And then there's Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. She doesn't exactly call opponent Chris Murphy a traitor but a Johnson TV ad labels him “wrong on security, wrong for America.” What's truly wrong is the content of her ad.
Johnson to the rescue
“A call is placed from New York to a known terrorist in Pakistan. A terrorist plot may be unfolding,” warns the agitated narrator. “Should the government intercept the call or wait until the paperwork is filed? Nancy Johnson says act immediately. Lives may be at stake. Liberal Chris Murphy says no—apply for a court warrant even if valuable time is lost.”
The ad ends with the stirring sight of Johnson amid a group of aging veterans looking to the heavens and saluting.
The ad is simply not true. The law allows the government to intercept the call first and gives authorities 72 hours to go to court and say why the intercept was necessary. Johnson approved the message and every lie in it but the ad continues to be played several times a day, drowning out “Liberal” Murphy's denial.
It should be noted traitorous charges aren't confined to politicians. Right- wing radio hosts are notorious for making them and in Connecticut, we also have the editorial page of the Waterbury Republican-American.
When Chris Dodd endorsed Lamont, his party's primary victor, an editorial in that paper called the senator “a long time useful idiot of hard-line socialists and communists from the Red Chinese to Fidel Castro to Hugo Chavez, Sen. Dodd is comfortable supporting purges and aligning himself with people of Red Ned Lamont's politics and pedigree.”
To characterize Lamont as Red Ned, an earlier editorial fell back on the old guilt by association device. Corliss Lamont, the candidate's grand uncle, was a very rich Marxist intellectual so it was only logical for the editorial to conclude that “Red Ned may label himself a progressive but when he espouses the goals shared by Marx, Lenin, Castro et al, he gives away his true color.”
Joe McCarthy is long gone but his soul goes marching on in Waterbury.
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