Warren says it’s ‘just wrong’ to call her a socialist

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in an interview broadcast Sunday that it’s “wrong” to call her a socialist as Republican critics seek to use the label against her and other progressive Democrats running for president.

“I believe in markets. Markets that work,” Warren told CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe in an interview that aired on “Face the Nation.”

“Markets that have a cop on the beat and have real rules and everybody follows them,” she continued. “I believe in a level playing field. And as long as we’ve got that then we will get the best out of markets because it means the people who come up with great ideas, who work hard are the ones who will prosper, not simply those who were born into wealth.”

{mosads}”So if you get labeled as a socialist?” O’Keefe asked.

“Well, it’s just wrong,” Warren responded.

.@ewarren says she would call herself a capitalist and it “is just wrong” to call her a socialist. “I believe in markets… Markets that have a cop on the beat and have real rules and everybody follows them.I believe in a level playing field.” pic.twitter.com/gsRu2BbKnl

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 10, 2019

Republicans have attempted to portray progressive Democrats as in favor of socialist policies as the party’s left wing pushes policies like the Green New Deal, “Medicare for all” and increased tax rates on wealthier Americans.

Warren similarly tamped down ties between her and the label of Democratic Socialism during a panel discussion at the South by Southwest festival in Texas on Saturday.

CNN reported that Warren distanced herself from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), telling the panel that the Vermont senator would have to speak to what Democratic Socialism means.

“I am not,” she said. “And the centrists have to speak to whatever they are doing. What I can speak is to is how I am doing.”

Warren, whose platform with a focus on wealth inequality has drawn comparisons to Sanders’s, made headlines last week when she called for breaking up Silicon Valley’s largest companies, saying that the tech giants have gained “too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy.”