MSNBC host Chris Matthews presses her, in his usual boorish fashion, to explain what distinguishes modern Democrats from socialists and Ms Wasserman Schultz is clearly uncomfortable with the question. Her unease doubtless has something to do with her realization that the answer to Matthews' question is "nothing."
Rather than admit on national television that there's not much difference at all between Democrats and socialists, an admission that would cripple the party in many parts of the country where people have seen the effects of socialism in places like, say, Detroit and Greece, the chairwoman tries to deflect the question. She adverts instead to the differences between Democrats and Republicans and, probably unintentionally, makes an amusing but true admission: There's a much greater gap between Democrats and Republicans than between Democrats and socialists. This is not news, of course, to anyone who has been paying attention to what's been happening in the Democratic party since the days of George McGovern, but it's nice to see a prominent Democrat admit that her party rejects the economic ideals of small government and free markets that have brought so much prosperity to this country until relatively recently and embraces instead the high tax, high spending policies which have been proven to be disastrous in so many places both at home and abroad.
There is a reason why, in general, the states and cities in this country which are in the worst economic shape, tend to be dominated by Democrats and the states and cities in the best shape tend to be run by Republicans. Wasserman Schultz is correct in saying that there's a fundamental disagreement between the two parties over the best way to produce jobs, wealth, and well-being, and to the extent the socialist model is followed in a state or municipality to that extent one tends to find entities in dire economic condition. Most of the states graded "low" to "poor" on this map are "blue" states. Most of those rated "fair" to "high" are "red" states:
