Bernie Sanders unavailable for comment.

Via Politico:

Former President Bill Clinton pushed back against the charge that President Obama and his fellow Democrats are card-carrying members of the Communist Party — telling supporters Monday that “nobody’s seen a communist in over a decade” and chastizing a freshman Republican for name-calling.

Invoking the specter of Communist-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Clinton blasted Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), who in April said that he could identify 80 members of the U.S. House who were Communists — pointing to a caucus of House liberals when pressed for evidence.

“This is not the 1950s! At least Joe McCarthy could skate on the premise that there were still one or two living communists walking around. Nobody’s seen a communist in over a decade!” Clinton said in New York City, with Obama at one of three fundraisers.

Obama, Clinton said, has accomplished a great deal in the face of such GOP opposition — running the country “under unimaginably difficult circumstances.”