Hillary Can’t Tell The Difference Between Democrats And Socialists

This question comes up relatively often here on ATS...and it never appears to me to be successfully answered.
That's why, 5 monthes ago, after DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz couldn't explain the difference between Democrats and Socialists...Chris Matthews thought it was time to get the answer from Democrat front-runner candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
True to form...Mrs. Clinton dodged and couldn't answer the question either...but wanted it known that she definitely does not consider herself a Socialist.

If the two top dogs in the Democrat Party can't explain the difference...perhaps there really is no difference in today's political reality.
It sure appears to be the case...at least based of the fact that Major Democrats can't (or won't) explain the difference.

By this time, Chris Matthews must be panicked. When he asked DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to explain the difference between Democrats and socialists, the MSNBC host expressed considerable angst that the party’s leading officer couldn’t do so. “I used to think there was a big difference,” Matthews lamented at the time.

Fast forward five months. Matthews posed the question to the party’s leading candidate for its presidential nomination, and … Hillary Clinton couldn’t explain it either. Who else can Matthews ask?

VIDEO:
www.youtube.com...

TRANSCRIPT (courtesy of NEWSBUSTERS):

MATTHEWS: OK, last question, we’re running out of time. I want to try to help you for this audience tonight, our audience, locate yourself politically in this country. Now, we have Trump out there and we have Bernie out here. Now, Bernie calls himself a socialist.

Nobody uses a derogatory term anymore. He loves to have that label. He’s never ran as a Democrat, he runs against Democrats up there in Vermont. You’re a Democrat. I would say you’re a pretty typical Democrat, in the traditional Democratic Party. And Humphry and the rest of them. Scoop [Jackson], not even Scoop, I’d say Rondale, you’re somewhere in there. What’s the difference between a socialist and a Democrat. Is that a question you want to answer or you’d rather not, politically.

CLINTON: Well, you’d have to –

MATTHEWS: Well, see, I’m asking you. You’re a Democrat, he’s a socialist. Would you like somebody to call you a socialist? I wouldn’t like somebody calling me a socialist.

CLINTON: But I’m not one. I mean, I’m not one.

MATTHEWS: What’s the difference between a socialist and a Democrat. That’s the question.

CLINTON: I can tell you what I am. I am a Progressive Democrat.

MATTHEWS: How is that deferent than a socialist?

CLINTON: I’m a Progressive Democrat who likes to get things done and who believes that we are better off in this country when we’re trying to solve problems together. Getting people to work together. There will always be strong feelings and I respect that, from, you know, the far right, the far left, libertarians, whoever it might be. We need to get people working together. We’ve got to get the economy fixed, we’ve got to get all of our problems, you know, really tackled and that’s what I want to do.

MATTHEWS: I think the difference is, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz wouldn’t answer the question either when I asked her. Because I know politically you have to keep together the center-left and the left has to work together. I know all of that.

hotair.com...

To the extent that Hillary answered this at all, the response appears to be that Democrats are socialists who sometimes and temporarily compromise to add accomplishments to the resumé. That argument, as incoherently made as it is, seems to annoy Matthews, who abruptly changes the subject.

Matthews still hasn’t gotten an answer to his question: what’s the difference between a Democrat and a socialist? The actual answer is there isn’t a difference any more, but no one wants to admit it. I’d be surprised if Matthews ever asks this question again in public, or at least if he asks it before the general election in November.

a reply to: IAMTAT

I blame the right's insistence on using "Socialist" as a derogatory slur as to why Hillary didn't want to define herself as one. We all know that Hillary always tries to take the politically safest stance on things. So it's only natural for her to distance herself from a politically charged word like Socialist.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: IAMTAT

I blame the right's insistence on using "Socialist" as a derogatory slur as to why Hillary didn't want to define herself as one. We all know that Hillary always tries to take the politically safest stance on things. So it's only natural for her to distance herself from a politically charged word like Socialist.

That explains why she wouldn't claim to be a Socialist...but why won't she explain the difference between the two?

a reply to: IAMTAT

I don't know. Maybe because she was in political spin mode and didn't have a real answer to that question.

a reply to: IAMTAT

She never did answer the question. Politicians make me sick. The BS they are allowed to get away with by the controlled media.
I think Matthews had a chill running up his leg again.

How anyone can support this....thing....is beyond me.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

It seems to me she should know the political difference between her challenger Bernie Sanders and herself.
Sanders has no problem calling himself a Socialist.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Hey, I agree. It makes her sound shady when she dances around the question like that. I'm not afraid of the word Socialist, so I have no problems speaking about it.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: IAMTAT

Hey, I agree. It makes her sound shady when she dances around the question like that. I'm not afraid of the word Socialist, so I have no problems speaking about it.

Do you think many Socialists in the U.S. would be angry with Clinton because she is so adamant about not being one?

