The new pariah word is "socialist". That is the best epithet left for the right wing to use. It is not a good fit though, because we have not changed a thing since FDR.
Why did they have to dig up an old word? Because liberal and Democrat are no longer derogatory epithets. Obama winning proved that labelling "liberal" and "Democrat" carries no sting at all. So the choices were "animal names", "gutter names", "communists" (used infrequently, very lightly because "communists" is a light year stretch, and lastly "socialist", a huge stretch, but all that was left. Calling Democrats "socialist" because they favor progressive income taxes. Progressive income tax rates have been the norm since the twenties. I bet their favorite times are the times of Charles Dickens' novels.
I hope the Republicans follow Newt's advice and figure out what went wrong and what they need to do to fix it. The need is evident because their choice epithets are without a sting. And even now, the word socialist carries even less sting because now it means someone in favor of a progressive income tax. Be careful how you use words, using an imprecise word frequently changes the meaning of the word.