The 1954 GOP

Joe McCarthy was a Republican, but so was Joseph N. Welch. Where are the Republicans these days who'll stand up to the lunatics in their party? Of course, there have always been far-right extremists in the GOP, but they've generally been on the fringe. These days, they are the GOP.

And these days, Joe McCarthy would have a lucrative career on Fox "News." And Joseph N. Welch would probably pay for his decency and his bravery.

Incidentally, if you're wondering about the National Lawyers Guild, that McCarthy claimed was a Communist front organization, it still exists. According to Wikipedia, it was founded in 1937 in protest of the American Bar Association's refusal to allow blacks and Jews to join. Very un-American, huh?