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...McCarthy was a reckless, demagogic drunk, whose incompetence and ineptness with the facts, and penchant for overstatement...
It is hard to know how much of that "classical" characterization of Senator McCarthy is liberal myth, and how much is grounded in reality, IMHO.

See also, from www.frontpagemag.com:

FP: Ms. Coulter, I completely agree with you on Ronald Reagan but, with all due respect, how could you possibly admire Joe McCarthy?
He was a hideous character. I don't think you can find many individuals more anti-communist than myself, but I detest McCarthy for how he discredited anti-communism. I can't think of anyone else in America that did so much damage to the anti-communist cause. What exactly do you see in McCarthy? Yes, he fought the right enemy, but the way that he fought it was extremely counter-productive. He armed our liberal enemies with powerful ammunition against us. What is your thinking here?

AC: I notice that you have just reeled off a slew of insults without a bare hint of a fact. And for good reason -- actually for no good reason. You're interviewing me, you should have read my book. Until Treason, that's all it ever was with McCarthy. Portraits of Kathy Boudin, Che Guevara, Ted Bundy, and Joe Stalin are more nuanced than portraits of McCarthy.
He is the only person in history for whom, apparently, there is absolutely nothing good that we can say. No nuance, no good side -- just invective, fake facts, myth, and anger. It's amazing that guy ever got elected to anything! I wrote my book, I made my case, and people decided not to argue with me on the merits. So now I guess we're back to fact-free invective against McCarthy.
When you start to sound like Molly Ivins talking about George Bush, you might want to entertain the possibility that you are a few tweaks away from the dispassionate truth.

Yes, hard to know, all we can do is get a sense of it, or become McCarthy hobbyists. We are about 20 years too young, to have witnessed it at the creation. But we do know, that McCarthy announced he had a list of x numbers of commies, when he did not. We also know that he was a drunk, whom about a year after he was censured with lots of GOP votes, died of cirrhosis of the liver. McCarthy would never have survived 10 minutes in the internet age. And that much, at least is good.

Until Treason, that's all it ever was with McCarthy. Portraits of Kathy Boudin, Che Guevara, Ted Bundy, and Joe Stalin are more nuanced than portraits of McCarthy. ...

... When you start to sound like Molly Ivins talking about George Bush, you might want to entertain the possibility that you are a few tweaks away from the dispassionate truth.

Excellent!