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Chris Matthews Stumps Chuck Schumer on Difference Between Socialist, Democrat

MSNBC host Chris Matthews indulged in a favorite hobby on Tuesday: making Democratic lawmakers uncomfortable by asking if their party is socialist.

Matthews reserved over a minute of a two-minute interview to question Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on the subject.

"What’s the difference between a socialist and a Democrat?" Matthews asked.

"Oh, it depends how you define each one, doesn’t it?" Schumer said.

"Well, you do it," Matthews said with a fat grin.

"Well, I’m not going to get into it," Schumer said with an equally fat—though probably strained—grin.

Matthews didn’t drop the subject without a fight.

"You guys are well-schooled in political language and nomenclature. You’re quite capable of defining the difference between a socialist, self-described and a Democrat self-described. What is it?" Matthews asked.

Schumer responded that he had nothing bad to say about his socialist colleague Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), but did not address the difference between a socialist and a Democrat.

Matthews seemed to think this omission was telling.

"You’ve told me so much. Whenever I hear you not speak, it teaches me a great deal," Matthews said.

So far no Democratic lawmaker has risen to Matthews’ challenge on-air, possibly because they have to court the votes of both liberal Democrats and self-described moderates.

Sanders, a socialist, is polling in first place in the Democratic primary in two crucial early states. Americans as a whole tend to view socialism unfavorably.