives in the State Department. He never made the list public, and the number of names that he alleged varied widely. His demagogic, reckless and unsubstantiated claims eventually led to his censure by the Senate.
West, too, declined to name names or back up an inch, except to further equate being a "progressive" to membership in the Communist Party. Need I bother to mention that this alleged membership is denied by both members of the caucus and leaders of the real Communist Party? PolitiFact, the Tampa Bay Times fact-checking website, gave West's claim its biggest-lie rating, "Pants on Fire."
Not that facts matter to those who want to believe this thoroughly unfounded notion anyway. All it takes is the allegation to bring fame, power and lucrative campaign contributions to whoever makes the charge.
McCarthy understood. So apparently does Rep. Michele Bachmann. The Minnesota Republican's biggest early national splash came when she claimed on MSNBC's "Hardball" four years ago that then-candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle held anti-American views.
She further called for major newspapers to investigate which members of Congress "are pro-America or anti-America." The resulting attention gave her an early boost toward her 2012 presidential campaign.
A "money blurt" is how the Washington Post has labeled controversial statements that bring a surge in campaign contributions. West apparently got the hint. Within two days of his progressives-equals-Communists blurt he sent out fundraising appeals for help "against attacks from the liberals and the distortions of the corrupt liberal media."
Yes, old-fashioned redbaiting still offers today's enterprising politicians an easy, if ugly, way to raise fame and campaign cash. All they have to do is abuse the very democratic freedoms they claim to be defending.
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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage(at)tribune.com.
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