Calling someone a “communist” often has nothing to do with a person’s political philosophy but it’s handy shorthand to portray someone as dangerous and un-American.

That’s apparently what Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was trying to do Saturday when he told a group at the state Republican Party convention that the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women voters were “communist” groups. It wasn’t a casual reference; he repeated it three times to make sure that reporters in the room didn’t miss it.

“The ACLU and their fellow communist friends, the League of Women Voters — you can quote me on that, the communist League of Women Voters — the ACLU and the communist League of Women Voters sued,” Kobach said, referring to the two groups’ legal challenge to the law that requires Kansans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote.

It’s unclear in what way that action reflected communist political philosophy, but it’s a nice catch-all indictment of groups that disagree with the secretary and the voting laws that he championed. He made his statement to a committee of 2nd Congressional District delegates, an audience that he apparently thought would be receptive to his rhetoric. There may not have been any ACLU members present, but you have to wonder whether the meeting didn’t include at least a few members of the non-partisan League of Women Voters.

For more than 90 years, League volunteers have contributed untold hours to registering and providing information for voters. Their work hardly seems like a communist plot.

Reading reports from the state Republican convention may have been eye-opening for many Kansans. The ideas being expressed at the Overland Park meeting provided no hint of the state’s moderate Republican tradition. Instead the rhetoric focused on the same kind of scare tactics that have become so common in national political campaigns. It’s not enough to decry or disagree with the policies or actions of political opponents, you have to make the public afraid of them because, you know, they are “communists.”

Kobach’s label may resonate with some Kansas voters, but the childish and inflammatory tone of his comments probably will send a negative message to many others.