Ann Coulter claims in her latest online column, "I Dare Call It Treason." that the "myth of 'McCarthyism' is the greatest Orwellian fraud of our times." She goes on to claim that it's all a liberal lie, that McCarthy was not a demagogue destroying innocent lives. Instead, she further claims, that the liberals made this up to avoid getting caught.

I use the word claim deliberately, because reading through the piece reveals some deft use of rhetorical chicanery to support her desire to indiscriminately attack. She does make the correct point that there were Soviet spies in the US government, pointing to the evidence of cables released in 1995. Well, big surprise there - it would see so lopsided if we had been the only ones spying. But it is true that concern for national security was not ill-founded.

However, she then makes the leap without any support of saying that the entire Democratic Party was in bed with the Soviets and that it hoped to redeem the party by rewriting history and blackening reputations. That ignores the many documented cases of people who had never conspired against their country but whose reputations were ruined and careers put on hold, if not destroyed. It ignores the - yes, documented - laundry lists that McCarthy would wave about. (It also ignores that McCarthy first ran for the Senate with the backing of the Wisconsin Communist Party, but why be a stickler here?) She makes the unsupportable jump from there being some spies in the government to assuming that McCarthy was blameless, which would mean that no one was railroaded; ergo, all people accused would have to be guilty.

Beyond my own past interest in the history of the period, my parents lived through it as observers. They had never been charged with anything, and were fairly religious and moderate to conservative people. But they saw great evil, that would condemn people for even thinking something out of the norm, no matter that someone's conduct had been blameless. As it was an act that tried to regulate the thought and beliefs of people, it was in utter violation of the principles of the Constitution and, as such, completely un-American.

My parents also taught me that any time you say something when you know better, you are lying. Now either Ms. Coulter really doesn't understand her chain of argument - hard to believe given that she is a lawyer - or she is lying. I don't hold with the convention started in the Nixon administration of calling lies and mistakes "misspeaking." The more I see of Ms. Coulter's work, the less I admire it and her. Dares call it treason? There is a sad irony in that.

8:23:16 PM    

Editor's Note: I had hoped to provide the RNC response to this Supreme Court Decision as well. However, to date, they is nothing on their web site.  -D. Remer

Washington, D.C. -- Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe issues the following statement:

"As Democrats and more importantly as Americans, we believe in a right to privacy, including the right of individuals to be in a relationship without discrimination or interference from the government. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that all Americans have that same basic right. Anyone who cherishes freedom and believes in equal rights should welcome today's decision.

"This decision is significant because it upholds the right of Americans to privacy, but it also illustrates the delicate balance on the Court that could be tipped by a retirement. If presented with the opportunity, all indications are the Bush administration will nominate an ultra-conservative member of their party who will swing decisions like this in the other direction. President Bush has admitted his ideal justices are in the mold of Justices Thomas and Scalia, justices who disagreed with the court's ruling in this case. As Americans, we should all be vigilant about protecting our rights and fighting against the Bush administration's efforts to take away core American values like our right to privacy, women's right to choose, and our right to equal protection under the law."

5:54:34 AM  Google It!