http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/07/12/opinion/494533.txt
July 12, 2010
In an article he wrote in 1967, Richard "Rambo" Blumenthal, attorney
general and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, discussed how communism
"was no longer radical" and laid out how the far left could bring
socialism to America through community organizing, infiltrating the
teaching profession, radicalizing government-employee unions and
working within the system.
In the lexicon of communists, Mr. Blumenthal, then a reporter on The
Harvard Crimson, revealed an encyclopedic familiarity with socialist
doctrine and objectives in focusing on Students for a Democratic
Society, a leading anti-Vietnam war group of the 1960s. The FBI once
described the SDS as "a hard line Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
organization dedicated to the destruction of Western democratic
traditions and ideals." Many high-ranking members have been described
as "red-diaper babies," the children of communist activists.
Through a spokeswomen, Mr. Blumenthal said he merely was reporting a
story. Perhaps. But there's a more plausible explanation, one that
casts him not as a disinterested observer, but if not a participant,
a likely supporter.
To begin with, reporters learn early on about attribution. In news
stories, unattributed material that is not indisputable fact is
deemed to be the writer's opinion. In the 1960s, before "journalistic
ethics" collapsed, reporters especially frowned upon unattributed
passages "editorializing" because it cast doubt on the writer's
objectivity.
Mr. Blumenthal's article brims with opinions that are unattributed or
assigned to unnamed "intellectuals." Moreover, he wrote it for a
radical left-wing magazine, The Nation, a "weekly journal of opinion,
featuring analysis on politics and culture" (our emphasis). So his
"article" was an opinion piece, and based on the context and tone,
his views of the SDS were mixed. Like other "intellectuals," he saw
it as too confrontational to attract mainstream support, but left
little room for doubt that he supported the SDS's far-left goals and
was sympathetic to its anti-war cause.
Mr. Blumenthal offered plenty of opinions, including: "Communism is
no longer radical: it aims to get power through the electoral process
in other words, working within the system and supports liberal
measures such as Social Security and Medicare."
Like other "intellectuals," Mr. Blumenthal has a moral blind spot for
socialism. Still, thanks to the Democratic Party, Big Public Labor,
the ACLU and other left-wingers, America became more socialist
through the ballot box, just as young Mr. Blumenthal foresaw. As
attorney general, his contribution to that cause cannot be
overstated; as U.S. senator, he would be even better positioned to
wreak further havoc.
To read Mr. Blumenthal's full article, go to
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/6/15/sds-shifting-from-protest-to-organizing
.
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