The "socialist" argument is a tough one to defeat...

[kentuck]

The "labeling" has already begun.

Bernie Sanders is a "socialist". Donald Trump calls him a "communist".

However, the most recent poll out of New Hampshire shows the "socialist" leading the favored "Democrat" by 27 percentage points? How do we explain that? Would the rest of the country follow New Hampshire and ignore the "labels"?

After all, there are several folks running as "Republicans" and it could easily be argued that they are nowhere near what people perceive to be "Republicans". They are closer to fanaticism of one sort or the other. In my opinion, Bernie Sanders is much closer to being a "Democrat" than they are to being "Republicans".

Party labels have become nothing more than a way to unite the party loyalists and the cultists. They don't mean much anymore. Perhaps people will look beyond the labels and see which candidate is offering the solutions to making us a better country that benefits all of us, rather than just a few multi-millionaires?

[NYCButterfinger]

1. That's why I am concerned.

Mrs. McCaskill should not have said it so harshly.

[kentuck]

4. McCaskill is a Hillary loyalist..

..and has never been a free-thinking Democrat, in my opinion.

[JRLeft]

9. She backed Obama over Hillary in 2008. I don't know how much of loyalist she really is.

She is republican lite though.

[Beacool]

18. I wouldn't call her a Hillary loyalist. I don't particularly care for her.

She once made a very low remark about not trusting Bill around her (then minors) daughters. She apologized, but it's not forgotten. In 2008 she was the first woman in the Senate to support Obama, according to her, because her daughter told her to do so.

[NorthCarolina]

2. Won't matter...it's a zero sum play.

12/2011 Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew

08/2014 Poll finds 1/2 of Dems like socialism

06/2015 Nearly Half Of Americans Would Vote For A Socialist For President

06/2015 According To Polls Most Americans Are Socialists Like Bernie Sanders

01/2016 Majority of Iowa Caucus Dems Call Themselves Politically Correct Socialists

I wouldn't sweat it. Red baiting claims of "Socialism" even accompanied by dishonest and juvenile imagery of a "Hammer and Sickle" will have zero effect on voters or the success of the Sanders campaign.

[earthside]

3. I need help ...

I don't care if you call it "purple polka-dotism" or "socialism" if it helps makes health care affordable for me, helps me pay for my kids college, and finally goes after the banksters who have screwed us all.

I think in the last analysis that is how most financially distressed Americans are going to feel, too.

[Bernin4U]

5. So what? Gore, Kerry, Obama, Clinton

All hyper-socialists as far as -they- are concerned.

Someone who, for once, isn't hard-core moderate, makes no difference. Hillary will NOT be any less socialist / communist / whatever extreme evil in these people's eyes.

[highprincipleswork]

6. NOT tough to defeat. Ergo popular support. Ergo, polls where folks already identify as s Socialist

Do we really believe that all those people supporting Bernie have not heard that he is a "Socialist"? They have, but they've also heard what he means by it, they've also had some chance now to see and hear him, and they like what they hear and see.

His policies are in the mainstream of what people want in America!!!

Also, there have already been polls asking people what they perceive as their political identity, and the word Socialist has come up repeatedly as one of the items they check!

Not hard to defeat at all. The more people are educated, the more they will realize they like "Socialism". In fact, they crave something like enlightened Socialism.

[kentuck]

13. I hope you are right.

I truly do.

[Motown_Johnny]

7. Nobody cares. They have been calling Pres. Obama a Socialist for 8 years.

The majority of Americans have gone numb to the word. The people who it does scare won't vote for any Democrat anyways, much less Hillary.


It really doesn't matter.


Besides,

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/17/1471163/-Red-dawn-More-Iowa-Democratic-caucus-goers-identify-as-socialist-than-capitalist


^snip^

A little-noticed data point in the new Selzer & Co. Iowa poll, in fact, shows that 43 percent of likely voters in the Feb. 1 caucuses say they would use the word "socialist" to describe themselves.

