re: #22 Shiplord Kirel

I’m surprised at you, ONSP. Nobody here is a more dedicated or consistent opponent of communism than I am. Unlike many contemporary Americans, I believe in the reality of communist subversion in education, the media, and government.
Even so, McCarthy is not someone I can hold up as an example or a model. His excesses, failures, and malfeasance have been a shield behind which real Reds and fellow-travelers have hidden for over 50 years. He had nothing to do with exposing the Rosenbergs or even the Hollywood agents of influence. His favorite tactic was to find some junior government employee who had been associated in some way with some kind of Red front years earlier, usually before World War 2, then publicly vilify, not them, but their supervisors and bosses. This set off miniature witch-hunts throughout the government. Needless to say, having some kind of sympathy for communism in, say, 1935, was a whole different animal from doing so in 1953.
His attack on the army, which ultimately led to his censure, was nothing but retaliation for the army’s failure to grant special privileges to McCarthy staffer David Schine, who had been drafted in 1953.
McCarthy was a drunk, a bully, and an inveterate liar who knew no limits until he was forced to back down.

In no way am I going to justify his methods. He was all of those things you are describing.

I don’t believe the ends justifies the means.