The author lost me by equating Joe McCarthy, a U.S. Senator - with Michael Moore, a schlockumentarian filmmaker
The problem is that old Joe McCarthy was more correct than he has ever been given credit for.
What Emory is positing is that the late Senator and the director Moore have much in common in that they both are political demagogues. The fact that McCarthy was a Senator is irrelevant to her point. McCarthy badly over-played his hand and did damage to the anti-communist cause and Republicans.