Sen. Bernie Sanders’ back-to-back victories, which has the Democratic establishment in a panic that he might win the presidential nomination, has prompted the GOP to retune their anti-Hillary Clinton attack to one focused on both with a broader assault on the Democratic “Socialist” and “Communist” Party.
The anti-Clinton group America Rising Squared, for example, just posted a new video that links the the two Democrats as Socialists. It repeatedly shows how Clinton has tried to move “left, left, left” to sound like the self-described Democratic Socialist Sanders.
Top conservative radio and TV talker Hugh Hewitt noted on Twitter that the video reminds him of the 1972 Democratic National Convention which opened the door to far left groups and picked the most leftist nominee in decades, Sen. George McGovern. In that election, former President Richard Nixon won 49 states and 60.7 percent of the popular vote.
“This is perfect, the entire argument in two minutes. When @mitchellreports said it felt like 1972 she [wasn’t] kidding,” he tweeted.
An official wing of the Republican Party went even further. In a breakfast meeting with reporters, Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign lumped Clinton and Sanders together repeatedly, dubbing them both “Socialists.”
He called Sanders a “declared Socialist,” and Clinton “an undeclared Socialist.”
Baker was making the point that GOP Senate candidates will do well with either at the top of the Democratic ballot because the country rejects leftist politics.
And at the end of the breakfast, sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, he took a step further. “No matter who the nominee is from our party, it will be better than the undeclared Socialist or the Socialist of the Democratic-Communist Party.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
