Well, let me see if I get it straight, Mc Carthy made US aware of the Soviet infiltration threat, but also used the communist label to eliminate political enemies. Correct? That was then spread to a public witch-hunt on a lot of public people that didn't exactly was a threat (they were not Soviet spies or heavy Soviet sympathizers). Correct?

AFAIK, the second part is what Mc Carthyism symbolizes.

So the symbol and the actual figure isn't a 100% match. So what? That isn't exactly unusual, when it comes to symbols.

And the thread has ended up here?