Louisiana governor and GOP presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal said Thursday that President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the other Washington Democrats are for socialism, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is the only one "being honest about it."
"Look, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the other Democrats in DC, they're for socialism," Jindal said Thursday during an interview on "The Hugh Hewitt Show," The Hill reported.
"Give Bernie the props for at least being honest. At least he's saying what Hillary will not say, but they're both socialists. The only difference is Bernie's being honest about it."
Sanders says he is a democratic socialist, an ideology that calls for a Democratic political system to be run alongside a socialist economic system, with an emphasis on increasing the number of social welfare programs.
The Vermont senator has quickly become one of the most popular presidential candidates, drawing nearly 10,000 people at an event in Wisconsin this week and steadily gaining on Clinton in the polls. A new Quinnipiac poll of Iowa voters found Clinton leading Sanders 52 percent to 33 percent, a gap that has shrunk by half since the last Iowa poll in May, when Sanders only got 15 percent support. Another recent poll in New Hampshire found the two in a statistical tie, as HNGN previously reported.
Jindal pointed to Sanders' increasing popularity as evidence that the Democratic Party is becoming more radical.
"Did you honestly believe we would live to see the day when a guy, an honest to goodness socialist is running for president and doing well? He got 10,000 people in Wisconsin to come hear him speak, he's gaining on Hillary in the polls," Jindal said. "This shows you how radical the Democratic Party is."
Jindal continued: "Look, the President went to the Catholic Health Association to defend, make a 'moral case' for Obamacare. Hugh, he's making the moral case for government dependence, for socialism. He is, it is immoral to spend money we don't have. It's immoral to lie to the American people to pass this bill. It's immoral to put people in an outdated, inefficient Medicaid program. At least Bernie's honest about it. I disagree with socialism. I think we've got to rescue the American dream from becoming the European nightmare. And Hugh, I worry that Greece and Puerto Rico are our future if we don't get our act together. There'll be nobody to bail out America, nobody left to help us. And so now we've got to turn away from socialism," Breitbart reported.
Jindal kicked off his campaign on June 24 and has heavily courted conservative Christians both with his policies and a powerful story of his conversion from Hinduism to Christianity. He's polling at 2 percent in Iowa and 1.2 percent nationally, according to Real Clear Politics.
