Wisconsin progressives have watched with disgust as Republicans and their minions have turned last year's million-plus signatures on various recall petitions into a set of McCarthyesque black lists. Or maybe it's more like a set of Nixonian "enemies lists." In either case, any Wisconsin resident who signed a petition to recall any Republican from Scott Walker on down last year has since been put at risk of being singled out -- and called out -- by these scurrilous political opportunists.

Wisconsin school teachers, lawyers and judges already have been named on conservative web sites for daring to exercise their constitutional rights, and at times portrayed as somehow anti-American. Conservatives have gone so far as to suggest (wrongly) that some of these singled-out signers have done something unethical or illegal, and that they should be shunned, fired or worse.

It's just the latest indication that Republicans and many conservatives no longer know any bottom. Any political edge they can apply justifies the means, no matter how vile. We've not seen this type of tactic used en masse since the 1950s and Joe McCarthy's constant but undocumented accusations against supposed "communist" Americans. Or, if you prefer, since Richard Nixon's celebrated "enemies list."

Now, it's entirely true that recall petitions are public documents open for inspection, but Republicans have taken advantage of that and modern computer technology to create searchable online databases and begin selective villification for their own political benefit. They've even been aided and abetted by select mainstream news organizations. For instance, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published an online database of recall signers and invited readers to explore it.