Jim Garrison and Joe McCarthy
Subject: Re: Jim Garrison and Joe McCarthy
Date: 19 May 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <20000519133814.10330.00000304@ng-md1.aol.com>
I hate to compare anyone with McCarthy, but there ARE a few interesting stylistic parallels:
1) McCarthy made public allegations about people against whom nothing had been proven. So did Garrison.
2) McCarthy would often refer to secret evidence which proved him right. So did Garrison.
3) McCarthy attacked those who disagreed with him a being a part of the conspiracy. So did Garrison.
4) McCarthy made charges that, in retrospect, do not seem supported by the evidence. So did Garrison.
5) McCarthy had a smarmy self-assuredness that HE was right and everbody else was wrong. Only HE carried the absolute truth in his hip pocket. Garrison could often be that way.
6) McCarthy would always believe the most conspiratorial interpretation of some event or piece of evidence, when a more innocent explanation would suffice. So did Garrison.
I'm not saying that I think either man was insincere. I think they both eclipsed over a threshhold of belief and lost their ability to see things objectively. Once you cross that threshhold, anything is possible.