Joe McCarthy was a demagogue. No question about it. The funny thing is that Nixon was responsible for opening up relations with China so I'm afraid that you'll have to find other things to demonize him for. It shouldn't be hard.
As for "REAL Left politics", no, we've been spared that!
Health care for all is not "the menace of Socalized Medicine". I know first-hand what the British system is like where people have to wait for months for needed surgery and the lack of a routine x-ray leads to death from cancer. Our system isn't perfect, but don't hold up systems like the British have as the ideal.
Rush Limbaugh's "FemiNazis" comprise a very small number of the women who were and are active in womens rights. They are the ones who ridicule women who just want to stay at home and raise a family. They seem to think that EVERY woman should aspire to be the CEO of a multi-national corporation and they look down on those who don't. THOSE are the "FemiNazis" and my definition is taken pretty much from Limbaughs own definition. He coined the phrase.
Lastly,during the Cold War, the "Peace at any price-unilateral disarmament" type of pacifist certainly aided, at least verbally, the avowed communist aim of world military superiority. Since the communism has pretty well gone bust, this no longer applies.
However, the world being what it is and people being what they are, total disarmament and world peace seem as far away as ever.One has only to look at East Timor or Nigeria or the former Yugoslavia to realize that.
Peace is a much desired goal but it cannot be preached to one side only. Nations do not trust one another and disarmament, even on a small scale, comes only after much negotiation any many years.
" What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!" is a great slogan for chanting at rallys in the park but has little to do with the actual process.
It isn't that we don't know what we are talking about, Greg. It's that you have been listening to the wrong people.

troll