Rachel Maddow: American history as ignorant snark

kameraliadam — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:05:49 +0000

I promised friends, family and editors I would pull back on reporting and writing about the 24/7 cable TV partisans. It is too depressing and journalistically depraved a bunch on both sides of the great American political divide with which to spend your professional life.

But seldom do arrogance, ignorance, cultural irony and act-like-you-know phony bluster come together as they did in a segment on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show Thursday.

Furthermore, the subject matter she was dealing with, how ideologues try to re-write history, is hugely important — even if she did get it astonishly wrong and show herself guilty and then some of the sins she was trying to condemn in a conservative politician, Mike Huckabee.

As you watch the video below, you might ask how and why a U.S. senator could be a member of a House committee. But that is just a warmup to appreciating how wrong she is as she says: “You may remember the House Un-American Activities Committee. Part of that was Senator Joseph McCarthy red-baiting the heck out of the entertainment industry, dragging in actors and writers and anyone he thought might have a whiff of communism on them … Well, in 1947, Ronald Reagan testified before that committee — as a friendly witness.”

Please watch the video and then click ahead for more discussion.

Reagan testified before HUAC in Hollywood. McCarthy, a senator, had nothing to do with that House committee. That’s what the “H” stands for: House. I think that is, what, about sixth grade civics?

John Parnell Thomas and John Rankin were among the more notorious names on that committee. They were members of the House — not the Senate. A lesser-know member was U.S. Rep. Richard Nixon

But Maddow in her video, as those who view it will see, goes on and on about McCarthy and the Hollywood committee she thinks he was part of.

I will say no more, but it is astonishing to me that a program presented under the banner of NBC News could have this many incorrect statements of basic fact about such important matters of American history.

Let’s see if MSNBC and Ms. Maddow correct the mistakes tonight.

You can read more analysis from Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters about this matter here – including a paragraph citing Ann Coulter also pointing out what a sorry, mixed-up, muddleheaded view of history Maddow was peddling in this video.

I have compared Glenn Beck’s view of American history to that of an elementary student enamoured of the hagiography of biographers like Parson Weems. You know what? Maddow is worse in this case.

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Rachel Maddow: American history as ignorant snark