McCarthyism then and now

[kweerwolf]

In a speech to the CBS staff before that broadcast, Murrow said to his fellow journalists, "No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices." He was right, and there is no question that Murrow's blunt criticism of McCarthy's dishonest attacks on loyal Americans who did not share his right-wing views regarding foreign policy played a critical role in bringing down the man who used his Senate seat to destroy people's careers and silence dissent.

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Even in Wisconsin, where there was broad popular opposition to McCarthy, most of the media backed the senator. He was a favorite of the Milwaukee Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal. And media outlets, including The Capital Times and The Progressive, that challenged his lies - beginning with Capital Times editorials published in 1946 - were condemned for their "disloyalty."

Only over time did it become clear that the critics of McCarthy were the patriots.

There is an important lesson here for the contemporary moment. The Capital Times and a handful of other publications - including The Progressive and The Nation - were called disloyal in 2002 when they revealed that the Bush administration's "case" for war with Iraq was based on lies. Now, as the White House scrambles to manage a scandal that evolved from the attempt of Vice President Dick Cheney's office to defend those lies, many in the media are criticizing the administration.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=60075&ntpid=1