And to be very clear, this question was not whether they would vote for a socialist or sympathize with socialism; it's whether they consider themselves socialist.

The 43 percent of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers who self-identify as socialist is actually more than the number who identify themselves as capitalist — 38 percent.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kentuck.

[kentuck]

14. Hello, Uncle Joe!

Good to see you!

[Uncle Joe]

15. It's good to see you as well, kentuck.

[restorefreedom]

10. unfortunately for mccaskill and her ilk, socialism already exists

in the form or corporate welfare. people are sick and tired of working their assess off and seeing the richest of the rich live in grotesque wealth after skating on taxes and getting freebies from their lapdog politicians.

what we need is socialist REFORM. the millenials and many in other age groups realize this.

it is what bernie, and only bernie, is bringing to the table.

[Samantha]

11. Bernie is not a pure socialist -- he is a Democratic Socialist

or was until he changed his registration to Democrat. Before he did that, he explained that a Democratic Socialist is essentially a Democrat but the Socialist part goes a little farther to incorporate the belief that the government should work for all of the people, not just the corporations and the wealthy. I believe the fact that he is not a pure socialist is demonstrated by the reluctance of those who are socialists in Vermont struggling with whether or not to support him.

But it does not matter to me what sort of name-calling the Third Way and/or the Republicans want to throw out there in an attempt to cast a slur on Senator Sanders. I have observed him in action for years and always wanted him to run. I assumed he never would because it would be too much of a drain on a person his age. When he announced, I was ecstatic. I immediately decided to support him, and I will to the bitter (or perhaps the better) end.

He is a hero for just taking this on and speaking out against things that have really bothered a substantial portion of the public for a long time. The man has both guts and stamina.

Sam

[kentuck]

16. Thank you for those supportive comments.

I admire Bernie.

[Samantha]

21. You are very welcome kentuck

It is going to be a very rough ride, isn't it, listening to all these disparaging things said about him.

Sam

[SDJay]

12. Sanders Is Already Defeating It IMO

He's doing so by not running scared from the term. When someone asks if he's a Democratic Socialist, it still seems as if everyone expects him to cower and spin and spit and avoid the answer. Instead he simply nods and says, "Yes, I am" and that's the end of it. Sometimes he has to explain that, but he always does so calmly and clearly.

Notice he doesn't run from it like so many ran from the word liberal to the point where it became a really nasty word. I love that he doesn't back down from this and because of that I don't think it'll work if he's the nominee.

I do think tRump will whine and whimper and complain when he's labeled a fascist in the GE, but that's actually true.

[Beacool]

17. Most modern Democrats have been called Socialists by the Right,

including both Clintons and Obama. The problem with Sanders is that he describes himself as a "Democratic Socialist". The "Socialist" label was not pinned to him by the Right, he did it to himself. Considering that he only joined the party recently, if he were to be the nominee, expect to hear the moniker 24/7.

[pinebox]

19. People are actually concerned about this?

So let me get this straight?
Hillary supporters are worried about this when in fact for some unknown reason this seems a lot more important than;

Email servers?
Benghazi?
Whitewater?
President Clinton's past
Honduras
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Clinton cash
Yemen
Saudi Arabia
"Muslim Brotherhood"
"Negotiated with terrorists"

Pick it. Some of these are RW crap and some of them aren't but to be worried that Bernie is being labeled a "socialist" when you have more crap to choose from than a vending machine when it comes to Hillary (some manufactured) is a reach.

[JackRiddler]

20. The anti-Obama propaganda pays off for Bernie.

Everyone who would be mobilized to act against a "socialist" based on the label has already been hearing that a socialist is in the White House for eight years!

Not that Bernie qualifies really, by the way. He's just the best we can possibly do today.

[moondust]

22. Red baiting may not work anymore.

It served the capitalist oligarchs like tRump well for a lot of years during the Cold War, but the Red Scare tactics may not work on younger people today who weren't yet adults during those years. That propaganda relied heavily on the existence of the big scary Soviet Union which hasn't been around now for more than a quarter century.