Milbank seems, John, to be under the impression that what made Joe McCarthy controversial was his hogging of airtime. Milbank links to an earlier column of his on Cruz (an old friend) that follows a similarly strange logic. In that one, Milbank’s chief evidence that Cruz isn’t really as conservative as he lets on is that he’s smart, went to the Ivy League, and worked for Bush in 2000. Q.E.D.