Hillary has not even brushed the surface of what she will face in the GE.

[Cassiopeia]

I read a post earlier tonight that basically said Bernie and Bernie supporters have been hard on Hillary for emails, Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation etc. Give me a f$%kin' break. Hillary has faced NOTHING in this primary.

The only way Bernie has gone at Hillary is the money she has taken and where it has come from. That is the only "attack" he has made so far and that "attack" can't be used by any Republican in the GE because they've taken just as much or more!

If you think the primary is the HARD part of this election for Hillary, then I have a lot of stuff for sale and you should get in on the ground floor. It's going cheap, don't even question the price.

Benghazi probably won't be front and center. They loaded that one up early, Hillary stood strong, and little is likely to come from that directly. However, the emails are different. That's another investigation completely, an investigation that is not tapped out, but just building up into possible indictments. If you think the possibility of indictments are different than actual indictments.... well, check my online ads, I have something for sale you want that gets me to retirement. The foundation will get wrapped up into all of this as a money laundering organization, the weapon sales while SoS will be questioned, the involvement in Libya that lead to Benghazi will finally be questioned. Republicans will finally learn where Benghazi is located during this general election if Hillary wins the primary.

Hillary has yet to face any kind of conflict or begun to be vetted. That 25 years of the past? That means nothing compared to what will come up in a GE campaign.

Seriously, is there one Hillary supporter out there that thinks these things won't be front and center 24 hours a day from the convention until November 8th? Really? That even one of you believe emails, Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation etc won't be part of our daily 24 hour news cycle, part of the waiting room atmosphere at the doctor, the mechanic, the lunch room..... Day in day out, breakfast, lunch and dinner, midnight ice cream snack.....

emails, Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation etc

Yeah, I've got something for sale, you desperately need it and I'm looking to retire. Name your hopes and dreams. I'll post the ad.

[semby2]

1. Delusional

This is a hopelessly delusional post. The American people are extremely familiar with Clinton and have heard it all before. It's *Bernie Sanders* who hasn't been exposed to a wider audience. Once Republicans get done with him, voters will think they're choosing between the Republican and Joseph Stalin.

[Cassiopeia]

2. You are speaking from a slightly or mostly informed perspective.

The fact that you are here on DU means you are at least slightly informed.

The fact is the majority of the voters are not. They have very little concern overall about politics, but they watch the news from time to time, especially just before the general election.

They're going to see the news about Hillary like my post and a windbag Republican speaking against it, then they're going to go to their polling place.

[Shadowflash]

42. #

[artyteacher]

51. absolutely correct, semby2! eom

[JoePhilly]

58. + 1

[griffi94]

3. I'm not sure how long you've been politically active.

But Hillary has taken more heat from the GOP and RW media
than anybody in history except Bill.

They've thrown every possible thing and every possible combination of things
at the Clintons since 92.

Besides Benghazi and the clucking over her emails some of the other highlights
were Whitewater, Vince Foster, The Clinton Foundation, stolen FBI files, the dozens of people the Clintons have supposedly had murdered the hundreds of women Bill has supposedly raped and Hillary is supposedly a lesbian and I seem to remember some rift about cattle futures. The list goes on and on.

Hillary is the most publicly vetted candidate ever. She's been investigated and re-investigated and
even after all these years nothing ever came of any of it.
If they had anything they'd have never sat on it for this long.

I don't think anybody thinks this has been a particularly hard primary as far smears go. Hillary has been weathering this same old crap for years and she's still standing while a lot of her loudest detractors are history.

Same old RW talking points that get floated every time the Clintons do or say anything.

[Cassiopeia]

5. Pending FBI indictments.

It's just starting.

That shit from the past was exactly that, but this is new and it has legs. The fact is November is 6 months away and not enough time to distance herself, especially if nothing comes to be formal until October.

[griffi94]

9. Yeah OK

I remember how she wasn't supposed to be able to win the senate race. Then she won twice.
Then the RW buzz was that she'd never be able to confirmed as SOS. Whoops they missed on that one as well.

