[Numbers Guy]

His methods might have been crude, even cruel, but a few real rats were, in fact, caught in the trap.

And his methods, as crude as they were, smeared some innocent people (esp in the Army/McCarthy hearings), and as such, hurt the cause of anti-Communism far more than his methods helped it.

Ask yourself this: If a much more responsible yet equally anti-Communist Senator, dedicated to the truth rather than to grabbing headlines, had been in charge of the investigations, wouldn't things have gone a lot better?

[ConservativeVoice]

Things would have gone much better if McCarthy had acted more responsibly. I have no disagreement with you on that.

Still, I believe the infiltration was greater than historical revision let's on.

[muawiyah]

This method might sound a bit crude, and certainly not something you can do in court, but can you name a single individual referenced in your comment who was, as it were, innocent?

[Bonaparte]

And the strange thing is that McCarthy didn't have to falsely accuse anybody. J. Edgar Hoover was steadily feeding him all the information he needed. Up until McCarthy's dust-up with the army, virtually everybody he accused was a sympathizer, a fellow traveller, a party member or an operative. And there weren't that many he actually accused. Perhaps a couple dozen.

Only somebody like McCarthy would have taken this fight on. At the time, it was the third rail in DC. It had been a political embarassment to Truman and, after him, to Eisenhower as well.

[jd777]

If a much more responsible yet equally anti-Communist Senator, dedicated to the truth rather than to grabbing headlines, had been in charge of the investigations, wouldn't things have gone a lot better?

Bobby Kennedy served on McCarthy's committee and he made the Senator the godfather of his son. JFK praised McCarthy as a "fine American" and told the public that "He might be on to something"...

[Paul Ross]

Don't blame McCarthy, it was Edward R. Morrow, a communist sympathizer, and a whole enterprise of fellow-travellers which did the smear. He was actually blameless and fully justified in almost every case. Under what circumstances with national security on the line is it EVER proper to refuse to cooperate and testify to a legitimate question, particularly when the offer of closed hearings is available? I can't think of any. Do you always believe democRAT and CP-USSR spin?

[Travis McGee]

Please list the innocent people you referred to. Just list them.

Taking the 5th when you ARE a communist agent does NOT make you "innocent."