Bernie Sanders reminds voters: Elizabeth Warren 'has said that she is a capitalist'

Self-proclaimed democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is attempting to draw distinctions between himself and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as Warren continues to outpace Sanders in the polls in the race to become the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nominee.

While both candidates' platforms lay out grand plans for upheaving the U.S. economy in an attempt to redistribute wealth, Sanders says he is the better choice among progressive voters because Warren has, herself, admitted to being a "capitalist."

What are the details?

"Elizabeth Warren has been a friend of mine for some 25 years, and I think she is a very, very good senator," Sanders told ABC's "This Week," before pointing out the major difference between himself and the Massachusetts Democrat.

"Elizabeth, I think, as you know, has said that she is a capitalist through her bones. I'm not," Sanders said. "I think the situation today that we face in this country of the greed and the corruption that is existing in Washington, that is existing at the corporate elite level...I am, I believe, the only candidate who's gonna say to the ruling class of this country, the corporate elite, 'enough, enough with your greed and with your corruption.' We need real change in this country."

NBC News noted that Warren reportedly claimed to audiences last year, "I am a capitalist to my bones." She told CNBC the same summer, "I am a capitalist. Come on. I believe in markets."

Yet, in comparing the two candidates' platforms, there are striking similarities. For instance, both Sanders and Warren have rolled out different versions of a wealth tax, both endorse Medicaid for All, and both believe the United States should adopt the "Green New Deal" proposed by democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Why does the label matter?

As PJ Media's Rick Moran noted a few months ago, the word "socialism" doesn't carry the same stigma among American voters as it did in generations past. In fact, among Democrats, being branded a "socialist" carries an advantage. According to a Gallup poll from 2018, 57 percent of Democrats view socialism positively.