“Every signal appears to be that the Green New Deal is going to be a major part of the presidential election,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale University Program on Climate Change Communication. “This is in no small part because the larger political dynamics have shifted on climate change.”

Faster, please.

Keep talking, Democrats. It will do no good to say that you’re for a Green New Deal — just not the Green New Deal proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her proposal will live on and be solely identified with the issue — much to the delight of Republicans who will crank out campaign ads targeting the really stupid stuff, like eliminating cow flatulence and taking airplanes out of the sky.

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez revealed the real agenda of the Green New Deal:

The Green New Deal also calls for “repairing historic oppression” among certain groups and putting in place a slew of welfare programs, from universal health care to government jobs guarantees. “So really the heart of the Green New Deal is about social justice and it’s about allowing and fighting for things like fully funded pensions for coal miners in West Virginia, fighting for clean water in Flint, and fighting for the ability of indigenous peoples to take a leadership role in, in where we’re moving as a country,” Ocasio-Cortez told NPR Thursday.

This cockamamie scheme is not about saving the planet. It’s about massively expanding the size and scope of the U.S. government, making mincemeat of the Constitution, and spending trillions upon trillions of dollars to make us all dependent on government.

It’s as if Vladimir Lenin has been resurrected and his plan to nationalize business, industry, and capital has been reimagined.

The reaction to Ocasio-Cortez’s plan has been so negative — even from Democrats — that she’s been forced to pull the text from her website. It’s that bad.

Graham has the right idea. Democrats should not be allowed to quietly tiptoe away from this massive political blunder and they should be told to put up or shut up.