Eventually, America learned that the WisconsinRepublican's famous list was a fabrication, that he was a liar and a demagogueas well as an alcoholicand that his authoritarian appeals to fear were worsethan useless in defending our security. But by then, McCarthyism's self-servingand fundamentally unpatriotic promoters had inflicted grave damage on the bodypolitic and international prestige of the United States.
Today, McCarthy's heirs are more slick and glib thanhe ever was, yet their fundamental methods are the same. When Elizabeth Cheney,William Kristol and their media friends slander Justice Department attorneys asthe "Al Qaeda 7" and malign the "Department of Jihad," theyare engaging in the smear tactics that became synonymous with McCarthy.
What is different now is the cynical hypocrisy ofthe new McCarthyites, who know that the flimsy accusations they level againstDemocrats in the Obama administration could just as easily be turned onRepublicans who served President Bush.
Bush Administration Officials HadRepresented Accused Terrorists
Cheney and Kristol have charged that certain lawyersin the Justice Department represented alleged terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison campand that by so doing,those attorneys rendered themselves unfit for government service. "Whosevalues do they share?" asks an ominous advertisement aired by their frontgroup, known as Keep America Safe. They mean to insinuate that the values ofthose Justice Department attorneys, President Obama and Attorney General EricHolder are somehow closer to the jihadism of Al Qaeda than to those shared bymost Americans.
The values that most of us share include honesty andfairnessand this sleazy campaign violates both. If every lawyer who representssomeone accused of terrorism is by definition a terrorist sympathizer, then ourentire system of justice is in doubt, since it requires counsel for everyoneaccused of a crime. More specifically, if the lawyers who have counseled terrorsuspects are by definition untrustworthy, then the dark cloud of suspicionextends well beyond the current roster of the Justice Departmentand into theheart of the Republican Party.
As Scott Horton points out in Harper's magazine, the McCarthyite list would have to includeMichael Chertoff, who headed the Justice Department's criminal division beforePresident Bush nominated him as secretary of the Department of HomelandSecurity. Among Chertoff's clients in private practice was a New Jersey doctor named Magdy el-Amir,identified as a conduit for money-laundering to Al Qaeda and other jihadistoutfits.
He became a Chertoff client when the state of New Jersey sued him torecoup illicit money from a health maintenance organization he controlled,which had sent more than $5 million by wire transfers to bank accounts"where the beneficial owner is unknown." In other words, a verydubious character who had been under surveillance by the FBI for years.
There was never any reason to believe that byrepresenting Magdy el-Amir (who was recently arrested in a prescription drugracket), Chertoff somehow disqualified himself from government service. Butsimilar phony questions could be raised about Michael Mukasey, the former Bushattorney general whose law firm provides pro bono representation to Guantanamo detainees. OrRudolph Giuliani, the mayor of Sept. 11, whose firm has also representeddetainees because, like all prisoners, they are entitled to counsel.
If this seems confusing, here's a simple principleto keep in mind: Representing someone in an American court does not meanagreeing with that person's actions or ideology. Here's another: Guilt byassociation is an unworthy tactic that ought to raise suspicions about thosewho use it rather than those against whom it is used.
The career of McCarthy and the specter ofMcCarthyism ended only when a handful of decent Republicansnotably includingPrescott Bush, the grandfather of George W. Bushjoined in a Senate resolutionof censure against him and his tactics. Perhaps we witnessed the beginning ofsuch a moment of truth last week, when 19 prominent Republican attorneys,including Kenneth Starr and several former Bush Justice and Defense Departmentappointees, denounced the Keep America Safe smears as shameful, unjust anddestructive.
Conservatives can effectively discredit thisdisgraceful campaignand it is their responsibility to do so.
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