October 12, 2010 07:57 PM UTC

Desperate Dems using McCarthyism?

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• by: Laughing Boy

First, McCarthyism is partially defined by Wikipedia as:

…a term used to describe the making of accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence.

Although McCarthy was eventually partially vindicated, the technique of throwing a horrible accusation out, and then asking the accused to prove otherwise is antithetical to our system here in the U.S.

So why, then, are the Dems taking the ball and running with it by accusing the Chamber of Commerce of using foreign money to win elections here in the U.S., while providing no proof whatsoever?

More blow the fold…

David Zurawik, the Media Critic at the Baltimore Sun (h/t to Ed Morrissey at Hotair) writes a scathing condemnation of this ad:

Says Z…

Check out this new ad from the Democratic National Committee. I am sure we are nowhere near touching bottom on the level to which these attack ads will sink by Nov.2, but this is a new low so far into the midterm battle.

Here is what’s so appalling to me: The ad makes the totally unsubstantiated charge that the Chamber of Commerce is taking money from foreign interests and using it to “steal our democracy.” And worse, President Obama is out on the campaign trail, according to the New York Times, creating an echo chamber by making the same reckless claims just as the ad hits the airwaves. And when CBS newsman Bob Schieffer Sunday asks David Axelrod if there is any proof for the claim, the senior Obama aide says they don’t need proof — it’s up to the Chamber of Commerce to prove it isn’t true.

All of this flies in thew face of some recent history, but more importantly, you have the President and the Vice President engaging in this horrific, unfair tactic and admitting it.Emphasis mine:

[Obama said:] “You don’t know,” he said here. “It could be the oil industry, it could be the insurance industry, it could even be foreign-owned corporations. You don’t know because they don’t have to disclose. Now that’s not just a threat to Democrats, that’s a threat to our democracy.”

Oh really, Mr. President?  Hmmm..Perhaps you have a point.

Foreign-connected PACs

Election cycle:2010

Total: $12,204,154

To Dems: $6,517,903

To Repubs: $5,581,701

The Times goes on…

The Democrats have offered no evidence that the chamber is using foreign money to influence the elections. The chamber has overseas affiliates that pay dues to the main organization but says it has a process to segregate those funds from any used for electioneering.

“The D.N.C. is going to exhaust itself trying so hard to change the political conversation,” Thomas J. Collamore, the chamber’s senior vice president of communications and strategy, said in a statement. “Its ad attacking the U.S. Chamber is a blatant attempt to avoid a serious discussion of Americans’ top priority – creating jobs and growing the economy. The ad is ridiculous and false.”

David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser, was asked Sunday by Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation” on CBS if he had any evidence that the chamber was using secret foreign funds to influence the election.

“Well, do you have any evidence that it’s not, Bob?” Mr. Axelrod replied. “The fact is that the chamber has asserted that, but they won’t release any information about where their campaign money is coming from. And that’s at the core of the problem here.”

The Democratic committee’s spokesman, Hari Sevugan, likewise offered no evidence and suggested it was up to the chamber to disprove the assertions. “Serious questions have been raised,” he said in an e-mail. “If they want to clear this up, they can open up their books.”

The chamber is hardly the only organization playing a role in the campaign that has international affiliations and gets money from foreign institutions. Among others are groups on the political left like the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Sierra Club. The law requires them to isolate foreign money from any domestic political activity.

For how easily the left pulls out the sheiks of “McCartyism!!!” when none exists, you’d think they’d be a little more careful about actually executing it.