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Well, they tried a new version of Hooverism so they might as well try out some nouveau McCarthyism as well:
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: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.
TheOne 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?State DepartmentHouse is infested withcommunistssocialists. I have here in my hand a list of20517 — a list of names that were made known tothe Secretary of Stateme as being members of theCommunistSocialist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy inthe State DepartmentCongress.
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.
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(DOWN THE VINE
Syndication
Is your washroom breeding Bolsheviks?
I wish I had a gauge (other than Fox News viewership) for how many people support crap like this. How angry I should be is a given but would really like to know how worried to be.
well, if current polling is any indication, about 19% of Americans currently sign up to the idea that Obama is a socialist Manchurian candidate. That's roughly 57 million people. and they're well-armed.
There is one bona-fide socialist in the US Senate, Bernie Sanders.
The number in the House could be 17, I have no idea. But maybe it's more like…5? Just my guess.
sorry for the delay on your comment being posted. for some reason it got put into the moderation queue. i don't even know what criteria the moderation queue uses!
to your point, i think it depends on what you're using as your definition of socialism. it its taken to mean a government with a greater involvement in social safety net programs like single payer health care along the lines of the European "social democracies", then there are probably more "socialists" than 17.
however, when you look at it in the sense that the GOP nutjobs are actually INTENDING it (i.e., a wholesale government takeover of the key means of production), then I doubt you would find any "socialists" in high political office.
in this sense, the appropriate way to evaluate a word like this that is used in political discourse is through the lens of what the speaker intends, rather than what otherwise rational people would think when hearing the word.
The original definition of Socialism was what it needs to be returned to.
There were folk for whom State control was the logical Democratic result and perhaps there are wingers who actually think in those terms.
However the actual programs that they foam at the mouth over are seldom actual government take over but rules of behavior to "Socialize" institutions and keep them from descending into outright Piracy of the sort that the current financial mess is such an example