Bernie Sanders the "Communist without a gun."

A google search lead me to a C-span clip that had some caller calling "Bernie a first class jerk." because of something about the VA making veterans wait for colonoscopy test results. The entire comments section was dedicated toward the "socialist" label. The ridiculous fear mongering over that term had me laughing at first, but the more I read, the more sad I became. Fear is easy. Fear is a great motivator, and they are exploiting it with as much vigor as they can muster.

"Saying he's a socialist is like saying Charles Manson has negative tendencies. He's a flat out communist."

I think this is going to be the main point of contention that we are going to need to deal with in the general - that is; mushy middle voters who don't really know shit from shinola, being exposed to very forceful fear-mongers trotting out the C-word.

How do we combat that? I'm not talking about teaching the internet savvy to look it up, but how do we show Joe Anybody that the fear-mongers are full of shit? How do we turn them to hope when fear is so moving?

I need to know this if I'm out canvasing and run into people touched by this sort of demagoguery.

This was on Breitbart.com I think, so obviously it wasn't unexpected.