The truth and the facts about Tom Meyer at Ricochet

[Originally published on December 3, 2014]

In short, people who write posts titled The Truth and The Facts shouldn't write untruths such as;

Sen. Joseph McCarthy is rightly remembered as a liar and a villain: he knowingly made up facts and destroyed the reputations of people who were not involved in communist conspiracies against the United States. It’s entirely fitting that his name has become synonymous with persecution and witch-hunting.

Because Mr. Meyer's name is now synonymous with casual slander. Not content with opening his piece with a lie, he also ends with one;

 Joseph McCarthy left a lot of victims, not the least of which was the anti-communist cause; to this day, it’s frightfully easy to find educated non-leftists who can tell you exactly who McCarthy was, but who couldn’t identify Alger Hiss or the Rosenbergs to save their lives.

What people think they know about Senator Joe McCarthy, but isn't so, could fill a book. In fact, it's filled three books, of which Meyer seems to be completely ignorant; first Arthur Herman's Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator.

Then, several chapters of Ann Coulter's Treason. And finally, and most scholarly, Stan Evans' Blacklisted by History.

Or Meyer could spend a few hours with a good blog. If he wanted to know the truth and the facts, that is.

[Tom Meyer objects;]

You are correct that I've not read the three books you cited -- though I was aware of Coulter's -- and I'll concede my accusations didn't contain specifics, which is usually a sign of bad argumentation. In short, I'll plead guilty to not doing my homework.

IOW, not bothering to research whether or not McCarthy actually was guilty as charged of being a liar and a villain, who knowingly made up facts and destroyed the reputations of people who were not involved in communist conspiracies.

That said, what I've read *since* has generally confirmed what I wrote before: that -- despite the existence of an active and dangerous communist conspiracy run from Moscow at the time -- McCarthy's moral and factual sloppiness harmed people who were likely innocent of any crime in a way that other anti-communist crusaders did not.

But what the moral and factual sloppiness of McCarthy actually was, goes unmentioned. Nor who the innocent parties were. Details, details.

As a commentor on Ricochet also called my attention to Evans (whom I was not familiar with), I started googling his book and came across this review of _Blacklisted_ by Michael Moynihan, whom I am familiar with and who clearly has done his homework. His conclusions -- shall we say -- generally back me up.

Homework is for others! Well, we'll see about that soon.