Probably worse than we think

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Robert Knight’s “Bernie’s Red bona fides” (Web, Feb. 24) details a long list of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ associations with communists and radical socialists, beginning in college in 1966. Bernie calls himself a “Democratic socialist,” not a communist. That’s reminiscent of Huey Long, who called himself a Democrat in the Democratic primary for the presidency. When asked why he did not run as a socialist, Long replied, “What’s the use of being right only to be defeated?” Many politicians abuse the truth to get elected.

Some conservatives have thought many Democratic politicians were closet socialists. That’s been proven in spades. Will conservatives also be proven correct that Democratic socialists are really closet communists? Seeing the anger and the disconnect from reality by Democratic socialists leads one to fear that some of them would even be Stalinist communists.

CARL H. MIDDLETON

Arlington, Va.