Ashcroft is singing off-key

by David Grand
August 28, 2003

Once a member of the now disbanded Senator's quartet, along with fellow Republican warblers Trent Lott, Orrin Hatch, and Jim Jeffords (who's now hitting higher notes in an Independent quartet), Ashcroft's rich baritone voice was always in harmony. But he's now singing inharmoniously with most Americans for infringing upon our constitutional rights to privacy, in the name of protecting us from terrorists.

But he's not bent on turning the country into a "police state," as some of his critics have charged. And compared to that demonic Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whose anti-Communist crusade in the 1950s created a wave of terror throughout the nation by his bullish ways and ruthless treatment of those he pursued like a hungry tiger, Ashcroft is a pussycat, albeit one with a bad temper, whose eyes glow like red-hot coals when his decisions are questioned.

Competing for the national spotlight with McCarthty during that period was the House Un-American Committee (HUAC), which was created in 1947 to investigate threats to the national security and potential subversion. Their main focus was on exposing Communists or "fellow travelers" in the motion picture industry, causing the reputations of many film personalities to be ruined or to be blacklisted and unable to find work, simply for refusing to "name names." Why, even Lucile Ball fell victim to their inquisition, but was cleared of ever being associated with anything "red," except for her hair color.

I can still recall verbatim how Rep. J. Parnell Thomas responded when a witness accused the committee of posing a direct threat to the civil liberties of all Americans: "The rights you have are the rights given you by this committee. We will determine what rights you have and what rights you have not got." In hearing those frightening words, I couldn't help but wonder if he'd been a member of the former German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization in the U.S. (The HUAC died a slow death in 1975.)

But Joe "a commie under every bed" McCarthy got his comeuppance much earlier in 1954, as a result of the hearings he conducted into possible subversive activities in the U.S. Army. However, after 36 days and 2 million words of nationally televised testimony of him trying, in vain, to uncover evidence of a Communist spy ring in the American military, his sinister world came crashing down upon him in one swell-swoop.

That dramatic moment occurred when he launched a vicious, groundless attack on an aide to Army Counsel Joseph Welch, prompting Welch to respond with a rejoinder that shook the Capitol dome: "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or recklessness... Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Those in the room went wild in hearing someone finally putting that bully in his place, as did millions of TV viewers, including me. And almost immediately the tide of public opinion turned against him and he was removed as chairman of that subcommittee, followed by his being censured by the Senate.
However, in a very odd way, we're grateful to him. For, as David Oshinsky, professor at Texas University said, "McCarthy made us aware of how fragile and valuable our liberties are." That's a legacy Ashcroft would do well to ponder as he pushes hard for even more intrusive invasions in our private lives in the proposed Patriot Act 2.

And wonder of wonders, for once I find myself in agreement with what Rep. Roscoe Barlett said about the Patriotic Act: "It was passed too quickly by Congress, fueled by fear following the terrorists attacks on 9/11, and cannot stand as written; and if it does, then the terrorists will have won." Since I know for a fact he always carries a pocket-size copy of the Constitution with him wherever he goes, I wouldn't question his sincerity for a moment.

Sad as it is, schools nowadays don't have time to teach American history and social studies anymore, largely because they're too busy getting students ready to take math and science tests. And probably the only McCarthy they've ever heard about from their parents is Edgar Bergen's wisecracking dummy Charlie McCarthy. (Mortimer Snerd was my favorite dummy.)