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Jewish World Review April 24, 2014 / 24 Nissan, 5774 Reid has become a McCarthy for our timeBy Victor Davis Hanson
JewishWorldReview.com |
We should ask Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) the same question once posed to Sen. Reid is back in the news for denigrating the peaceful supporters of McCarthy in the 1950s became infamous for smearing his opponents with lurid allegations that he could not prove, while questioning their patriotism. Reid has brought back to the During the 2012 presidential campaign, Reid libeled candidate Later, when asked for proof, Reid offered a pathetic rejoinder: "I have had a number of people tell me that." One wonders how many names were on Reid's McCarthyite "tell" list -- were there, as McCarthy used to bluster, 205 names, or perhaps just 57? When asked again to document the slur, Reid echoed McCarthy perfectly: "The burden should be on him. He's the one I've alleged has not paid any taxes." When the Koch brothers donated money that was used for political ads -- just as liberal political donors Reid also has a bad habit of racial bigotry. He once praised fellow Sen. When Reid was worried that he would not get enough Hispanic voters to the polls, he condescendingly lectured the Latino community: "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, OK. Do I need to say more?"
Reid once singled out for damnation just one Reid has also brought back McCarthy's custom of vicious and sometimes profane insults. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Reid announced: "I can't stand When Gen. He elaborated on that charge by labeling Petraeus -- at the time the senior ground commander of U.S. forces fighting in When an African-American and Democratic appointee to the Like a pre-reform-era politician, Reid entered public service relatively poor and will leave it as a multimillionaire. He has granted lucrative favors to casinos and rich investors who hired his sons' legal firm. While in office he made considerable profits on private business and real estate deals. Some of those who donated to his campaigns got favorable government treatment. Reid recently paid his granddaughter thousands of dollars from his campaign war chest to make jewelry gifts for his donors and friends. Only after a storm of criticism did he reimburse his campaign fund. So how does Reid's reckless career continue with the
For the left, Reid's utility as an attack dog (like McCarthy's utility to Republicans) outweighs the downside of his crude bombast. His lurid, unsubstantiated charges against Romney were helpful in demonizing Romney as a rich grandee. His untruths about Petraeus helped shore up Democrats' antiwar credentials during the 2008 campaign. Environmentalists did not object to his character assassination of nuclear power advocate Magwood. Reid's viciousness also serves as a deterrent. Why tangle with the anything-goes Reid when it means endlessly replying to a litany of smears? Part Tammany Hall-style fixer, part pre-civil rights Democrat and part demagogic
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Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University.
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