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For Immediate Release
December, 07 2009, 01:43pm EDT
Contact:
Drew Courtney or Josh Glasstetter
at 202-467-4999 / media@pfaw.org
Report: Rise of the New McCarthyism
People For the American Way today released its latest "Right Wing
Watch: In Focus" report, "Rise
of the New McCarthyism." The document examines the far
right's adoption of strategies pioneered by Senator Joe McCarthy during
his anti-communist witch hunts in the 1950s.
WASHINGTON
People For the American Way today released its latest "Right Wing
Watch: In Focus" report, "Rise
of the New McCarthyism." The document examines the far
right's adoption of strategies pioneered by Senator Joe McCarthy during
his anti-communist witch hunts in the 1950s.
More than 50 years ago, Sen. Joe McCarthy waged a campaign of political
intimidation that was so fundamentally unfair and un-American that we still use
his name to describe abusive demagoguery. Today right-wing pundits,
activists, and Republican Party officials are taking McCarthyism to new heights
- or depths-and almost none of their fellow conservatives are
speaking out against it.
The report lays out how the characteristics of McCarthyism are
reflected in right-wing attacks on the Obama administration and its allies:
Charging that America
is threatened from within by "elites" who are willing to subvert America's
interests
Smearing political opponents as communists/socialists
who are out to undermine America
Using guilt by association to attack the patriotism
and integrity of anyone who opposes them or their political goals
Targeting gays as dangerous and unworthy of public
service
Impugning the integrity and patriotism of military
leaders they disagree with
McCarthy was only able to do as much damage as he did - and ruin
as many lives as he did - because too many other public officials who
knew what he was doing was wrong were afraid to stand up to him.
That's what's happening today. Republican Party officials who
dare to criticize Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh end up apologizing with their
tail between their legs.
"The Right Wing is clearly borrowing from Joseph McCarthy's
playbook," said Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American
Way. "And the leaders of the GOP are attempting to gain political
ground from its baseless smears and character attacks. Americans need to
do to the new McCarthyism what they did to the old one: stand up to the lies
and demand fairness, honesty and decency in our political discourse."
You can read the report online here
or download a PDF version here.
People For the American Way works to build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity. We fight against right-wing extremism and the injustice it fosters.
1 (800) 326-7329LATEST NEWS
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The country's largest Muslim civil rights group on Thursday called for added protections for U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar after Florida state Sen. Randy Fine issued an apparent threat against the two Muslim lawmakers.
Fine, who has the endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump in his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, called himself the "Hebrew Hammer" in a post on X on Tuesday and suggested Reps. Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Omar (D-Minn.) should leave office for their own safety.
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has spoken out previously about anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim statements by Fine (R-19), called the lawmaker an "unhinged anti-Muslim bigot."
His apparent threat of violence "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy executive director of CAIR. "President-elect Donald Trump, in particular, should denounce Mr. Fine's remarks and the Florida Republican Party should expel him."
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