Considering it was in the full swing of the Red Scare, people wanted someone on Pennsylvania who was as far from Communist as possible. Who better than the war hero Eisenhower? He'd have won it without McCarthy easily.

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No one ever said McCarthy was a victim. He fucked up and became his own worst enemy in the end. It still does not discredit the good things he had done.

What good things? Most of his accusations were never proven. Ironically, his "list" went from 205 people on February 9, 1950 to only 81 people 11 days later. He fed on the fear of the public.

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McCarthy as a junior senator would never have gained the power he had at his peak if he was wrong from the start. It's too bad he crumbled.

He started his little witch hunt not too long after the Alger Hiss issues. People were on edge - China fell, and Russia had the bomb. Again, he fed on the fears of the public. It wouldn't have mattered *who* started waving a piece of paper around, people were suspicious and would have believed them - especially in a time as the late 40s/early 50s when people still held politicians in a little higher esteem.

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The House Committee on Un-American Activities is needed again. We are at war and much of the enemy is within.

Personally, I regard the HUAC just like I regard the term "politically correct" - that is, they are BOTH about as un-American as you can get. Diverse views are to be cherished here - HUAC spits on that, and "politically correct" is about as UN-politically correct as one can actually be. Politically correct SHOULD mean that people can have whatever *beliefs* they want without fear of the government, however distasteful they may be to others.

(Oh, and just to clarify for everyone - McCarthy actually had nothing to do with HUAC - he was a Senator, and worked with the Senate Committee on Government Operations.)