Imagine if a Democratic Member of Congress spoke at the Annual Marx-Lenin Dinner:

[hifiguy]

6. Of course.

But 35 years of non-stop, ever-more-rightwing propaganda has dulled the populace down to a lulled, sheep-like state. After Nixon was driven from office - more than justifiably = the right swore "never again will one of ours be taken down by the truth" (even though Nixon was not really one of their own) so they changed the definition of the truth, bought all the M$M and brought it to heel as a part of the propaganda apparatus which includes the fundy churches and the corporate advertisers and that was that.

Iran/Contra, the too-numerous-to-list crimes of the Chimp/Cheney misadministration, smaller scandals involving congressional Repigs, it all vanishes down the rabbit hole.

Nowadays Bernie S and Liz W are considered to be and portrayed outlying bomb-throwers on the furthest imaginable fringes of the left. 35 years ago their ideas were a part of the mainstream of the Democratic Party.

It all comes down to It's Perfectly Fine But Only If A Repig Does It. Reichwingers are, as F. Scott Fitzgerald observed, different from the rest of us, and the rules that apply to them apply to them alone.