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: IAMTAT

I blame the right's insistence on using "Socialist" as a derogatory slur as to why Hillary didn't want to define herself as one. We all know that Hillary always tries to take the politically safest stance on things. So it's only natural for her to distance herself from a politically charged word like Socialist.

That explains why she wouldn't claim to be a Socialist...but why won't she explain the difference between the two?

Because she could tell that the question was not intended as an invitation to a lecture on political and economic theory. She knew she was being baited in the hopes of inadvertantly producing a sound bite that could be used against her. She didn' t bite, so her failure to answer is being used against her.

a reply to: DJW001

Baited? Really? MSNBC? Chris Matthews?...He loves her.

The reality is that the very little difference between socialist and democrat policies in the party today. This is why she can't answer. However, it politically more acceptable to say she is a progressive democrat than a socialist even if ultimately it is the same thing policy wise.

I don't care for Sanders policy positions, but I at least give him points for being honest about where he stands and what he is politically. With Hillary, she will say or do whatever the political winds call for to win.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: IAMTAT

I blame the right's insistence on using "Socialist" as a derogatory slur as to why Hillary didn't want to define herself as one. We all know that Hillary always tries to take the politically safest stance on things. So it's only natural for her to distance herself from a politically charged word like Socialist.

A++ analysis. I agree 110%.

I can picture her witchy-little voice.. (it sounds higher and more whiny/annoying in my head): "Ican tell you what I am. I am a Progressive Democrat"

a reply to: IAMTAT

What's the difference between democrat an socialist in your definition
And if they are the same: Why would you still use the term 'socialist'?


On another note Hillary is a republican who just met this cool guy who was a dem and therefore changed the party.

Oh and the difference between Hillary and Bernie: She is in for the corporations, he might be in for the people.

Just my 2 cents

originally posted by: svetlana84
a reply to: IAMTAT

What's the difference between democrat an socialist in your definition
And if they are the same: Why would you still use the term 'socialist'?

I'll be honest...I don't see a clear difference.
Sanders is a Socialist...running as a Democrat...it's all pretty muddy on the left these days.
If Hillary truly didn't know the difference...she should've just been honest with people and said so. Dodging and evading the question shows she knows there is no real difference, but is afraid to admit it.
She gets afraid a lot, lately.

originally posted by: svetlana84
a reply to: IAMTAT

What's the difference between democrat an socialist in your definition
And if they are the same: Why would you still use the term 'socialist'?


On another note Hillary is a republican who just met this cool guy who was a dem and therefore changed the party.

Oh and the difference between Hillary and Bernie: She is in for the corporations, he might be in for the people.

Just my 2 cents

Why use the term socialist? Because that is what the party is now. Liberals are masters of using language to camouflage themselves, policies, etc. You are not socialist, but "progressive democrats". Social Justice warriors. Diversity. Climate change. Inequality. Libs love to use these vague terms.

It gets worse for Democrats and Hillary.

An interesting interview from a few months ago.....

Alan Colmes (Fox News contributor) Talks to John Bachtell (National Chair of Communist Party USA)

Colmes: “Well, you’ve talked about working in the two party system. So you support Democrats for the most part? Are you supporting Bernie Sanders let’s say in this election?”

Bachtell: “Ah well, Yea we’re apart of what I kind of call the Progressive, pro-labor wing of the Democratic Party. I mean it’s no secret and we’re apart of a very broad movement of organizations: labor movements, civil rights movements, other movements, women’s movement, what not, that find their home in the Democratic Party.

here's an opening comment from the Youtube poster:

Published on Aug 22, 2015

Alan Colmes Talks to John Bachtell: Alan talks to National Chair of Communist Party USA John Bachtell about American politics: In 1919, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) was created in Chicago as a 5th Column by the U.S.S.R. in order to form “fighting organizations for seizing control of the state, for the overthrow of government and the establishment of the workers’ dictatorship.” With the eventual collapse of Communist Russia the CPUSA needed to form new alliances with groups also hell bent on destroying the United States from within. Luckily for them, they found the Democratic Party.

During an interview with Fox News contributor Alan Colmes,CPUSA National Chariman John Bachtell stated that not only does he believe that Socialism and Communism are basically interchangeable (Communism being more of the utopian form of Socialism), but that he believes the CPUSA is the Progressive, Pro-Labor Wing of the Democratic Party:

The videos are in 2 parts:

Communist Party USA Chairman: We Are The Progressive, Pro-Labor Wing Of The Democrat Party - Part 1


Communist Party USA Chairman: We Are The Progressive, Pro-Labor Wing Of The Democrat Party - Part 2


here's Part 1.....

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: DJW001

Baited? Really? MSNBC? Chris Matthews?...He loves her.

Oh? Then why did he ask that question? Do you really think he wanted a history lesson?

a reply to: DJW001

Maybe he wanted an actual answer from Clinton. Crazy, I know.