Democrats’ Tactic of Accusing Critics of Kremlin Allegiance Has Long, Ugly History in U.S.

[prehnite]

A frequent weapon for Democrats in the 2016 election is to publicly malign those they regard as critics and adversaries as Russia sympathizers, Putin stooges, or outright agents of the Kremlin. To put it mildly, this is not a new tactic in U.S. political discourse, and it’s worth placing it in historical context. That’s particularly true given how

Comments

[moonshaz]

Oh, for Pete's sake. Trump's bromance with Putin is NOT something Hillary and her henchpersons just dreamed up. I'll admit that the exact nature of their relationship is somewhat unclear, but Trump's admiration of Putin and Putin's affinity for Trump are too well-documented to question. Here's one example. Here's another and another. There's tons more all over the web.

[bnmc2005]

This. THANK YOU.

[that_which]

Thank you. Watching incredulously while this turns to the usual ignorant vaporing.

[naotmaa]

My issue with this article is that it seems to be suggesting that the main criticism of Putin from democrats has been that he is a former KGB agent. I understand the article's primary focus here is specifically on the use of cold war era language from some democrats, and I agree that it's lazy and unhelpful to use such a inflammatory rhetoric.

However Greenwald also seems to glaze over the very valid criticisms that democrats have of Putin (stance on LGBT rights, conflicts with Georgia, Ukraine, etc.,human rights in regards to journalists). There's a lot of context here that he doesn't get into, and therefore makes it seem that this Anti-Putin rhetoric that has been used by democrats came out of nowhere this year and stems just from our soviet era distrust of Russia. That's not exactly honest.

There's also the context that over the years American conservatives have had a strange love for Putin, mostly because they see him as representing everything Obama isn't in their eyes. And Trump may be catering to that sentiment as well.

[thepikey]

The GOP gets all starry-eyed over an authoritarian, macho 'man of action'. (Remember how much they drooled over W in his flight suit on the deck of the aircraft carrier?) Now you have Putin shooting tigers? Judo? Repressing gays and silencing that pesky media? Sending the military in to roll over weaker opponents with impunity? That's what their idea of a Real Leader does, they're all over it. Trump is just trying to tap into that sentiment.

Which frankly, is more than a little creepy.

[bnmc2005]

OF for fuck's sake.

Yes Red Scare mongering is an Old hat. In historical contexts it was used by Conservatives to condemn everything from Socialism to welfare to government programs and muddy the concept of "Liberal" with something fanatic and tyrannical. I remember that time. I know how the word "communism" became distorted an Socialism became a dirty word so much that most of Americans my age literally do not know what it means. I am happy to live in a time where the words "feminist" and "Liberal" are no longer automatically "dirty" words never to be spoken by a viable candidate.

But This shit ... today... is NOT the same thing. Trump fucking publicly "joked" about russian hackers, and literally INVITED Russian hackers to intervene in the election. This isn't an exaggerated ad campaign tactic being used against HIM

[rhysande]

THIS! Thank you.

[halfshellvenus]

THANK YOU.

Frankly, I think "former KGB agent" is reason enough to hate Putin, apart from all of the recent shit he's done, and I cannot fathom how he got elected. Is it that people are too young to remember what the KGB did to the Soviet Union's own people? REALLY?

[screamingintune]

this post reminded me of that weird time on LJ when there were actual Putin fangirls