Please note, the continuation of this post has been submitted and is being held for approval by the blog owner, not me.

3. I call it the New McCarthyism, a widespread and rabidly xenophobic effort to smear the patriotism of -- and permanently disable -- politicians such as (most often but not exclusively) Sen. Barack Obama. It is a semi-coordinated campaign of fear and malicious innuendo not seen since the days of Joseph McCarthy and that exceeds even the Swiftboating of John Kerry in its roots and ambition.

It is differentiated -- at least in my mind -- from the usual hardball politics even of the 527 groups by its utter abandonment of fact, logic and ethics. It most closely resembles the Red baiting of the McCarthy era or the Nazi propaganda of 1930s Germany in its appeal to public fears of an INTENTIONAL national betrayal, its blatant and willful disregard for fact and its mission to destroy reputations and careers. (In the last few days, I searched Google for the phrase "New McCarthyism" and found a Nov. 12, 2007, article in The Nation that detailed a strikingly similar campaign against Muslim academics and confirmed my independently formulated description of the New McCarthyism: "There is an undeniable security threat, but as in the 1950s the New McCarthyites use it as a base for demagogy. Their distinguishing feature is not concern about this threat but cynical indifference to the truth or decency of their charges." http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071112/cohler-esses )

Rather than being coordinated by a senator and his staff, the attacks are often self-coordinated (viral) and are spread through an exceptionally large and influential underground network of people feeding off one another's paranoia until the lie breaks through the "buzz threshold" and emerges into mainstream media. Rather than exposing the lies and their source, mainstream media treats each bit of innuendo or malice as a separate story. In fact, most of the lies and distortions are traceable back to the network of extremists.

The New McCarthyism'sl "image terrorists" operate under none of the usual journalistic restraints such as ethics, sources, facts or logic, but play on the same fears of another 9/11 used over more than six years by the Bush Administration. The New McCarthyism includes use of "old media" such as radio and print, but more significantly, launches its attacks using the web's exponentially expanding ability to spread viral messages through email, online newspaper feedback forums, diaries, articles, blogs and audio/video services such as YouTube.

Yeah, this has been going on for quite some time.

Check out Robert Greenwald's "Fox Attacks" at Youtube.

His traveling press corp nor the national media did him no favors in squelching these rumors.

This is one of the reasons that Obama has piloted "Fight the Smears" at his website, asked supporters to contribute only to his message campaign, and tightened his traveling press coverage to the "waaaa's" of the MSM.

And I wouldn't worry too much about the articles from the Washington Post since McCain's campaign adviser has financial/ideological connections to the Post.

Hey, Ripper: rejoin reality! Pretty nice out here.

By the way, the reason the MSM won't discuss this is because the MSM (nearly all of it, not just FOX) are complicit dupes, relying on "stories" bubbling up from the sewers of lesser media.

What's new is that Far Right operatives are aware of the MSM's reliance on first-level reporting by other media. These operatives have created the mechanisms to take advantage of the media's "accuracy firewalls" by piping their filth through enough conduits until credible media sources willingly repeat it. It's like money laundering, only the thing being diverted and given the appearance respectability isn't money, it's lies.

Check out Kouri at:

http://www.thenma.org/NMA%20Staff%20Writers.htm

then check out who owns NMA:

http://www.heritagenewmedia.com/

I think it is horrible, unsurprising, and nothing new. Look at what they said about Adams and Jefferson, Lincoln, Smith. Our political culture has always had this debased undercurrent, and while it's abhorrent and evil, it's only deeply significant when, as with McCarthy, it ascends to governance. Right now, we're on the verge of having a liberal black President. I am not dismissing your point about bigots and extremists who deride our leaders as dupes of our enemies or fundamentally committed to hurting the republic, but it does come with the territory, and we've been living it for 230 years and counting.

I find it to be very interesting how a half truth, or outright lie, regarding certain political issues finds its way into the mind of American citizens.

Great blog.