Profiling and national security
Okay, this cartoon is about as subtle as a brick. Anytime you invoke the memory of Joseph McCarthy, you will appear heavy-handed. But old Joe lacked subtlety, too, and look how effective he was.
Sometimes, the situation calls for directness, especially if you feel we're poised on the edge of a slippery slope.
Judging from the email I get, McCarthy still has a lot of admirers out there, or he would if they knew who he was. The nation's moved on, though. There are no longer any Communists hiding under the bed. Now, we call 'em Liberals. Those who do remember Sen. McCarthy fondly will take the cartoon at face value, so no harm, no foul.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
I strongly suggest that Chan read a new and definitve history of the McCarthy "era" by M. Stanton Evans called "Blacklisted By History." It is revealing in that McCarthy is clearly the one that was vilified and smeared. The Venona Papers even bear this out. But, read the book, and stop repeating tired old communist propganda, OK?
Posted by: John Edmondson | July 5, 2008 3:30 PM
Evans is a right winger with no credibility to his name.
Read instead patriotic Haynes Johnson's "Age of Anxiety - McCarthyism to Terrorism". That reveals the real truth about the pompous and alcohol crazed McCarthy.
Posted by: TheTruth | July 7, 2008 5:10 PM