The Nation, KvH on Acorn...McCarthyism is alive and well...

[rasputin1952]

On Christmas Eve, buried on page A24 of my edition of the New York Times, was this story: "The controversial community organizing group Acorn has not broken any laws in the last five years, according to a Congressional Research Service report released Tuesday evening."

Indeed, the CRS report--requested in September by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank--finds no instances in which ACORN "violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years," and no instances of individuals allegedly registered to vote improperly by ACORN "attempting to vote at the polls."

<snip>

A "new McCarthyism" is seen in the manner in which guilt by association has been pursued by the likes of Glenn Beck and "mainstream" GOP leadership (if there is such a thing). A report by People for the American Way describes, for example, how "attacks on widely respected judicial nominee David Hamilton treated his one-month job as a canvasser for ACORN thirty years ago when he was 22 years old as if it had constituted a major portion of his career."

<snip>

Indeed in these times, when a rabid right-wing has access to megaphones of hate, it's critical that there be a check against this kind of smear campaign--and part of that check is fact-checking.

Edwin Bayley, founding dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, writes in Joe McCarthy and the Press, "It was not enough to say… simply that McCarthy was lying; it was necessary to demonstrate the lie."

<snip>


More at the link. Katrina does an excellent job in bringing this to light; far too much good stuff in this Editorial, wish I could post the whole thing.


http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/512453/print

[zbdent]

1. "Liberal bastion" New York Times ...

yep, the same place which, for years, sat on the story of Bush illegally wiretapping U.S. citizens until well after the 2004 election, and didn't put up stories pointing out Bush's glaring lie in the October 2004 debates where he said "I don't believe I ever said that!" ... despite the fact that, when Bush called a press conference to announce that he tied his own shoes that morning, the "liberal media" was there to shine the turd for him ... and had it on tape.

[ck4829]

2. Kick

[TexasObserver]

3. recommend

oops

tried to recommend, but it's too late

Oh, well. I'll give it my personal recommend.