GOP's Neo-Hooverism Has Morphed into Neo-McCarthyism

Well, they tried a new version of Hooverism so they might as well try out some nouveau McCarthyism as well:

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) puts the number of socialists in the House at 17.

"Some of the men and women I work with in Congress are socialists," Bachus told local government leaders on Thursday, according to the Birmingham News.

Bachus gave the specific number of House socialists when pressed later by a reporter.

BarbinMD helpfully transposes these sentiments into a transcript of Fightin' Joe McCarthy, who gave us one of the proudest moments in our nation's history:

The State Department House is infested with communists socialists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 17 -- a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State me as being members of the Communist Socialist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department Congress.

One can only hope that Rep. Michele Bachmann gets her wish and is able to empanel a new version of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Remember this gem from Chris Matthews back in '08?

Matthews: How many Congresspeople you serve with -- I mean, there's 435 members of Congress --

Bachmann: -- well right now --

Matthews: -- how many are anti-American in that Congress right now that you serve with?

Bachmann: You'd have to ask them, Chris, I'm focusing on Barack Obama and the people he's been associated with --

Matthews: But do you suspect that a lot of the people you serve with --

Bachmann: -- and I'm very worried about their anti-American nature.

Matthews: Well, he's the United States Senator from Illinois, he's one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama. Is he alone, or are there others?

Bachmann: [Deer in the headlights]

Matthews: How many do you suspect of your colleagues do you suspect of being anti-American?

Bachmann: I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look -- I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think the people would love to see an expose like that.

Don't you get it, people? If you agree with the wingnut fringe of the GOP, you're a good, patriotic American.

If you disagree with any tenet of their rigid, unyielding conservative dogma, you're an unpatriotic, America-hating traitor that needs to be exposed, shamed and investigated.

They are right, you are wrong. It's all black and white to these people: evil vs. good, patriotism vs. treason, tax cuts vs. communism, gay marriage vs. armageddon, abstinence vs. unchecked polygamous sodomy... Anything outside of the orthodox liturgy is heresy.

Just submit to what your betters tell you to think... Just OBEY! and we will fight these Godless communist terrorists for you...

It's pretty much that simple.