Good Night, and Good Luck

So ended Edward R Murrow’s special, “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy”. For McCarthy and his “red scare” witchhunt, this was the beginning of the end. His inability to distinguish friends from enemies, and his descent into alcoholism, helped the process. McCarthy was of course the holder of elective office, unlike the deeply unpleasant Rush Limbaugh – who called Susan Sotomayor, Barack Obama’s first nominee for the Supreme Court, a racist, and the equally odious Glenn Beck, who has called Obama himself a racist.

Now, a parallel has been drawn between McCarthy, Limbaugh and Beck, and the video can be viewed here.

And remember: Fox News (fair and balanced my arse) not only employ Beck and have not moved to censure or even quieten him down, but also have among their pundits Ann Coulter, who says that McCarthy is a “Great American Hero”.

Fox is of course run by Murdoch the Interfering Foreigner, whose endorsement Young Dave is seeking in the run up to the General Election (I’ll just throw in the pledge to abolish Ofcom, standing by Andy Coulson, and creating an apparently daft coalition in the European Parliament as examples of Rupe friendly actions).

Tory supporters prepared to say anything about the Fox style, or even prepared to speak out against Cameron’s cosying up to Murdoch? What you are unlikely to see on any news channel this side of the General Election.