Tea Party Protesters Channeling Joe McCarthy

The Huffington Post has photos of tea bagging protests from across the country. The protesters hold signs of President Obama on an enemies list with al-Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, liberals and the mainstream media. These protesters are channeling Joe McCarthy.

After several largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department.[4] McCarthy was never able to prove his sensational charge.

In succeeding years, McCarthy made additional accusations of Communist infiltration into the State Department, the administration of President Truman, Voice of America, and the United States Army. He also used charges of communism, communist sympathies, or disloyalty to attack a number of politicians and other individuals inside and outside of government. With the highly publicized Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954, McCarthy's support and popularity began to fade. On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure Senator McCarthy by a vote of 67 to 22, making him one of the few senators ever to be disciplined in this fashion. McCarthy died in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48. The official cause of death was acute hepatitis; it is widely accepted that this was exacerbated by alcoholism.

Photo by Erica Slead

There were also birthers amongst the protesters and anti-immigration signs.

Photo by Erica Slead

The protesters were bused in by Patients First. The group is funded by Americans for Prosperity. The founders of AFP millionaire Art Pope and billionaire David Koch. Patients First is a well-managed astroturfing movement. The people drawn to the protests are the most extreme conservatives. If they really equate Obama to al-Qaeda then explaining