Kathleen Parker Tries To Turn Bernie Sanders Into the "Boogeyman"

In her most recent column, center-Right bloviator Kathleen Parker wrote:

"Sanders is a socialist running on a platform that should send shivers up the spines of most Americans"

She then went on to reference "the anti-establishment candidate's big crowds" and avers Sanders' platform to redistribute wealth "makes Obama look like a robber baron". But look, no sensible person ever believed Obama to be anything but a Neoliberal. His positions and policies  certainly don't pass the smell test for being a real socialist - democratic or other.

Thus she blows it trying to turn Bernie into the boogeyman, especially because most Americans, while they may react like arachnophobes at the word "socialist",  actually line up favorably with most of Bernie's proposals. Don't believe me? Let's consider the following:

Health Care For All:

 

Sanders is critical of Obama's Affordable Care Act, arguing that it doesn’t go far enough and calling for a “Medicare-for-all” single-payer healthcare plan, similar to programs in most developed democratic nations.As he puts it:

“We are the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee healthcare to all people as a right and yet we end up spending much more than they do. So I do believe that we have to move toward a Medicare for all, single-payer system,”

The idea is extremely popular among Democrats, with nearly 80 percent in support according to a January 2015 poll by the Progressive Change Institute. The poll also found that a majority of Americans overall supported a Medicare-for-all insurance option.

Taxing The Rich:

 

Sanders called the “massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent” in America “obscene” and has called for a return to a much higher marginal tax rate. “If you have seen a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top tenth of 1 percent, you’ve got to transfer that back” Sanders told CNBC.
 

Sixty-four percent of Americans say they are bothered a lot by the feeling that some corporations aren’t paying what’s fair in federal taxes, and 61 percent say the same about some wealthy people, according to a recent Pew poll. Meanwhile, 67 percent of Americans recently told Gallup they were dissatisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in the U.S.

Tuition-Free College :
 

Sanders has proposed the College for All Act, a plan to provide free education at public colleges funded by a small tax on Wall Street transactions. Sixty-three percent of respondents supported a similar proposal from President Obama earlier this year, including 47 percent of Republicans.

Sanders' position is also backed up by a recent Gallup poll that found, the burden of college tuition is crushing for many American households. Seventy-three percent of parents of children younger than 18 said they are either “very worried” or “moderately worried” about how to fund college for their children. That is more than the 70 percent of lower-income Americans who worry about having enough money to pay for medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident

Campaign Finance Reform:

Sanders is running forcefully against money in politics and his campaign has shunned super PAC support funded by undisclosed billionaires.

According to polls, Americans are most in sync with Sen. Sanders on this issue. A New York Times poll released this month found that “Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, agree that money has too much influence on elections, the wealthy have more influence on elections, and candidates who win office promote policies that help their donors.”
 

Eighty-four percent of respondents said money has too great an influence on political campaigns.

Sixty-six percent agreed that the wealthy have the most influence. And seventy-seven percent want to limit the amount of money individuals can contribute to political campaigns.

Clearly Kathleen Parker either ignores key opinion polls on what Americans favor, or she is determined to scare the bejeezus out of people using the "socialist" scare word the way parents of old used to invoke the "boogeyman"