A hearty FUCK YOU to Joseph McCarthy on this, the 55th anniversary of his infamous speech to the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. It was this speech, in which the Senator claimed that there were Communists and Communist sympathizers throughout the State Department, that precipitated a shameful nationwide witch hunt.
I hope he enjoys the 8th circle of Hell, though I’m not sure if he’s in the river of burning pitch, or just being torn apart and put back together ad infinitum.
If there is any justice in this world, he’s in hell with Roy Cohn, where his victims can torment them for all eternity.
Robin
(Looks around)
Damn, wrong Joe from Wisconsin.
Maybe next pitting.
-Joe
Well damn. I thought someone had finally pitted me. Surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed that I was wrong. Oh well.
Oh, and a hearty “fuck you!” to not-descriptive-enough thread titles.
I thought you were pitting my uncle.
Live and learn, I suppose.
If caffeine bothers you that much, you can get a nice decaffeinated cup of Joe.
What?
Makes me want to watch High Noon again. In my list of Hollywood’s 50 most imporant films, I ranked it number 3.
For anyone interested, this is the blurb I wrote about it:
On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy (R, WI) began a speech by saying, “I have in my hand a list of 205 cases of individuals who appear to be either card-carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party.” One of those cases was screenwriter Carl Foreman, who adapted John W. Cunningham’s Collier’s Magazine story, “The Tin Star”, into perhaps the best Western film ever made. You won’t find much in this movie in the way of frontier violence or rampaging Indians. What you will find is an unmistakable morality metaphor about good people abandoned by their friends, and left to fend for themselves as they confront revenge seekers and barbarians. It was an effort to criticize McCarthyism in an indirect way, with symbolism and allegory, sadly recapitulating the way writers and directors made their feelings known in totalitarian regimes. Direct criticism was too risky, and could destroy careers. Two years after this film debuted, Joseph N. Welch, chief attorney for the Army, faced McCarthy squarely and said, “You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you no sense of decency?” This simple, low-budget Western ($750,000) was so influential that Director Howard Hawks and actor John Wayne created Rio Bravo in 1959 as a direct response to its “liberal preachiness”.
Well, that just does it, Lib. I thought the pitting of you got a bit nasty by the end, but I can see now that you deserved it. Truly, this shall not stand.
Once upon a Time in the West is clearly the best western ever made.
Well, I did say perhaps! 
Liberal said most important, not best. <Lady Bracknell> The two things rarely go together.</Lady Bracknell>
Ahem.
Where did you rank Elia Kazan’s justification for naming names, On the Waterfront?
Not ranked, sadly. With only fifty movies, and a history going back to 1914, and a whole slew of McCarthy era protest films, I had room only for two: the other being Inherit the Wind. I did recognize Kazan, however, for two films: Baby Doll, at number 41, and A Streetcar Named Desire, at number 2.
This is my favorite veiled response to McCarthy. Without spoiling it, it’s set in a totalitarian state of the future. The Chancellor openly admires Hitler and Stalin. By watching the trial in the opening scene, the obvious theme is ‘this is what it will be like if the Commies win.’. Upon watching the whole episode, you can see Serling’s real message concealed beneath that ‘McCarthy was a fascist bastard just as bad as any Nazi.’
My grandmother was at that speech. She was 20 and she was there with her mother.
It seems fitting, my grandmother is a right-wing crackpot. She is a religious zealot and sends James Dobson $25,000 a year.
The best part is during Christmas dinner, my brother asked her about the DaVinci Codes, and my grandmother went on a 30 minute tirade.
Has it been 55 years already? Tail-Gunner, we hardly knew ye.
Boy, it’s a good thing we don’t have guys like him running around Washington DC anymore.
It’s all right, (bizarre) puritanism is the new anti-communism.
And I was only joking, Devil’s Grandmother.
Although I was still right 
I would feel better about the OP if current events weren’t making it obvious that we haven’t learned anything from our past mistakes.
Since I’m changing my sigline-this was the original–
Let’ s go hiss Roosevelt!