Joe McCarthy never called a sitting member of Congress a
communist. The closest I have been able to find is that he called the special
Senate committee that investigated him “'unwitting handmaiden', 'involuntary
agent' and 'attorneys in fact' of the Communist Party". These accusations were considered by the
Senate serious enough to form half of the second of two censure counts. The
Senate voted to condemn McCarthy by a vote of 67-22. How times have changed.