chairman coward*

* too strong a word?

consider this. the constitution's article 1 section 6 says members of congress can't be sued for anything they say on the job. so mchenry can call anybody a liar or defame anyone in some other way and get away with it, so long as he is in the act of performing his duties as a congressman. that's why in 1950, when joe mccarthy called owen lattimore a russian spy, lattimore challenged mccarthy to repeat the charge outside the senate. it's also why mccarthy refused to do so. during those early cold war days a lot of imprudent allegations against innocent citizens got made by congressional cowards like mccarthy, nixon, and members of HUAC. whatever lawsuits got filed got thrown out of court.