Discriminations

Back in the McCarthite days when “guilt by association” was real — unlike now, when it is a partisan slur hurled at Republicans who dare to question Obama’s choices of friends, associates, mentors — the practice by which the guilty party’s associations were exposed was universally known as naming names.

Today, one of the left’s more humorous forms of attacking those who “name names” is to denounce Obama critics who insist on naming his middle name, Hussein. As far as I know, no one associated with the McCain campaign has dared to speak the name “Hussein,” and McCain even admonished one of his supporters who did:

CINCINNATI, Ohio—A conservative radio talk show host who helped introduce Senator John McCain before a rally here Tuesday used Senator Barack Obama’s middle name, Hussein, three times, while disparaging him, prompting Mr. McCain to apologize and repudiate the comments afterward.

We’ve already seen (here) how risky it can be for a radio or television station to air an ad that the Obamanauts don’t like (it can invite a demand for a federal investigation), in this case an ad that discussed his Ayers connections. As Ben Smith of Politico explained,

Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,” the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements. The Obama campaign — and tens of thousands of supporters — also is pressuring television networks and affiliates to reject the ads. The effort has met with some success: CNN and Fox News are not airing the attacks.

It’s one thing for candidate Obama to request the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation of those who sponsor ads he doesn’t like. It’ll be quite something else if President Obama can instruct his Justice Department to conduct such investigations.

But that was only one case. There are others, such as threatened action against stations regarding an NRA ad criticizing Obama’s record on guns:

The Obama campaign sent cease and desist letters to news outlets in Pennsylvania and Ohio, denouncing the ads and demanding their removal from the airwaves.

Now, as a result of last night’s debate, we can see that it’s also risky even for lone individuals to say things in public the Obamanauts dislike. I’m referring, of course, to Joe The Plumber, whom the Obama forces have now “exposed” as unlicensed (the quotes, because as an employee he doesn’t need a license), have published his home address on the Daily Kos, and, in the weirdest example of objecting to Republican naming middle names, have now revealed (gasp!) that Joe The Plumber is really Sam The Plumber (Joseph is his middle name)! (HatTip to Tom Ellis)

At least the Dems and their fellow travelers in the media (guilt by association is a two-way street) are consistent: they become apoplectic when Republicans use someone’s middle name.