Krauthammer acknowledged that some criticism might be more effective than accurate.

“Words like “socialism,” “fascism” are pretty wild and don’t really have much of place in discourse unless you’re bringing up those words in order to dismiss them,” said Krauthammer, adding that in his view Obama is “making the case for an American-style social democracy, not socialism.”

Conservative commentator and former Newt Gingrich press secretary Tony Blankley, who’s fought ideological battles for decades, noted that this historical moment is one when “chin-pulling moderates on both sides are not getting as much of an audience.”…

Blankley said it’s during such polarizing periods that die-hards will surely ask, “Whose side are you on?”