While I certainly agree that the word "liberal" is the most misused word in the modern lexicon (modern American leftists are anything but liberal), and I would prefer conservatives in the media like Rush to use "leftist" rather than "liberal," there's no question that the use of "Marxist" however aptly would leave them open to a political onslaught that they couldn't recover from. To Rushes credit (I only listen to him and Glenn Beck these days), I've heard him use the term "Stalinist" a lot lately. Glenn Beck come to think of it is pretty unabashed in pointing out the creeping socialism in our country these days, and regulary begins items by shouting "Comrades" and playing the Soviet National Anthem.
All said, Talk show hosts are not going to undo the ravages of the NEA, and pop-culture. There are legions of throughly brainwashed young people leaving our public education systems who while not being able to read or write at level that is common to a slum in Cameroon, can lecture you for hours without a comma about Slavery, Queer Theory, Global Warming and the vileness of patriarchal oppression.
I certainly agree that the word "liberal" is the most misused word in the modern lexicon It's interesting that Soviet nuclear spy Julius Rosenberg was code-named "Liberal" by the KGB in the Venona cables. That word, like "progressive," has a "special" meaning to the Fifth Columnists.
“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.” - Thomas Jefferson