The Blue Scare?

This will not be a funny or entertaining post. This will be deadly serious. My blog takes frequent visits to the world of politics. It is an intense interest of mine and of course in the forefront of most every discussion these days. I won't apologize for this, and if you're not particularly interested you may want to check back in a day or two.

Tonight (Friday 10/17) on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota called on the media to investigate all the members of Congress to determine if their views are "pro-America" or "anti-America." Throughout the entirety of the interview, Rep. Bachmann connects the terms "liberal," "leftist," and "anti-American" and seems quite comfortable using them interchangeably. Identifying Sen. Obama as the most liberal member of Congress and Sen. Biden as 3rd most liberal, she effectively and without shame labeled Obama and Biden as anti-American. For good measure, Rep. Bachmann throws in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid as very liberal and therefore anti-American. By inference, this would make anyone who identifies themselves as liberal or progressive as anti-Americans who hate this country according to Rep. Bachmann.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this sound a lot like the era of McCarthyism of the 1950's? Is Rep. Bachmann the new Joseph McCarthy... calling for an "in-depth expose" of the members of Congress who don't share her views? Is the "Blue Scare" of 2008 threatening to tear down the country the way McCarthy doggedly pursued the "Red Scare" of communism in the 1950's? This is frightening. The implication that liberals are anti-American with calls to have them investigated is taking the blind rage of some conservative Americans to an entirely new level.

Here is the entire Chris Matthews interview with Rep. Bachmann. Her words are not taken out of context. The first 9 minutes of the interview are your basic garden variety Republican talking points that get spewed out at every opportunity. Reverend Wright this, Bill Ayers that, yada... yada... yada. If you don't want to sit through this puke-inducing garbage, you can fast forward to approximately the 9:00 mark where you can hear Rep. Bachmann call for a return to McCarthyism in this country. I do encourage you to view the entire interview though as it gives you a more rounded view of the tone of discussion. You can read a short recap of the interview from Minnesota Public Radio.

THIS INTERVIEW SHOULD DISTURB EVERY AMERICAN. For Rep. Bachmann or anyone to question another person's patriotism because they have different views is vile, reprehensible, and dangerous. For this country to even hint at regressing to a time of innuendo, fear, and character assassination is terrifying. I am truly sickened, disturbed, and frightened by this.