John Avalon wrote a piece for CNN.com drowning Rep Allen West in a sea of sensational comments.
The ghost of Joe McCarthy’s ulcerous accusations hung over a disturbingly casual comment this past week by U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Florida.
When asked by a constituent at a town hall, “What percentage of the American legislature do you think are card-carrying Marxists?”
“That’s a fair question,” West replied. “I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party.”
Aside from comparing West to Joe McCarthy, he equated the Communist Party to murderous people known for mistreating their “subjects” in Red regimes around the globe from China to Cuba. He equated West’s remarks with those that could have been made by a liberal journalist such as himself no doubt:
To equate liberals in Congress with communists is like equating conservatives in Congress with fascists — something only the most brain-dead Occupy protester would attempt.
And just for a moment imagine if a liberal member of Congress made an equal and opposite accusation, saying that all the members of the tea party caucus were Nazis. It would be rightly greeted with wall-to-wall outrage.
But the asymmetric polarization of our politics has made such accusations within the easy reach of politically successful ideologues at unguarded moments.
I love a writer who gets so wound up in his/her argument that he slips and falls into the pit he fancies others are in. “[A] symmetric polarization of our politics” – is he referring to the job of it Bill Mahr does as a “commentator” on CNN?
And these remarks took the article to a new low:
West’s comments were simply extensions of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s infamous statement in 2008 about how then-candidate Barack Obama — and many Democratic members of Congress — held “anti-American views.”
That, my dear Mr. Avalon, is a boarding house reach for the argumentum ad ridiculum.
The Morb
April 16, 2012
Editor note ; you missed an ‘ m ‘ in the title for ‘ communist ‘ … Just tryin’ to help out Sam
samhenry
April 17, 2012
Thanks for saving my grammar, Morb. Always appreciative of it.
AFVET
April 16, 2012
Hi SH.
Isn’t it amazing how things go awry when the intelligent people don’t vote?
Thank goodness we have people like Allen West in congress to alert us as to how far this Country has slipped from the principles She was designed upon.
Time is of the essence, and we need to make an attempt to take our Country back in November.
The congressmen and congresswomen who blatantly refuse to abide by the Constitutional mandates should be relegated back to the private sector, i.e. voted out of office.
Term limits are needed to eliminate the parasites that continually feed off our tax dollars while laughing at us in the elections.
samhenry
April 17, 2012
Boy do we need term limits but the current crowd will not endorse it. It will have to come from the people via petition drives.
DarcsFalcon
April 17, 2012
Goodness! Clearly he is unaware that O wa sa member of The New Party here in Chicago back in the 90s, which was an extension of the Communist Party. Not to mention, O has the full endorsement of the Communist Party USA. As do several Dems in Congress. Birds of a feather and all that.
Not this bird though! LOL Just to be clear on that!
*hugs* Sam!
samhenry
April 17, 2012
You are right about O. Hugs back big bird.