WATCH: Rep. Allen West and the Ghost of McCarthy

Little of what Allen West says ever surprises me. He's called President Obama "a low-level socialist agitator," said anyone with an Obama bumper sticker on their car is "a threat to the gene pool," and told liberals like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to "get the hell out of the United States of America." Apparently he gets his talking points from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, or Ted Nugent. But this time I shook my head in disbelief. Seventy-eight to 81 Democrats, members of the Communist Party?

That's when the memory hole opened and a ghost slithered into the room.

Watch the videos excerpted in this essay in full, and check out more features at BillMoyers.com. Moyers & Company airs weekly on public television.

 

 

 

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Comments

[billtmore]

04:29 PM on 05/04/2012

West is playing to the base. the GOP base is low effort thinkers. Add to that Florida...south Florida...older, conservative and low effort thinkers. as we know with this group if you say something over and over and over it is gospel to the low effort thinkers. Rove knew this. that is why every republican would have the exact same message and they would never waiver.

[Jced]

09:04 AM on 05/02/2012

What a man!

[Wildkitty]

08:43 AM on 05/02/2012

THANK YOU, Bill Moyers!

Throughout our history there have been politicians, religious leaders and citizens who ahve become 'toxic' in their behaviour and comments. But in this great USA it really isn't surprising. From the arrival of the whie man and the slaughtering of those who had lived here for millenia, to the breaking of every 'Treaty' with the remnants of those tribes, from the importation and use of slaves, to the incredibly bloody war between the north and south, to the Civil Rights movement, to gang warfare, to the 'Stand your Ground laws, to Allen West trying to begin a new 'war on anyone who doesn't worship at his feet', to Nicky Haley's 'slam him against the wall', to the murder of doctors who perform a perfectly 'legal' service - and on and on and on.

This country has been incredibly violent throughout our history.

WHEN WILL IT STOP!!

[Abelardo Perez]

02:00 AM on 05/02/2012

beautiful and genius comparison of the scare tactics that are now being used by modern-time republicans/right-wing extremists

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

12:40 AM on 05/02/2012

You know you did something wrong when Bill Moyers slaps you upside the head.Thank you Bill.

[Absolute]

09:11 PM on 05/01/2012

I'm an unabashed Bill Moyers groupie.

[Tazzie]

10:29 PM on 05/01/2012

We should form a fan club :)

[ljkcan]

12:10 AM on 05/02/2012

I agree so good to have him back on TV.

[Ralph Lyndes Daughter]

05:53 PM on 05/01/2012

Thank you Mr. Moyers. This has been the first avenue I have had regarding this teapub to say Thank you to somebody with credentials, who had the courage to put the light on this unethical American trader. Debbie, a fellow Congress person in his state, has had to defend herself from this verbal terrorist, but you Mr. Moyers did the job of exposure as a good reporter should.

[papapj]

05:08 PM on 05/01/2012

The behavioural patterns of Allen West have been documented, and are easily recognisable:

"The emotionally immature person, however, has low levels of self-esteem and self-confidence and consequently feels insecure; to counter these feelings of insecurity they will spend a large proportion of their lives creating situations in which they become the centre of attention. It may be that the need for attention is inversely proportional to emotional maturity, therefore anyone indulging in attention-seeking behaviours is telling you how emotionally immature they are.

Attention-seeking behaviour is surprisingly common. Being the centre of attention alleviates feelings of insecurity and inadequacy but the relief is temporary as the underlying problem remains unaddressed: low self-confidence and low self-esteem, and consequent low levels of self-worth and self-love.

Insecure and emotionally immature people often exhibit bullying behaviours, especially manipulation and deception. These are necessary in order to obtain attention which would not otherwise be forthcoming. Bullies and harassers have the emotional age of a young child and will exhibit temper tantrums, deceit, lying and manipulation to avoid exposure of their true nature and to evade accountability and sanction."

http://tinyurl.com/3jzpwtj


Classic psychosis, and we all do him no favours by providing him the oxygen of publicity he craves.

I say, we let him suffocate in his ignominy, and leave those who voted for him to ponder WTF they were thinking when they did so....

[Lak Shmi]

08:10 AM on 06/12/2012

...and Bill Moyers hasn't been exhibiting the same psychosis for 30 years as a leftist scoundrel on the ethically bankrupt PBS (does anyone watch that)? Don't let the soft voice fool you. Moyers is the enemy. Also your pretentious British spellings are a sign of your own brand of psychosis and low self-esteem. No way a Brit is reading this for any reason -- not even a Canadian for that matter. Such affectations -----!!! Laughable

[CraigVale]

02:17 PM on 05/01/2012

West is the guy who's lawyers you would see before the Supreme Court arguing that he had every right to yell " FIRE" to all the theatre goers the night that several were trampled to death under the feet of paniced patrons of the arts. That would be just fine with Allen as any money spent on cultural functions is an anathema to his core beliefs. In fact he'd say it was his patriotic duty to dislodge these left leaning socialists from the seats as the viewed the " Death of a Salesman" because it made Willy Loman's boss look bad.

[RickinBoca]

01:54 PM on 05/01/2012

Allen Worst's barely controlled rage and indignation that sane people believe he is insane is all that keeps him in the news. His best hope for the future is that Faux Noise will hire him.

[Lak Shmi]

08:13 AM on 06/12/2012

Is anyone aware that "faux" is pronounced "Foe" and not "Fawks" and that even if you don't get it, you should at least know that the whole corruption is soooooooooo tired?

[olderthan]

10:42 AM on 05/01/2012

I remember McCarthy and the damage he did to this country. I think West will not be as successful as McCarthy was for a time. West carries on so much that he seems quite unsound mentally and will never get the backing and followers that McCarthy had before he came to a bad end. McCarthy was a heavy drinker. How about West?

[nypapajoe]

10:19 AM on 05/01/2012

When you have Bill Moyers the most credible journalist and intellectual making comments about Rep. West making unsubstantiated, irresponsible, unbelievable accusations against fellow members of congress uttered by a member of congress, one must wonder is it possible that West could be so ignorant about historical events that exposed another who was just as veil and who had no sense of honor nor decency! Rep. West must be censured and exposed for his carelessness and false accusations! West is a detriment to our democracy!

[rg9rts]

04:31 PM on 05/01/2012

No can do if he did it on the floor of congress.

[Billyguitar]

10:08 AM on 05/01/2012

I doubt West is using McCarthy's tactics intentionally. He seems to be running a parallel race to Mc's. It won't end well for West. If he doesn't clean up his act he will soon be discarded. For that reason I hope he stays true to his "cause".

[Jamie Kowalski]

10:05 AM on 05/01/2012

Thank you, Mr. Moyers. We need 100 more of you.

[derrickj66]

09:01 AM on 05/01/2012

I am so glad that we have patriots like Bill Moyers, not afraid to expose these haters infiltrated in American politics.