Has McCarthy met his match in Vukmir?
In the annals of Wisconsin political history, there are both inspiring high points and astonishing lows. Of the latter, being the home of Sen. Joseph McCarthy is certainly up there with some of the worst and most shameful.
McCarthy made a name for himself by his relentless and often baseless attacks on both politicians and regular Americans during the Red Scare, using allegations of “communism” and homosexuality, among other things, to persecute anyone he disliked.
Old Joe certainly wasn’t alone in his anti-democratic antics, but it’s his name that we now use to describe that kind of wild and hateful strategy of attacking political and social opponents. For most, it represents an era never to be revisited.
For others, and all too increasingly in and emboldened by the Trump era, it seems like McCarthyism has provided a handy blueprint for how to succeed in politics without really trying.
Running in the Republican primary to serve in the seat once occupied by McCarthy, Wisconsin State Sen. Leah Vukmir recently took her campaign straight into the gutter with an attack on incumbent U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin that might have made Joe McCarthy proud.
Baldwin expressed (rightful) concerns with the nomination of Gina Haspel as the new CIA director. This was in part because Haspel oversaw the program of torture used under the Bush administration (since discontinued). Haspel ordered the destruction of videotapes of many of those interrogations. Baldwin went on to vote against Haspel, but she won confirmation anyway.
Instead of simply disagreeing with Baldwin and posing thoughtful questions or critiques (or perhaps engaging on the topic of whether or not torture should ever be considered, let alone allowed), Vukmir fired off a jawdroppingly dishonest and disgusting attack, accusing Baldwin of being on “Team Terrorist” and siding with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Vukmir seems to be of the mind that there’s no such thing as going too far in the name of “national security.” This despite the fact that the use of torture has, time and again, proven to be not just wildly cruel and immoral but ineffective. Just ask Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was tortured during the Vietnam War as a prisoner of war.
Excusing the use of torture has infected too many corners of American thinking. Vukmir may well believe what she’s saying, rather than this being a calculated case of using hot rhetoric to stir up votes. She wouldn’t be alone. For instance, we currently have a president who routinely calls people “animals.”
To raise nuanced questions about complex problems, or to recognize the humanity of even our worst foes, shouldn’t be something that engenders such condemnation.
This isn’t to say no one should ever criticize or question Baldwin — or anyone else in or striving for a position of power. It’s simply to suggest that we agree on a baseline of intellectual honesty and curiosity that condemns outright lying and manipulation for political gain.
Emily Mills is a freelance writer who lives in Madison. Twitter: @millbot; Email: emily.mills@ outlook.com