The New McCarthyism

(For those unfamiliar with Sen. Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare, Google is your friend.)

There's a new McCarthyism in the U.S., a new Red Scare.  Only this time, instead of one Republican Senator spreading the panic, it's the entire Democrat party.  Let's lay out the facts, then let's assemble the left's allegations.  This will help paint those allegations in their proper light.

1. The Russians are accused of having hacked the DNC's email servers prior to the election.  This hack was allegedly known and sanctioned by Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.  The hack disclosed the emails that proved, among other things, that the Clinton campaign had made numerous bigoted statements about Catholics, Hispanics and other parties, that DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz had conspired to rig the Democrat primaries against Bernie Sanders, and that DNC Vice-Chair Donna Brazile had obtained debate questions from CNN in advance of one of the general election debates, and fed them to Clinton.  (Note that the contents of the emails are factual, and undisputed by the left; in other words, they don't deny that the Democrats rigged the primaries, received debate questions in advance, and made bigoted comments.)
2. In one of the debates, then-candidate Donald Trump jokingly said he hoped Russia found Hillary's 30,000 deleted emails that had been on her private email server.  (Clinton deleted the emails rather than hand them over to the FBI, which was investigating her use of the private server in handling classified information.)
3. In the waning days of the Obama administration, the President issued sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the alleged DNC hack.
4. Former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn had a discussion with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. prior to Trump's inauguration.  It is alleged that the discussions included talk of lifting the Obama sanctions.  Flynn has resigned.
5. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke with the Russian ambassador in his former role as a U.S. Senator.  During his confirmation hearings, Sessions responded to a question by comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken regarding whether he had spoken with the ambassador about the sanctions, or in his role as the prospective AG.  Sessions replied in the negative.

So what have the Democrats made of all this?  Here's the nefarious plot, as nearly as I can understand it - it's a bit sketchy, and it changes from day to day.

Trump's comments in jest during the debate constitute a formal request that his pal Putin hack Hillary's deleted emails (something that, of course, he'd do in front of millions of television viewers the world over).  Unbidden, Putin broadened his cyber-attack to include the DNC server, revealing the damning evidence that purportedly tanked Hillary's POTUS bid.  Obama retaliated with the sanctions.  Trump immediately had his underlings Flynn and Sessions assure the Russian ambassador that the sanctions would be lifted.  Trump is trying to restore the Soviet Union to its former Cold War glory, and is likely a Communist himself.

Balderdash.

Let's debunk this nonsense:

1. If Russia had found Hillary's emails, they would have disclosed them.
2. If Russia did hack the DNC server (which is likely), there's no proof that Putin knew of it or sanctioned it (but that is also not unlikely).  However, Russia also attempted to hack the RNC, and failed, because the RNC's cybersecurity was better than that of the DNC.  Who would you rather trust with safeguarding your personal information and the sensitive information of our military, intelligence agencies and financial institutions - a party that can't secure its own dirty emails, or a party whose security proved impenetrable by even the Russians?  The bottom line is that they were going after both parties, not just the DNC.  In other words, they weren't favoring one candidate over another - and if they did, why would they favor a tough-talking nationalist in Trump over Hillary Clinton, whose State Department rolled over and let Russia have its way?
3. Trump's comments during the debate were in jest.
4. True, Obama sanctioned Russia for the DNC hack.  Something he neglected to do when they invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea and bombed Syria, killing thousands of would-be refugees and thus denying the Democrats the opportunity to bring them here.
5. There is nothing illegal about what Flynn did.  He resigned because he had lied to Vice-President Mike Pence about whether he had had discussions with the Russian ambassador.  That violation of trust cost Flynn his job, not anything illegal or untoward.  In other words, that "smoking gun" is about as warm as Nancy Pelosi's smile.
6. Nor is there anything wrong with what Sessions did.  Senators - especially those on the Armed Services Committee, as Sessions was - regularly meet with foreign officials, both friend and foe.  In fact, here's a list of Democrat Senators who met with the ambassador:  Claire McCaskill (who denied having done so, until evidence came out that she had), Mary Landrieu, Maria Cantwell, Amy Klobuchar, Jack Reed, Robert Casey, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Joe Manchin.  None of them did anything wrong - like Sessions, they all met with the ambassador as part of their roles as Senators.
7. Moreover, Sessions didn't lie to Franken.  When asked if he met with the ambassador as a functionary of the Trump campaign, he said no.  Franken never asked whether he had met with the ambassador in his role as a Senator.  Sessions is an attorney.  He knows how to answer the question being asked, without opening doors that may invite making mountains out of molehills.  Franken is a comedian.  He apparently doesn't know how to ask the right questions.
8. Again, nothing in the disclosed DNC emails has been claimed to be false.  Not the rigging of the Democrat primaries.  Not the collusion between the DNC and CNN to help Hillary prep for the debates by giving her questions in advance.  None of it.
9. There is no proof, or even evidence, that those emails swayed 11th-hour fence-sitters who otherwise would have voted for Hillary.  In fact, the opposite is likely true.  Americans' minds were made up well before the election.  The polls failed to capture that, because of the intolerance of the left toward anyone who might have admitted that they were going to, or that they did, vote for Donald Trump.  Why risk harassment, catcalls and even death threats just to satisfy a pollster?  At most, the emails confirmed what we already knew of Hillary Clinton and the DNC.
10. Trump has signed a lot of executive orders in his first six weeks on the job.  Not one of them has anything to do with lifting Russian sanctions.  If that was such a priority for the administration, why haven't they addressed it?

Further, a photo has surfaced of Chuck Schumer having a cuppa joe with Vladimir Putin.  And President Obama, prior to his second term, met with Putin and told him that after the re-election, he'd have more flexibility, ostensibly to make deals with Russia that might otherwise have hurt his chances at re-election.  There was no outcry from the right when that happened - in fact, most of America didn't even know it had until this recent Red Scare was conjured up by Obama's own party.

All of this is just more nuclear hysteria from the left, who still can't accept the outcome of a free and fair election.  They're like a bunch of toddlers who didn't get the toy they wanted for Christmas, instead having to settle for a toy their siblings picked out.  Rather than check the toy out, see whether maybe, just maybe, it works okay, and is actually kind of fun, they lie on their backs, kick their feet, scream, hold their breath 'til they turn blue, and generally do everything they can to prevent the toy from functioning properly.  In other words, it's merely another tantrum.

However, it's probably a good idea to heed the history lessons from the McCarthy era.  If you have any Russian friends, don't admit it.  If you've ever had a conversation with a Russian, don't tell anyone about it.  If you have any Russian Facebook friends, unfriend them post-haste.  Toss out those copies of The Gulag Archipelago and Crime and Punishment.

In fact, you might even want to stop drinking White Russians, and switch from Stoli to Tito's.