He just wanted people to like him.
He would make you feel
as if you were the only person that was important.
It's an interesting thing.
In some ways, he was quite a charming guy.
"Any man who protects communists is not fit to wear that uniform, General!"
This was a time when Americans were really worried about their standing against Russia.
"The growing menace of Communism arouses the House of Representatives Un-American..."
"Are you now under the direction of the Communist party?"
He realized he had a thing going.
He'd found his schtick at last.
McCarthy said, "Well, the way I read our rules I can investigate anything."
"The fight will continue regardless of how rough the opposition gets — and rough it will be."
But they never proved anything.
They just made lots of allegations.
And newspapers kept reporting McCarthy's allegations.
He tells a lie.
By the time you've responded to that, he's told three others.
But it sold papers.
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty."
"The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one
and the junior senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly."
McCarthy did not retreat.
He did not apologize.
Whenever he was hit, he hit back even harder.
It was dramatic television,
real-life television.
You have this figure at the center of American politics
who is reckless,
who is destroying lives,
who is creating polarization.
"Have you no sense of decency, sir?
At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
