_______________ PAGING JOE McCARTHY BY DAVID HOROWITZ (02/23/98)

David Horowitz notes that an old writer friend of his "had been advised by a senior editor at the New Republic not to have anything to do with my partner Peter Collier and me." He also says, "Every day, I get calls from the press about my connections to two names on the White House chart of right-wing conspirators." Finally, he laments, "In this week's edition of the leftist the Nation, I am also listed on the chart (in a box with [Matt] Drudge and Rush Limbaugh) for a sentence I wrote in a Salon article referring to President Clinton's sojourn in Russia during the Cold War." Horowitz's conclusion? That he is a "target of a latter-day witch hunt." Please. Where in the above list do you find the evidence for a "White House witch hunt, whose purpose is to smear and destroy its political critics?" A few phone calls and a box in a left-wing paper that is on the financial rocks? Has Horowitz been the target of questioning? Subpoenas? Been forced (or even asked) to appear before Congress and testify against friends? Has anyone sued Horowitz, or any of the papers in which his column appears? Has he lost any jobs, contracts or even contacts from this "witch hunt"? I have often found Horowitz' opinions to be ridiculous, but to put him in the same spot as targets of McCarthy and the House Unamerican Activities Committee, whose careers and lives were often destroyed, is not only ridiculous, it's obscene. -- Douglas B. O'Morain I used to think David Horowitz had some interesting ideas. But after reading this week's column, it is clear to me that he is a shameless sleazeball. What makes you think that anything in your experience compares to what was suffered by those accused in the McCarthy hearings? Is it because some editor at the New Republic said you were a "Nazi"? I have news for you: There were people saying these things about you before Hillary Clinton came along. And the fact that someone has that opinion of you does not add up to a conspiracy or real suffering on your part. It doesn't alarm me in the least that Clinton's lawyers are finally beginning to make a few lawsuits on his behalf. This president has been subject to more legal hounding than any other president in history -- much of it funded by your buddy Mr. Scaife. At the risk of building up a lifetime of legal bills, Clinton has finally started to fight back. I'm damned proud of him for finally going on the offensive. -- Jim Philips SALON | Feb. 27, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| STARR CHAMBER BY MOLLIE DICKENSON

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