I've been hearing all about the Clintons political demise and impending prison terms for 24 years
so don't be offended when I don't change my vote based on something I read on an internet forum.

Bernie can win the presidency, all he has to do is beat Hillary in the primary first.
So far he's not doing that.

[Cassiopeia]

13. So, I'll ask again

FBI potential indictments? A 24 hour news cycle focusing on them?

[griffi94]

33. What you're talking about isn't new

Whitewater 24 hour news cycle focusing on it. Bill getting a BJ in the oval office 24 hour news cycle focusing on it.
The Clinton Foundation 24 hour news cycle focusing on it. Benghazi 24 hour news cycle focusing on it.

See all of that has already happened and she's still the front runner.
The key word in potential FBI indictments is potential.

I'd be pretty silly to vote against the candidate I thought was the most qualified just because of some RW talking points.
Yeah maybe she will get indicted but it hasn't happened yet after multiple tries.

Also the world could end by the end of the month but I went ahead paid the rent anyway.

If you're that worried about it then get out there and get Bernie thru the primary.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. You really miss the point.

Are you suggesting that NY yellow journalism took on HRC when she ran for senate? The opposite was true. They treated her so kindly, so gently, that I thought the fix was in.

Seriously, she has no clue what she is in for and she takes any criticism very poorly. Trumpenstein will eat her alive.

[griffi94]

32. Your opinion and you're entitled to it

Get out there and get Bernie thru the primary.

[rock]

104. As griffi94 said in post # 32 (just ahead of me)

It's your opinion and you're entitled to it. Let me add, you might want to reassess it.

[Depaysement]

21. She wasn't supposed to win her Senate race?

She was the coronation candidate of the State Democratic Party and ran against one of the weaker candidates the Repukes have ever run. She joked about being a carpet bagged often and everybody laughed.

[griffi94]

34. Not living in New York I don't know what the State Democratic Party did.

I know RW media talking points were that she couldn't win.
It was too soon after Bills impeachment, she was a carpetbagger, nobody liked her or would vote for her and she
had Whitewater and all that other made up baggage that nobody but the Republicans cared about.

When there's some real thing I'll reconsider but I'm not going to do that on a lot of RW talking points
which is all this is.
She's very popular with Democrats. That's why she's the front runner.
If any of the allegations ever materialize and actually stick then maybe this argument will be valid.
Until then it's just more wild speculation.

[Bohunk68]

37. You don't live in NY, yet you are making a claim about how difficult

it was for her to win a Senate seat in NY? You evidently do not know that NY is a very reliable Blue State? That statement is just plain out in right field someplace. Which makes the rest of your post suspect for its veracity. Ergo, just an unsubstantiated opinion. And it should be taken as such.

[griffi94]

39. No read it again

I said I heard all the RW media say how she couldn't win and for the reasons I stated.
I have no idea what the New York State Democratic Party did and said as much.

New York may be a reliably blue state but George Pataki was the Governor in 2000.
So a Republican winning a state wide office was hardly unheard of.

[Bohunk68]

40. Living in Upstate NY for the last 36 years as an adult and being a political

junkie, I have followed all that. I also know that Pataki was opposed by very weak candidates on the left and those candidates were not exactly stellar. He also did a fairly credible job as governor, reaching across the aisle and involving Democrats in his policies. You would know that if you lived in NY. Hillary faced some very weak candidates, the one from LI was a joke.

[griffi94]

41. And as I said I don't live in New York

The RW media...you know cable news and the conservative talking heads and guys like Imus
kept up the drum beat that Hillary wasn't electable.

What I said was that she was elected. Now you're the one adding qualifiers.
They were weak candidates, it's blue state, Pataki faced weak candidates, he worked with Democrats.

I'm not contesting that. I'm stating what the RW media talking points were at the time.

This thread is just more talking points at the moment.
Hillary is the front runner. That means that at the moment she's winning.

