witch-hunt
n
An investigation carried out ostensibly to uncover subversive activities but actually used to harass and undermine those with differing views
The term "witch hunt" comes from a sad episode in American history where early settlers in Salem, MA became obsessed with the notion that there were witches among them. They were certain that they were the cause of any calamity that befell them. Surely their new home in the new world was blessed by God and anything that interfered with that must be the work of the devil? And so they held "trials" in which anyone accused of being a witch had to prove that they weren't. The proof generally meant dying.
Throughout our history, this sort of behavior has occurred again and again, with the term "witch hunt" being applied once the reality of the paucity of evidence has become clear. It happened during the McCarthy hearings, it happened during the Clinton "Whitewater" investigation, and it is happening now during the Benghazi "investigation. There isn't any real evidence - it's just people who want something to be wrong digging until they can find something -
anything - to hang around the neck of their target. For President Bill Clinton, that became a stained blue dress.
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