The word "Communist" doesn't mean anything anymore.

[otherlander]

Anyone believing anything- no matter how fascist or rightwing or capitalist- can call themselves a Communist and get away with it these days.

[Kutjara]

1. Americans are so politically unaware...

...that the word "Communist" just means "bad" for many of them. They have no idea about the ideology (or indeed any ideology), except that "Communism" means Stalin and China, and those were/are bad things, right?

This isn't a purely American phenomena. Political awareness is at an all-time low globally, just at the time when it's most needed to forestall our species' decent into endless corporate fascism. Hmmmm, you don't think the two could possibly be related, do you?

[lob1]

2. Only a few years ago, when China was mentioned in the news,

it was ALWAYS called Communist China, like "communist" was part of its name.

[KansDem]

3. That's why "Terrorist" replaced "Communist" shortly after 1989...

When the Berlin Wall fell, we no longer had an "enemy." So we went to fearing "terrorism" after the first WTC attack in 1993.

A history of the three "enemies" of the US during the 20th/21st centuries--
WWI to WWII -- the "Anarchist"
WWII to 1989 -- the "Communist"
1993 to now -- the "Terrorist"

Great for business...

[LeftinOH]

4. The RW has practically trademarked the term; it now applies to:

...and so on, and so on, ad nauseum. This shit is all over the net- and its all for sale. It would be funny if there weren't so many (of them) who actually believe it.

[otherlander]

5. Obama a Communist?

Psh. I wish.

[valerief]

6. Anyone gonna watch the Communist China Olympics? I mean, c'mon.

Of course, communist doesn't mean anything. Our hides are owned by communists. Besides, it's just a terra-terra word. It never really meant anything, like the bagful of terra-terra words the gummint and their press corp throw at us every hour of every day.

[LostInAnomie]

7. It's just a catch-all for anything the RW doesn't like.

They've always been extremely good at labeling things and then getting those labels to stick, even when the labels don't even come close to applying.

Our side has just always been too scared to call them on it out of fear of being labeled ourselves.

[HughBeaumont]

8. Any conservative using "Red Menace" smack in 2008 instantly fails.

Especially when you consider that a technically communo-capitalist nation such as China owns a good deal of our debt and makes all our shit sold at places conservatives shop . . . such as Wal-Mart.

But "Comm'nism/Soshulism BAAAAD! Presnit Bewsh GOOOOOOD!"

Dicks.