AFL-CIO president to Sarah Palin: Change or be linked with McCarthyism [View All]

Source: CS Monitor

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka charged that if Republican political star Sarah Palin is not more careful in her choice of words, the political movement she has helped to create will be linked with 1950s McCarthyism.


AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka charged Thursday that if Republican political star Sarah Palin is not more careful in her choice of words, the political movement she has helped to create will be linked with McCarthyism, the 1950s-era crusade by Sen. Joseph McCarthy to brand political enemies as communists.

Mr. Trumka’s comments about his strained relations with Ms. Palin came at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters, where he was asked how his previous critical words about the 2008 GOP vice-presidential nominee squared with his call for union members to save their anger for “corporate lapdogs” and Senate Republicans.

The comments were “totally consistent,” Trumka said. “She has taken on a position of leadership, and whether it is rightfully given to her or not, she is there. And so she can’t use loose language that foments … changing that anger to hatred or that action to violence.” He continued, “If she doesn’t change her ways, then Palinism will be equated with other forms of McCarthyism that fomented division among the populace and acts of hatred among the populace.”

The union leader’s comments Thursday are a sequel to a battle of words between the two figures last week. In a speech in Anchorage, Alaska. on Aug. 26, Trumka said Palin will “go down in history like McCarthy.” He criticized her for what he sees as incendiary rhetoric, including her use of the phrase “don’t retreat ... reload” and a reference she made to “union thugs.”



Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2010/0902/AFL-CIO-president-to-Sarah-Palin-Change-or-be-linked-with-McCarthyism