Joy Behar and Pete Buttigieg say that conservatives don't understand what socialism is

"The View" co-host Joy Behar took conservatives to task during Friday's show, insisting that they aren't smart enough to understand what the word "socialism" means.

As pointed out by Newsbusters, Behar was discussing Thursday's Democratic presidential debate, which featured high-profile candidates such as former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

What are the details?

During Friday's airing, the co-hosts spoke with Buttigieg about the previous night's debate .

"We thought you were spectacular last night," Behar gushed. "I did, anyway. I'm going to go right into it. The right wing has been making a lot last night's debate — your first — and they are referring to Democrats as socialists. Obviously, they don't know what the word means. So what do you say to that accusation?"

Buttigieg was well-prepared for the question, and insisted that he identifies as a "Democratic Capitalist."

"I view myself as a Democratic Capitalist, but the 'democratic' part is really important," he explained. "They throw around this word — 'socialism' — and they use it to describe pretty much anything they don't like."

"Remember," he continued, "they called Medicare 'socialism.' They called the Affordable Care Act 'socialism.'"

The Democratic candidate went on to point out that he feels no matter what Democrats do or say, it's going to be viewed as socialism.

"If it's conservative, they'll call it 'socialism' because it's coming from Democrats," he concluded. "Let's worry [about] whether it's a good idea, and every proposal to expand health care, to raise wages, to make sure we're actually building up our infrastructure, to get paid family leave, call it whatever you would like, but let's get it done."