Like many of you this evening I had the unpleasant experience of watching Michelle Bachmann on Hardball. The ensuing argument between Pat Buchanan and Katrina vanden Heuvel featured Buchanan's indignation at Kartina's mention of Bachmann's fear mongering as possibly being the beginning of a kind of American fascism. Buchanan was visibly agitated with the mere mention of the word fascism, he seemed to consider Heuvel's use of it ludicrous.
This caused me to think, in recent months the right has seen fit to toss about terms like "socialism", "communism", "spreading the wealth around" (a clear attempt to connect with a communist redistribution of wealth), I even recall Buchanan some months ago accusing Rachel Madow of using "Marxist rhetoric."
So why is it fine for terms like socialism and communism to be tossed about casually and yet fascism is off limits? Is this simply another case of the right wanting it both ways?