I think she'll win the primary and then win in November.
Trump is a pretty weak candidate.

[Bohunk68]

45. I don't listen to RW media, so you may well be correct at far as the

RW media goes. I prefer not to pollute my surroundings with their bilgewater.

[PoliticAverse]

84. Her main opponent (Rudy Giuliani) pulled out in the middle of the race due to health reasons

is part of what happened in New York.

Clinton ended up facing someone in the election that I'm guessing most New York State residents couldn't now name
on a bet.

[griffi94]

89. Ok

She still won a 2nd term and she still was easily confirmed as SOS
and she's the front runner now.
My point was that all the dung that's been flung at her and all the times
I've read or been told by the media that she was done and whatever made up
outrage was the flavor of the day was the one that had "legs" and yet she kept right on going.

This OP is just more of the same. Hillary has been publicly vetted on a regular basis
for the last 24 years.

Maybe this indictment will have "legs" but I've been hearing that since 1992 and it hasn't happened yet.

[PoliticAverse]

90. I suppose whether those things had "legs" or not depends on why you think she lost in 2008. n/t

[griffi94]

93. I think in 2008

She ran like she already had the nomination sewn up.
President Obama was able to sneak up on her and she didn't
react until it was too late. Altho I don't think it would have made any difference.
He carried 90% of the AA vote and peeled off a large number of women voters. I don't
remember how Obama did with Hispanics but it was respectable.

Even at that he didn't shut her out. He mathed her. The same thing she's doing to Bernie now.
This time she didn't take it for granted that she had it in the bag. Bernie sparked a lot of excitement
especially among younger voters. In 08 the youth vote broke for Obama same as they're breaking for Bernie now
but Hillary is doing much better than Bernie with women and AAs and Hispanics.
She's been in those big delegate rich states strengthening her support and it's paying off.

Bernie is this cycles come from out of nowhere candidate but he doesn't have the same appeal that Obama had
and he's not cutting into as many traditional Democratic demographics as Obama did.

Bernie is exciting a much smaller percent of the traditional Democratic base. He's also not
getting the turnout Obama had in 08.

[karynnj]

102. I never heard those right wing talking points, but the consensus in NY was that she was a shoe in

Her first opponent, Guiliani was not that popular at that point and his popularity sunk when he told the media that he was divorcing his wife, a well known likable media person, without telling her first ... spoke of moving his mistress into the Governor's mansion where his wife and children still lived etc. The tabloids had a different outrage to highlight every day. He eventually dropped out claiming it was because he had been diagnosed with prostrate cancer and needed to deal with that. He was then replaced by a young Long Island Republican that no one knew much of anything about.

When Clinton indicated she wanted to run, the party cleared the field persuading people like long time Congresswoman Nita Lowey not to contest it. As to Clinton, she, like all first ladies had a very high approval rating and, in her case, it rose as people sympathized with her as she dealt with the Lewinski mess.

She DID run a good campaign and she was good in the debates. She was a credible candidate, but it was not a particularly tough race.

[Dawgs]

55. Hillary winning in a solidly blue state is not a very good example of defeating the GOP.

And I love how Bernie, who was once a nobody, is now a somebody that Hillary is solidly defeating.

You can't make this shit up.

[Jackie Wilson Said]

78. Make sure you do everything you possibly can to remind people about the emails and FBI

and keep it front and center.

[Cassiopeia]

81. Would you rather hide from reality?

Isn't it more important to face the real challenges one of our candidates will face during the GE?

Or do you believe the GOP will ignore the FACT that Hillary faces a possible indictment and not use that in their campaigning?

Do you think the campaign gets easier after the convention?

[Jackie Wilson Said]

85. No, like I just said in another thread

Keep your fingers crossed, if enough attention is given to an email server we might



end up with Cruz or Trump rounding up millions of people and deporting them, wont that be fun to watch on tv?

Crying little children watching their parents being herded up and put into buses and deported, so much fun, right?









