I asked my Dad if things were worse during the McCarthy Era

[Quixote1818]

He said he thought they were worse now!

[BayouBengal07]

1. While the time itself may be better than the 50s

Born in 1956, my dad said Bush is the worst president of his lifetime. Bush, more than any other president, he says, has embraced and advanced crony capitalism, fundamentalism, and a messianic vision for America. Every thing Washington and Eisenhower warned against.

[va_dem]

2. I think things were worse during the McCarthy era

Hollywood black lists, communist hunts in the Congress and Executive. Seems like this is pretty tame compared to back then, but I was kind of young at the time, so I've only read about it.

[Quixote1818]

7. Black listing Hollywood is one thing. Black listing Innocent reporters

is another thing. Bush is trying to control the flow of information. Thats scary as hell!

I don't know if "black listing" is the right word for what Bush is doing but they are pulling some nasty crap with people in the press and people who oppose them.

[housewolf]

16. "Iron fisted control"

Seems to me "iron fisted control" is an apt description of what this admin is trying to achieve.

It's not exactly "black listing", though they do do some of that by withholding press passes and stuff like that.

[Zen Democrat]

14. The blacklisting only became public knowledge much later.

Can you just imagine how much blacklisting is going on now?

I don't think we had Gulags during the McCarthy era.

I don't think we were openly operating torture chambers back then ... and a big block of Reich Wingers are not only condoning this stuff, they are celebrating it.

We're in harder and meaner times now.

[sinkingfeeling]

17. Weren't some contributors to John Kerry just denied attendance at

some conference? Isn't that 'blacklisting'?

[Doctor_J]

20. Well, I don't think Ike ever told the Newsweek people what to print

like * recently did. Now did he place his only cronies in charge of networks, like * did with CPB. There is a ton of blacklisting now, and worse - ask Dan Rather and Bill Moyers.

[barb162]

3. During Nixon things were very bad too. Watergate, Vietnam, etc.

[proud patriot]

4. My dad said the same

However , resisters are more organized and we
have the internet now . We are in new and uncharted
territory .

[formerrepuke]

5. The man at the helm back then was the the opposite of * in many

ways. Eisenhower was NOT a draft dodger (far from it); NOT particularly religious; NOT born into wealth (never owned his own home until he left the White House); NOT coasting on the brand-name familiarity of his family... one could go on and on with this....

[fishnfla]

6. Check out what Wilson pulled off in 1918

things have been worse.

[madinmaryland]

8. Can you elaborate?

What do you mean?

[lenidog]

10. Try these things

Espionage Act of 1917
Sedition Act of 1918
The United States Committee on Public Information
Palmer Raids
Jailing of Eugene V Debs
Support for American Protective League

Look them up and you will see what he meant.

[fishnfla]

11. I didnt mean to be obtuse

but I dont have enough time to list all the stuff. It was a total lockdown on society. Isnt Wilson one of shrubs role models?

[AmBlue]

9. We weren't flirting with all-out nuclear war...

back then. Neither did we have most-hated nation status together with large groups of Muslims hell-bent on annihilating Americans of every stripe and color. Oh yeah, and let's don't forget peak oil.... :hide:

[va_dem]

12. Actually we were closer to all out nuclear war back then.

There was this little thing called the Cuban Missle Crisis. Thankfully Kennedy was President and not some moron. As for now, how's the all out nuclear war starting? N Korea? Not with 3-6 nukes. Russia's decomissioned alot of their stuff, they can't beat us in a nuclear war, China has a few hundred warheads, but not many ICBM's. There's no all out nuclear war coming, I even doubt the Muslims will try and blast us, they know this maniac would vaporize them.

[Double T]

13. History Will Give Bush His Due........

....worst and most destructive president of all time.

[Cleita]

15. He'll have his place in history, alongside

Hitler and Stalin.

[I Have A Dream]

19. I thought that history would do the same with Reagan...

and it hasn't happened yet.

(I'm not saying that he's equivalent to W., but I think that he would have done many of the same things if given the chance.)

[SlavesandBulldozers]

21. nor will it ever

because in the grand scheme of things Reagan will be a tiny blip compared to the fuckery of his apprentices.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

18. McCarthyism with a splash of Spanish Inquisition

:banghead:

[Cash]

22. I used to ask my Dad if I could borrow 50 cents.

He'd tell me his life story. And for 50 cents it was never a happy story. How he got up at 4 A.M. when he was seven years old and walked twenty-three miles to milk ninety cows. And the farmer for whom he worked had no bucket, so he had to squirt the milk into his little hand and then walk eight miles to the nearest can. All for 5 cents a month.