Harry Reid's crusade to get Mitt Romney to release his tax records is akin to McCarthyism, according to Face the Nation's Bob Schieffer.

Referring to Reid's accusation that Romney has not paid taxes in 10 years, Schieffer drew the comparison between Reid and the infamous U.S. senator.

Isn't this kind of like Joe McCarthy back in the era when he said, 'I have in my hand the names of 400 people in the State Department who are communists'? It turns out he didn't, and he was saying that the way to prove that they're not is for them to come forward there. I mean, asking somebody to come forward just because there's been an unsubstantiated charge, that's a little thin to me.

Ohio governor Ted Strickland, a guest on the show, defended Reid, saying that the American public "deserves to know" more about Romney's taxes. But fellow guest Bob McDonnell, governor of Virginia, called Reid's charges "reckless and slanderous."

[Image via AP]