Great catch from Jonathan Martin: Republican National Committee member James Bopp Jr. wants the national committee to “rename the opposition the ‘Democrat Socialist Party’” and shame the three Republican senators who supported the stimulus bill. He has 16 co-sponsors.

“There is nothing more important for our Party than bringing the truth to bear on the Democrats March to Socialism,” said Jeff Kent, the Washington state committeeman who proposed the resolution. “Just like Ronald Reagan identifying the USSR as the evil empire was the beginning of the end to Soviet domination, we believe the American people will reject socialism when they hear the truth about how the Democrats are bankrupting our country and destroying our freedom and liberties.”

This sort of thing was an issue, if sort of a minor one, in the RNC race that Steele won. At the end of 2008 the RNC conservatives drafted a resolution condemning the Bush White House for the Wall Street bailouts. The resolution, which in its ideological harshness was a big step away from what the RNC usually does, was supported by … Michael Steele. The argument against that resolution was that it would set a dangerous precedent, and that argument doesn’t look wrong today.