I See Red When I See You

Yesterday, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) claimed that there were “17 socialists” in the House of Representatives. Today, Glenn Thrush belly-dives into the steamiest corners of the right-wing blogosphere to determine whether Bachus was referring, inaccurately, to the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

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

That charge seems to have been distilled from a WorldNetDaily.com story which claimed: “Until 1999, the website of the Progressive Caucus was hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America. Following an expose of the link between the two organizations in WorldNetDaily, the Progressive Caucus established its own website under the auspices of Congress.”

We really won’t know until Bachus willfully names the 17 people he’s talking about, but it’s not a controversial sentiment in conservative circles, nor really a false statement. Would Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who represents Berkeley, quiver at being called a democratic socialist?