It’s hard for “progressive” Democrats to avoid being likened to communists when a leading Democratic U.S. senator openly consorts with, yes, communists.

And this wasn’t just an encounter of happenstance. This was a preplanned, open, full embrace of a Communist Party event, accompanied by fulsome praise for the Communist Party hosts. What it means is that even if U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut isn’t himself a communist, he is indisputably a fellow traveler.