Sanders to Bachus: Prove red scare

Politico

Sen. Bernie Sanders wants Rep. Spencer Bachus to start naming names.

Bachus, the usually soft-spoken ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, surprised a Birmingham News reporter last week by claiming there are 17 “socialists” in Congress.

When asked for specifics, Bachus named only one legislator — Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” whose vision of a socialist safety net is more Stockholm than Stalingrad.

Bachus’ spokesman hasn’t responded to numerous requests from POLITICO to name the other 16 lawmakers.

The congressman’s charge prompted cries of McCarthyism in the lefty blogosphere, a smattering of support from conservatives and an unexpected boiling over of a decades-old debate over the S-word that had been on a slow simmer since the fall of the Soviet Union.

“Has Spencer released his list yet? Everybody’s waiting with bated breath,” asked Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has enjoyed a friendly relationship with the Alabama conservative since their days in the House in the 1990s.

“I think at the very least he has to tell people what his definition of socialism is — and I think, yeah, he should tell us who he was referring to, who’s on the list,” he added.

The reaction from Bachus’ Democratic colleagues in the House wasn’t much better.

“House Republicans’ solution to the current economic crisis is to launch head-scratching, ’50s-style accusations against unidentified members of Congress,” said Doug Thornell, spokesman for Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Next thing you know they’ll be going after beatniks and calling for the auto industry to bring back the Edsel.”

“Socialism” is one of the more elastic nouns in the political lexicon. In the broadest sense, it defines a system that provides for state ownership of some private industries and governmental commitments to providing direct housing, health care, education and income supports.

To many on the left, it’s a relatively benign — if outdated — term, representing an activist, interventionist government that prioritizes economic security over the unfettered freedom of the marketplace.

To many on the right, it’s practically an epithet — suggesting a return to Soviet-style Communism or a leap toward a hyper-regulated European brand of capitalism that stifles innovation and hikes taxes.

It’s safe to say that more people in Bachus’ suburban Birmingham district — the most GOP-tilting seat in the country, according to the Cook Political Report — view socialism as a bad, bad thing.

And so do many conservatives, who are alarmed by the same big-government trends that bother Bachus. Erin Kanoy, director of House relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation, is glad that Bachus is calling out those who passed a $787 billion stimulus and a $3.6 trillion budget.



“I think that people expressing where they see someone on the political spectrum has tended to be an off-limits thing and very politically incorrect — but sometimes I think you’ve got to call a spade a spade,” says Kanoy, who applauded Bachus’ opposition to a system of international financial regulations proposed by European members of the G-20.

“If Bachus believes members of Congress are part of this movement, he should be able to say it. ... He’s really reflecting a much larger frustration with the landslide of legislation that we’ve had coming at us that seems to be marching towards socialist government.”

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist also applauds Bachus’ sentiment but says he shouldn’t have gotten into the business of keeping lists.

“We shouldn’t get into a labeling thing with the other side,” he said. “We shouldn’t call them socialists — we should call them stupid because they are spending all this money we don’t have.”

Until Bachus explains himself, it’s hard to know how his Socialist Slide Rule landed on the number 17.

But Hill staffers and advocates on both sides say he was probably referring to some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a left-leaning collection of 77 House members founded by Sanders in the early 1990s. The group advocates for a reduction in military aid, universal health care and higher taxes on the wealthy.

Conservative groups such as DiscovertheNetworks.org have long sought to link the caucus’ liberal agenda with “fringe-left socialism” — describing the caucus as “radical” and maintaining that “until 1999” it “worked in open partnership with Democratic Socialists of America.”

In 1998, Joseph Farah, a WorldNet commentator, went so far as to describe the caucus as “Congress’ very own Red Army ... marching the nation inevitably toward its self-proclaimed socialist ideal.”

But Sanders and other CPC members say they are simply pressing for a progressive agenda after eight years of Bush administration policies.

“They said a lot of this stuff about Obama during the campaign, calling him a socialist and trying to instill fear in people,” Sanders adds.

To many, the biggest mystery is not whose name is on the list. It’s why Bachus, who supported the first bank bailout bill and is regarded as one of the nicest guys in the House, would call out his colleagues.

“Everyone’s just kind of scratching their heads because he’s a pretty laid-back guy,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic political consultant based in Montgomery. “I don’t know whether he was kidding or serious. My guess is it wasn’t really deliberate, and it just kind of came out. My guess is he would take it back if he could.”