GN: That term was part of the Republican lexicon for years and years. Any time the Democrats proposed any legislation on child labor, social security, the Republicans immediately cried socialism—to the point where in 1952 Harry Truman said that when you hear someone saying "down with socialism," they really mean "down with progress." Within 20 or 30 years, the word "socialism" had pretty much vanished from the lexicon of the right

it's a very recent reinvention, and one that came late in the campaign

traditional cultural politics weren't working in this campaign, and the need in some way to turn the discussion to the economic issues in a way that would be favorable to the Republicans

When a party suffers this kind of defeat, there's a part of it that folds in on itself to lick its wounds and becomes even more strident in its language.