McCarthyism, The Hollywood Ten and The Puerto Affair

It is time. I have bit my tongue too long. I am opening the can of worms and going on the record. After reading in Velo News that the IPCT group on Friday voted to exclude The Discovery Cycling Team from its membership after Discovery signed Ivan Basso I can only say "WTF?!!!!!!!"

Now before I go any further I want it to be known that I am no "Discovery Team-ophile", I have no posters of Ivan Basso hanging over my bed, I have never signed a "I Believe Tyler" petition and I have no naive notions that professional (hell amateur for that matter) cyclists don't partake in banned, performing enhancing practices. Quite the contrary. I know of the stuff being taken and even personally know former suppliers and delivery men of EPO to members of the domestic peloton. (and before you even ask, "NO", I am not naming any names).

Is it possible that Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and every single rider implicated in the Puerto Affair took part in a very intricate and advanced program of blood doping, EPO, HGH and steroid use. Yes it is possible. But until there is any hard evidence out there, I say they are innocent until proven guilty and not the other way around and Dick Pound and WADA, Pat McQuaid and the UCI and now Patrick Lefevere and the IPCT can be lumped into the same category as Joseph McCarthy , HUAC and the Red Scare of the 1950's.

Now for the quick history lesson. Joseph McCarthy was a weasel Republican Senator from Wisconsin who probably would have slid into anonymity were it not for the fact that he discovered the power of communism, public fear and the tactic of "naming names".
To quote the Wikipedia definition of McCarthyism: "During this time people in a variety of situations were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts that would later be overturned..." (emphasis added by me). So in short, it was the 1950's version of a witch hunt.

Another parallel can be drawn to the HUAC investigations of Hollywood back in the 1940's when the House Un-American Activities Committee called several people from the movie industry to testify about their own suspected involvement in the communist party and to name names. If they refused to answer questions and name names they were blacklisted in the industry and unable to find work. Over 300 names were put on that list (including Arthur Miller, Charlie Chaplin and Burl Ives....That's right, Burl Ives, the snowman narrator from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, was apparently a commie who took part in Un-American Activities. Right. I guess that is where the RED nose came from).

That brings us to our own modern day witch/ pinko hunt: the fight against doping in cycling and more specifically the Puerto Affair, Ivan Basso and the Disco Cycling Team. The IPCT voted to exclude Discovery from its membership over its signing of Italian Ivan Basso, who is implicated in the Puerto inquiry. However, in October the Italian was acquitted by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and his national cycling federation, both of which concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a suspension or to pursue further investigation. So even though, at this time, Basso has been acquitted, just because he was implicated (you know, because they found a name on Fuentes' list that could be translated as the same as Basso's dog) the IPCT, chaired by Quick Step's Belgian team manager Patrick Lefevere (you know Quick Step, a team whose previous forms had riders of such teflon clean images as Johann Museeuw, Frank Vandenbroucke and Richard Virenque) has decided that Discovery can't sit at their lunch table anymore. I say again, WTF?!

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? And don't give me the "it's Europe where you are guilty until proven innocent" argument. It's BS as far as I am concerned. He was acquitted, let him get on and do his job. Same for Ullrich and everyone else who has been implicated but not actually found guilty of doing anything. DNA? What other job do you know of where you have to supply DNA to do? We are not talking drug tests here, we are talking about taking, and storing your DNA. They are athletes, not serial killers. A witch hunt, a commie hunt, a "doper" hunt, all the same if you ask me.

Give me your thoughts.