Bloggers Use McCarthyism to Call Barack Obama a Communist

The Kincaid article titled "Obama's Communist Mentor" starts out by describing Barack Obama as a "secret smoker" in his youth. Somehow, I suppose, this charge (whether true or false) is intended to set the stage for making Obama into a boogeyman. Shiver me timbers! I thought, as I read this startling revelation. Not only did the guy commit the horrible sin of smoking, but he hid it! This clearly illustrates that the man is inherently deceitful-what could follow that might be worse? How about the charge that along with being a closet smoker, Obama is also a closet Communist. That's right, as a result of the fact that Obama may have known a black poet named Frank Marshall Davis, once upon a time, it is clear to Loudon and Kincaid that the American people are at risk of electing a pinko-president whose first loyalty is to the Communist Party.

As I pondered the significance of these charges, it occurred to me to wonder just how this Canadian blogger (Kincaid) managed to uncover Obama's secret. So, I decided to do what no self-respecting political, internet wack-job ever does; I decided to research the author, click on all his sources and really read the articles cited. I even went to the extreme of making a concerted effort to validate this juicy bit of information before passing it on as fact and contributing to its validation through repetition. Since Kincaid closed his article with a challenge, I decided to take him up on it just in case those pinko liberal media guys chose to ignore this lonely voice of reason from up north. The last line of Kincaid's article reads as follows: "Let's challenge the liberal media to report on this. Will they have the honesty and integrity to do so?" What emerged from my investigation was anything but the "honesty and integrity" Kincaid called for.

The Loudon article titled "Obama-file 14 Socialist Led Mega-Union Backs Barack Obama" appears to be an echo of the charge leveled by Cliff Kincaid, an AIM writer/blogger and author of such all-time favorites as "CNN and Hillary Destabilize Pakistan". The issue of which author established Obama's Communism first first can be confusing since Kincaid and Loudon cite each other as sources, and Kincaid cites himself as a source by linking one article to another article of his at a different site. The loop these two have created by linking from Google to the Canadian Free Press then to an outfit called AIM (Accuracy In Media) is enough to give one a headache while trying to figure out where the story originated. Have aspirin handy if you decide to go to this link, this link, and this link from Loudon's and Kincaid's articles to sort it out for yourself. As I remembered English 102, citing oneself or citing someone else who cited their own work was not a great way to establish credibility. It was time to check the other sources cited by these two, and see what substance could be found to support their contentions.

In short, what I found was that Loudon and Kincaid took a great deal out of context from some possibly credible sources to make their case. Those interested can go to the list of links provided at the bottom of this piece to see how a thorough reading of these articles fails to support their claims. Here's the bottom line:
Obama probably knew Frank Marshall Davis.
Frank Marshall Davis was accused of being a communist as a result of racial and labor activism during the McCarthy years. Davis' sins were speaking out against Jim Crow and in favor of organized labor.

Other than this very tenuous link between Barack Obama and a black poet (Davis) who rubbed McCarthy and company wrong, a close reading of the rest of Loudon's and Kincaid's links prove nothing more than that Socialism and Communism exist and reputable people talk about them. News flash for Loudon and Kincaid: McCarthy was discredited and censured by the U.S. Senate over fifty years ago...A Commie behind every bush doesn't work anymore.

In my opinion, the honesty and integrity that Kincaid/Loudon call on the media to provide is totally lacking in the articles which precede that call. This is a case of innuendo, contextual bias, and weak associations used to create shock value and incite people to click on their articles in order to pump up their click counts. Here are the links, go see for yourself if you have enough time and enough aspirin:

Loudon's article: http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-file-14-socialist-led-mega-union.html
Kincaid's CPF article: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/1938
Kincaid's AIM article: http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-international-socialist-connections
Frank Marshall Davis, African American Review: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2838/is_2-3_37/ai_110531701
Rethinking Marxist thought: http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/5047/1/32/
More Davis labor relations in Hawaii: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~takara/frank_marshall_davis.htm
Kincaid bio and article archive: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/members/1938/Kincaid/