I will never forget who did this to us if those who ceaselessly pushed this story are successful and this country ends up with any of the fascist GOP candidates.

[Gothmog]

92. The FBI by itself has no power to indict anyone

The DOJ is the only agency or group with that power

[Cassiopeia]

95. OK. Do you believe the race gets easier or harder after the convention?

[Thinkingabout]

4. After twenty five years of GOP vetting, the surface has been brushed many times.

Honestly, how many years has Sanders been vetted by GOP? Not worried about the GOP vetting of Hillary.

[Cassiopeia]

6. The GOP can hammer him

There is nothing there, we would have already seen it.

The fact is, Hillary is under an investigation by the FBI and faces a possible indictment.

Do you think the GOP will ignore that in a GE?

[Thinkingabout]

7. The GOP vetting of Sanders has not started, don't think it will right now,

With RW PACs running ads against Hillary hoping to keep her out of the GE, Republicans changing party registration to vote against Hillary, it would not serve their purpose to vet Sanders while the primary is still ongoing. Have you checked with the RW news sources, there are hints of what is to come if Sanders gets the DNC nomination, not going to be pleasant.

[Cassiopeia]

8. Do you think it will get easier for Hillary

after the primary if she wins it?

[griffi94]

12. In a word

Yes.

[Cassiopeia]

20. Really?

You seriously think the primary, a primary Bernie has not gone negative in (except for contributions) is a more difficult race tan the GE will be?

[griffi94]

29. I don't think either race is going to be very difficult

Bernie can still win in theory but he's got to win often
and win really big. Wins by 3-5% isn't going to get him there.

In the GE if, as it looks now, Trump is her opponent I expect she'll win without much trouble at all.

As soon as Trump has to actually give a position besides how rich he is and how yuge he is, then he's done.
He's not going to take any of the middle and he's going to lose moderate republicans.

He's also going to lose AAs Hispanics Women and everybody else who isn't a pissed off white guy.
He's going to lose those regardless of who our nominee is.

[Thinkingabout]

14. No, it sure has not been easy for Democratic presidents and dont think

Hillary will be any different. Sanders will not be any different either except there will be a new line of RW talking points. Just loom at some of the statements Trump has made.

[Cassiopeia]

19. Still dodging.

Do you think it will get easier or harder for Clinton in the GE?

[Thinkingabout]

60. I think I have more than answered this question, Hillary has been vetted for

Twenty five years, I dont expect this will change, I doubt it will change after the GE, it is the GOP way. Do I think it will not be any vetting of Sanders? No, he will be vetted to the fullest, as I ask before have you read any of the RW sources talking about Sanders? It will not be nice on Sanders. The difference in these two candidates is the GOP non scandal crap on Hillary has passed, been brought and Sanders has not had the scandals examined and thereby may not have the opportunity to get passed the scandals.

[cherokeeprogressive]

49. If and when Bernie Sanders concedes...

That 25 years of vetting will be repeated ad nauseum 24/7 from then until election day with the constant reminder that indictment is looking over her shoulder.

Different ball game.

[Thinkingabout]

87. Do you think Sanders will be indicted for his campaign fund irregularities?

Give the GOP twenty five years to run on issues like this and then explain Hillary getting indicted.

[Cassiopeia]

96. Deflection won't work.

Do you think it will get easier after the primary?

[Thinkingabout]

101. Okay, got the information I need, see ya.

[Dawgs]

56. And Hillary's unfavorables are now in a position where she might lose to a fascist.

Good job Democrats.

[Thinkingabout]

88. Sanders has the same chance to lose to fascists, they have not vetted him yet.

[CorkySt.Clair]

70. This is the new, desperate meme

It was originally posted in the Sanders forum. Basically, they figured out the Trump vs. Clinton h2h numbers didn't mesh with their narrative that there was no way Clinton could win a GE. Now they are back to hoping for an indictment. Very sad.

[grossproffit]

10. Clinton has an entire channel* dedicated to bringing her down and she's still winning.

*Fox "News."

