In 1950, in the midst of the United States’ “red scare,” Sen. Joe McCarthy reportedly delivered a speech with his most infamous accusation. “I have here in my hand a list of 205 — a list of names that were made known to the secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who, nevertheless, are still working and shaping policy in the State Department,” the Wisconsin Republican was quoted saying.
McCarthy never shared the list of names, and in all likelihood, there was no actual list. The whole point of McCarthyism was to manufacture fears and sow seeds of suspicion based on nothing, laying the groundwork for blacklisting and a witch-trial atmosphere.
If McCarthy had said at the time that he had a list of communists, but he misplaced it and couldn’t quite track it down, the GOP senator’s accusations probably would’ve had less of an impact. This came to mind yesterday, reading this HuffPost report:
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) surprised Fox News host Maria Bartiromo after a wild update on his Biden family investigation in which he claimed an informant may have gone “missing,” something he suggested was linked to “spy business.”
Oh my.
Last week, Comer scheduled a highly anticipated press conference, at which the Kentucky Republican was supposed to unveil devastating information about President Joe Biden and the Democrat’s alleged corruption. It would be “judgment day” for Biden, the House Oversight Committee chairman said, as GOP lawmakers unveiled evidence of a scandal that would make “Watergate look like jaywalking.”
A humiliating dud soon followed. After months of desperate searching and thorough investigating, Comer conceded that he still didn’t have any actual evidence against the incumbent president.
As The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson explained in his latest column, Comer’s presentation proved to be little more than a “shameless, empty exercise in rumor and innuendo.” Even Fox News…
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