As the Democratic Party moves decidedly more left, many older life-long liberals are increasingly uncomfortable with the party's adoption of socialism. This was perhaps no more evident than on Thursday night as MSNBC's Chris Matthews told his colleagues during pre-debate conversation that Senator Bernie Sanders should be taken to task over his defense of "real socialism" which has not worked anywhere.
Newsbusters' Rich Noyes highlighted the exchange via Twitter with an appropriate "WOW" as his reaction.
"Well, you know that's a big question for him. I looked at the tapes of his old Phil Dononue interview, and he really does defend the notion of socialism. Not just the welfare state like in Scandinavian countries, but real socialism, no profit motive, no free markets, and the government basically runs the economy."
The question that Democrats on stage should ask, but will not because they are too scared to attack Sanders from an ideological standpoint Matthews asserts, is "name a government that has run an effective economy in the history of man? Governments are not good at running the economy, the free market tends to work."
WOW: Chris Matthews says Bernie Sanders should be asked about his defense of real socialism, which hasn't worked anywhere, but fears Dems are too afraid to ask it. pic.twitter.com/NqTZFZFx0k
— Rich Noyes (@RichNoyes) June 27, 2019
Sen. Sanders has been an avowed Democratic Socialist for his entire political career. The key difference between the socialism which has failed and his version of the planned economy, he claims, is that his version is voted in by the people and therefore somehow better. Nonetheless, Matthews' remarks indicate that the divisions within the Democratic Party are closer to the surface than the American people have been led to believe. Matthews once described a "tingle" running up his leg when he heard former President Obama speak. Now, he is not only attacking one of the front-runners for the party's 2020 presidential nominee but slamming the rest of the slate as well for being too chicken to take a socialist on.