[Cassiopeia]

63. Most of the people voting in the primary don't watch that channel.

So if she wins the primary do you think the election will get easier or harder?

[azurnoir]

11. When it comes to Hillary and the GOP only one thing will matter her last name is Clinton

and IMO that single factor will unite the GOP in a way that'll be hard to imagine-scandals FBI Benghazi emails won't mean squat compared to that one factor

[Cassiopeia]

15. THey will all just be a part of it.

I'm amazed that Hillary supporters really think all the current scandal about Hillary will have no impact on the GE because everyone "knows" her.

If it were a drug I could package I could sell out in a single weekend and retire.

[azurnoir]

23. the current scandal(s) will have an impact but that's mostly on our side of aisle so to speak

when it comes to Republicans not so much they will unite for no other reason than to keep another Clinton out of the WH

[Cassiopeia]

25. The GOP and the MSM

will POUND Hillary on pending investigations, arms sales as SoS, and the overthrow of Gaddafi as the reason Benghazi happened as we run up to Nov 8th.

Anyone that believes otherwise is delusional.

[Thinkingabout]

16. McCarthy has already shot the GOP in the foot on these, they will not be effective.

[azurnoir]

18. How so? eta I just said none of the scandals will matter as much as her name

[Thinkingabout]

26. How so, he admitted they had the Benghazi hearings to "damage" Hillary.

[azurnoir]

30. I edited the post your replying but as I said originally none of that really matters to them

when it comes to voting in an election ask yourself to what end were they trying to damage her? IMO they will unite and vote for whomever their candidate is if for no other reason than to keep another Clinton from occupying the WH

[Thinkingabout]

61. I get this, just as there have been republicans changing their party to vote

Against Hillary, reports of Republicans crossing over in open primaries to vote against her, why would they do this? Because the do not want to run against Hillary in the GE, they know they have nit vetted Sanders and are already collecting information to use against him.

[griffi94]

24. Then you haven't been paying very close attention to the GOP primary

A solid half of the GOP hate Trump and won't vote for him. That includes most of their leaders.
The other half hate everybody not Trump and if Trump isn't the nominee a large portion of them will sit out.
Even more if Trump runs 3rd party.

The GOP right at this moment can't organize a 2 car parade. Even the RW media has turned on itself.
The GOP elites know that Trump is a long term disaster for their party. Too bad for them they're bucking
a tiger. They can't support him but they can't stop him either.

[azurnoir]

27. you're quite wrong on that I've been paying very close attention

and as it stands when you total votes cast by party as opposed to by candidate the Republicans have cast 4,000,0000+ more votes than we have this primary season and while they may hate Trump IMO they hate Clintons more

Republican 19,097,136

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/republican_vote_count.html

Democratic 14,757,215

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/democratic_vote_count.html

Republicans ahead 4339921

[griffi94]

35. Then we better get the vote out

[Bohunk68]

38. Last night on MSNBC, Eugene Robinson, a man who usually has his act well together,

made the remark that the reliable Blue States will add up to about 230 electoral votes. The Rethugs will have about 120 reliable Red State votes. The election for President will be almost a given for whichever Dem comes along. He was on with Larry O'Donnel. I know, not exactly a stellar person, but better than most.

[onenote]

47. There is no reliable correlation between turnout during primary season and the GE outcome

If there was, Carter would have been re-elected and we'd be referring to Mike Dukakis as former President Dukakis. In both 1980 and 1988, the Democrats had higher turnout during the primaries than the repubs and both times the repubs lost. And in 2000, the repubs had higher turnout in the primaries but Kerry won the popular vote (and only lost the presidency due to the Supreme Court).

[Dawgs]

57. Yep. Only a fool would think the Republicans won't vote for Trump over Clinton.

Democrats f'ed up big time on this one.

