WITH JULY 4 HAVING BEEN TWO DAYS ago, I did some checking. The observance originated in 1783, but wasn’t made a federal holiday until 1941. As all school children know, the Fourth was a celebration of our independence from England’s King George. Now, it celebrates mattress sales. We honor the Founding Fathers with barbecues, beer and fireworks. People don’t get patriotic, they get drunk.
Personally, I’m not overly patriotic. During the Vietnam War, there was a famous bumper sticker: “America, Right or Wrong!” The idea was it shouldn’t matter. I tend to agree with Mark Twain, who defined patriotism as: “Supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.” “A patriot,” Twain said, “often hollers the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.”
The “loudest” patriot of his time was Senator Joe McCarthy from Wisconsin. In the early 50s, McCarthy rose to power making claims that there were hordes of Communist spies inside the federal government and routinely ruined innocent people’s lives. He was so dark, Dick Cheney could have taken lessons. In fact, maybe he did? During the televised Army Hearings in 1954, McCarthy’s boorish antics prompted the Army’s counsel, Joseph Welch, to plead, “Have you no sense of decency, Sir?" Apparently, the answer was “no.”
Then came Edward R. Murrow’s historic “See it Now” broadcast. It featured McCarthy at his bullying best, including his attack of Annie Lee Moss, a frail, black file clerk in the Pentagon code room. Suddenly, the country saw McCarthy for the demagogue he was. Soon, he would be censured by the Senate and drink himself to death at 48. To this day, the term “McCarthyism,” means demagogic and reckless.” I wonder what Cheneyism will come to mean?
Children in the schoolyard learn bullies are cowards. As adults, they often grow into hypocrites. On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh railed against drug users. About the death of Jerry Garcia he said, “Just another dead hippy to me.” Meanwhile, Rush was gobbling OxyContin like M&M’s. Bill O’Reilly constantly criticized Bill Clinton while he was engaging in unwanted phone sex with a female subordinate.
The most loathsome of the hate-mongers may be Ann Coulter, described as “McCarthy in a mini-skirt, leather boots and a whip.” Apparently, Republican men are turned on by her, but I find her reptilian. In venomous style, she often refers to Al Gore and John Edwards as “faggots.” She reminds me of a wrestling promoter, with all due respect to wrestling promoters.
Here are some of Ann’s more tasteless quotes. On Muslims: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” (Any wonder they hate us?) On Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh: “My only regret is he didn’t go to the New York Times building.” On Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: “We need somebody to put rat poison in his cafe brule.” On the widows of 9/11: “These broads are millionaires. I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much.” Wikipedia says Ann, who will be 46 in December, has been engaged numerous times, and yet, never married. Gee, I wonder why?
Thinking it humorous, Coulter recently wrote that Elizabeth and John Edwards had a bumper sticker, “Ask me about my dead son.” (The Edwards’ oldest son died in a car accident.) Has Ann Coulter no sense of decency? Actually, it’s a rhetorical question. When Coulter was on Chris Matthews’ “Hardball,” Elizabeth Edwards called in and asked her to refrain from personal attacks and stick to the issues. Seems reasonable enough. True to form, Coulter declined. Personal attacks are her issues.
After the Murrow broadcast in 1954, almost overnight, the country finally woke up from the nightmare. These days, I keep waiting for that McCarthy moment. I thought maybe when Rush Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s, or when O’Reilly blamed murdered domestic violence victims instead of their killers, or when Ann Coulter mocks the tragic death of a teenage son. Hopefully, one day, these people will be shunned, not quoted.
At the start of this holiday week, President Bush commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby. Bush always said he would take care of the leaker, and I guess he did. The prosecutor and judge were his appointees, but the president didn’t like the result. (Did someone say the word impeachment?) Just when you think W. can’t possibly do anything worse, he does. In the press release defending his decision, Bush extolled Libby’s patriotic public service. Outing a CIA agent in a time of war is patriotic? Poor Mark Twain must be spinning in his grave.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 6, 2007. Read the original PDF.