Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.
After being buried and forgotten for 50 years, the specter of McCarthyism has been resurrected by the Republican Party leaders and is being used against those who they perceive as being soft on terrorism.
McCarthyism is named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., who for four years in the 1950s used his influence to conduct hearings about alleged communists in the U.S. government. His tactics of using undocumented information and evidence to discredit those he perceived to be soft on communism were his trademark. As a result of his conduct, many good and honorable people were blacklisted by these false charges and the majority of people were cowed into silence so as not to suffer the loss of their reputations.
Today, we are seeing the reoccurrence of the McCarthy nightmare. Republican leaders have expressed in various ways that somehow we will be safer against terrorism if the White House is occupied by a Republican instead of a Democrat. Good and honorable people who question the wisdom of going to war in Iraq are being accused of being soft on terrorism.
RICHARD BRATTAIN
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