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How does McCarthy feel about such harsh amateur analysis? He dismisses the Sheed article as "pretty much froth. I really don't know what he means by Commonweal Catholic—I suppose that's one of those new lines." McCarthy tags Larner's effort only as "a mixed piece." He does not seem to consider all this McCarthy watching a very significant activity. "I suppose this game will go on," he shrugs, "as long as I'm marketable." Yet he did hint during the campaign that there is indeed something mysterious about him that may never be explained. "There is something wrong with McCarthy, all right," Larner quotes McCarthy as saying. "But they don't know what it is."
*McCarthy's mother, Anna, who died in 1945, was of German origin; his father, Michael, now 93, is of Irish descent. Both were born in the U.S.