It is official. Rep. Elise Stefanik, 36, who once pledged to be a “uniter and a bridge-builder” who would bring “a sunny side of optimism to Congress” is the newly elected House GOP Conference Chair.
Come and watch her sing and play. She’s the young generation, and she’s got something to say:
Kevin Kruse responds: “Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years,” President Harry Truman said in 1952. “Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.”
It was one of the 2008 national conventions (IIRC) when Pat Buchanan, sharing the MSNBC dais with Rachel Maddow, directed some snide comment toward Maddow that made her eyes widen in a smile.
“Are you red-baiting me?” Maddow asked with a mixture of surprise and delight. Pat Buchanan is red-baiting me!
I’ll say it again. When the Berlin Wall fell, Republicans declared Sir Ronald of Reagan had slain the Evil Empire and won the Cold War. Yet 30 years later in a different century, one they believe only they are fit to lead, Republicans are still warning of Commies hiding in woodpiles as though it is 1963.
Democrats, Republicans in Congress say, are radical socialists (or communists, when red-baiting as though the Cold War never ended) and a threat to America. They say this even as their state-based brethren work feverishly to twist this democratic republic into an oligarch-led autocracy.
Update: Fixed an egregious misspelling.