The Republican Party has spent the last few days in an awkward spiral of jingoism, as evidenced by a slew of controversial statements. Let’s review the events of the last few days:

Friday, 10/17:

Representative Michele Bachman (R-Minnesota) states that she is “very concerned that [Barack Obama] may have anti-American views”

Saturday, 10/18

Representative Robin Hayes (R- North Carolina) tells a crowd that “liberals hate real Americans that …believe in God.”

Sunday, 10/19

Sarah Palin levies a new line of attack against Barack Obama by implying that an Obama Presidency would be an “experiment with socialism”.

Tuesday, 10/21:

Sarah Palin is forced to apologize for earlier suggestions that some areas of the United States are “Pro-America”; and that, by association, other areas of the country are less patriotic.

My fellow Americans, this is NOT an isolated series of unrelated Gaffs. These gaffes are the embarrassing side-effect of the Republican Party’s mindset; that it can successfully use the tactics of Joseph McCarthy, a politician who gained power by publicly targeting individuals and groups as Anti-American, Communists, and Atheists.

Yes, these statements are evidence that the Republican Party is returning to the values of McCarthyism to help them win this election. They do, in fact, want to paint Barack Obama as a communist, but they can’t because they wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Instead, the Republican Party is exploiting politically convenient semantics; “socialism” is closely enough associated with “communism” to concern Americans.

What the Republican Party has risked by playing by Joseph McCarthy’s rules is the possibility of redefining the concept of the “Red Scare”.

By now, most Americans have heard the vicious rumors that Barack Obama is a Muslim, Arab, and/or Terrorist. Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware Andy Martin, a psychologically unhinged conservative blogger is responsible for these rumors.  Thankfully, the New York Times has exposed him.

Andy Martin was denied admission to the Illinois Bar because of concerns about his sanity. The findings of the Psychological Examination conducted on behalf of the Illinois Bar was that Mr. Martin has:

“a severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character.”

Mr. Martin’s colorful legacy includes Quixotic gems such as:

- Filing so many frivolous lawsuits that he was barred from filing law suits in Federal Court without preliminary approval

-Listing “Exterminate Jew Power” among his purposes for running for a Connecticut Senate Seat.

- Suing the chairman of the Florida Republican Party for refusing to support him in his campaign for a Florida Senate seat.

While it may seem bizarre that a lunatic like Mr. Martin has been afforded so much credibility, the reality is a bit more tangible when you consider the role the Conservative Media has had in promoting him.

In 2004, the conservative website FreeRepublic.com published one of Mr. Martin’s press releases in which he suggested that  “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion”. For the last 4 years, the freepers (avid contributers to freerepublic) have fervidly spread and exaggerated these claims.

Just last week, conservative news channel Fox News allowed Mr. Martin to assert that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government.

Nobody challenged him on this point. But when questions were raised about Mr. Martin’s appearance on Fox News, a Fox News executive defending by saying that “Mr. Martin was clearly expressing his opinion and not necessarily fact”