A Sense Of Decency, by Mike Gold Brainiac On Banjo #367 | @MDWorld

June 9, 2014 Mike Gold 1 Comment

Nearly 60 years ago, Sen. Joe McCarthy’s assault on American values hit a brick wall when his committee started condemning a man named Fred Fisher, a young attorney in Joe Welch’s firm. Welch was representing the Army in the fight between the Army and McCarthy – a.k.a. the Army / McCarthy Hearings. When he couldn’t make his case against the Army, McCarthy tried to divert attention by accusing Fisher of being a Communist or a fellow traveller or somesuch.

Welch asked McCarthy to drop the issue, which was the polite way of issuing a warning on Capital Hill back then. Joe declined, and Welsh told the Senator “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” Then he walked out of the hearing.

This exchange was broadcast on CBS-TV in a show that CBS refused to back. Producers Fred Friendly and Edward R. Murrow put up their own money to promote the show. At this point, the tide started to turn and Tailgunner Joe was going down. Even filmmaker John Ford, a well-known member of what was then the far-right (today he might be perceived as a Democrat) urged the end of the Hollywood blacklist – standing up to his, and the film industry’s – most important resource, John Wayne.

McCarthy demanded and received equal time, something that has since been done away with, ironically, by Republicans. One week later, in Murrow’s own time-slot, McCarthy dug his grave even deeper. It wasn’t too long before the Senate censured Joe and he returned to Wisconsin in disgrace, only to die a few years later of complications from acute alcoholism.

I’m reminded of this happy event (well, maybe not so much if you were Phillip Loeb) as I watch the Republicans’ response to the freeing of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Without offering any evidence to establish let alone prove a point, they strongly suggest that Bergdahl was a deserter and saving his life wasn’t worth feeling five Taliban “terrorists,” thereby proving President Obama is a threat to America which is why everybody should vote Republican so we can get rid of Obamacare and solar power.

Let’s look at that. First of all, the Taliban are not terrorists. Republicans cannot tell the difference between the Taliban and Al Queda. They’re not nice people, but they behave in ways that were accepted by Christianity a thousand years ago, which most Christians have outgrown and a few Israelis in power have not. They’re conducting a civil war. Second, they were imprisoned for 21 years. They’re kind of out of the loop, and, now, they are 21 years older. Hardly the Adolf Eichmanns the Republicans say they are.

Third, yes, the life of an American kept as a Prisoner of War is indeed worth five Taliban. it’s up to the American military justice system to determine if he broke any laws. It’s not up to the Taliban and not a bunch of Republican windbags. Was he a deserter? I don’t know, but I don’t believe he was in the wind long enough (30 days) to achieve that condemnation. Certainly, the clock stopped when he was captured. For all we know, he might have returned to his base before the deadline. To be fair, we haven’t heard his side of the story. We can’t be certain he was even AWOL. That’s why we have trials.

But to suggest that Bergdahl was a traitor without a shred of evidence, I ask the Republican blowhards what Joseph Welch asked Joe McCarthy back in the day: have you no shame?

A note: We join the many here to offer our hearts and souls to MOTU Michael Davis and his mother in this dire time. You are never alone.

Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com as part of “Hit Oldies” every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information. Gold also joins MDW’s Marc Alan Fishman, Martha Thomases and Michael Davis as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com where he pontificates on matters of four-color.