The other week in Las Vegas, Democratic presidential candidates showed up for a series of soundbites, and an honest to goodness political debate broke out — for a few minutes at least.

Don’t blame Anderson Cooper. The CNN moderator was merely trying to redbait Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders when he asked if “any kind of socialist could win a general election in the United States.” But rather than shrinking at the dreaded “s” word, Sanders gave an unapologetic defense of Scandinavian health care and maternity leave policies.

“Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people,” Cooper responded — perhaps under the impression that a social safety net is made of actual mesh and that there simply wouldn’t be enough webbing to cover the mighty USA. “The question,” he firmly continued, “is really about electability here.”