[Hoyt]

22. Clinton -- "I'm Still Here." She'll do fine.

[BeanMusical]

28. Kick and R

[delrem]

31. It would be a good thing if the war profiteering came out

in this election cycle.
In a way I don't even care how, I just want it to come out and the reality of it be discussed.

[bravenak]

36. You think it will be a cake walk for Bernie?

Well, please note that he does not have a party to back him up and if he is going to try to take down the established Democratic party, there will be a bunch of folks not interested in helping him.

Hillary has not been vetted? Oh please! Bernie has never runa national campaign and after the way he ran this one I have no idea who you all think will be standing in those long voting lines for him in swing states.

Bernie has been treated with kid gloves.

[Cassiopeia]

64. Can you please point to even one sentence where I said it will be easy for Bernie.

Even one? I'll save you the trouble, it's not there.

However you can answer this question, directly please.... Do you think the GE will be easier or harder than the primary for Clinton?

[bravenak]

67. Easier

[Cassiopeia]

68. Really?

You seriously imagine the attacks against her lighten up after the primary?

May I ask in all seriousness how many POTUS elections you've been invested in or paid attention to in a serious manner?

[bravenak]

69. Trump Is so crazy the media will be on him like stank on shit

[Cassiopeia]

73. But not Hillary?

Hillary who so many here say has been the ultimate victim for 3 decades will suddenly become the loved politician?

Again, may I ask if this is your first presidential election?

[bravenak]

75. They aint paying much attention to her NOW!

I was wondering the same thing about YOU! Have you done this voting thing before?

[Cassiopeia]

76. I have.

I've been a political junky since the Reagan admin.

How about you?

[bravenak]

77. I was born then but i am precocious.

[Cassiopeia]

80. So I can only guess from your constant dodging

That this is the first major election you've paid attention to. Welcome to politics! Seriously, I mean that in a warm and inviting manner. Its not just a show, its our lives.

This campaign hasn't even started with the smears yet. Clinton has had an extremely easy road, both with the media and Bernie and his supporters. If she is nominated the ammo will come out and Clinton supporters will see what true hostility is.

[KeepItReal]

83. Which media? Fox? Morning Joe? Tamron Hall? CNN? And WHEN?

They have all been kissing Trump's ass all this time - in addition to giving him NON-STOP coverage with every Tweet, podium placement in a room somewhere, or actual stream of verbal filth from his lips.

SMH at Tamron Hall, especially. Begging for Gucci discount codes from Donald Trump? Really?

[Shadowflash]

43. You are correct

She is going to spend the entire GE campaign on the defensive due to right wing attacks, valid or not.

They have all kinds of ammo (real or imagined) dating back a few decades.

[msongs]

44. for hillary bashing repubs can just copy and paste from the sanders forum lol nt

[Cassiopeia]

66. So you think this primary is a rough as it's get?

This is the hard part, after the primary Hillary gets to just coast right into the WH without any hardcore attacks after she gets past that mean old Bernie and his supporters.

[beachbum bob]

46. I kinda chuckled when I read this...so you pretend hillary hasn't had mainstream or rw media focus

on her the last 30 yrs? Really....lol

[Cassiopeia]

97. Do you believe the the race gets easier

after the convention?

[onenote]

48. Yes, the repubs will throw everything they can at the Democratic nominee

That's true whether its Clinton or Sanders.

And given that more people already have formed an opinion about Clinton than have about Sanders, those attacks are likely to be more effective against Sanders than against Clinton.

[Fast Walker 52]

50. it's going to be one ugly election

a ton of shit will be thrown at Trump too

[Cassiopeia]

71. A realistic answer, thank you.

I disagree though. The media has done everything in its power to hang Bernie up and there's simply nothing there. He would be extremely resilient in the GE.

He certainly doesn't have the endless loop of pending indictments hanging over his head. I can understand why Hillary supporters don't think this is a big deal, after all the media isn't mentioning it now all that much, however, that's only because they're saving the big guns.

The hardcore stuff is stored on the weapons rack. It's being polished and saved up for use when it can stick to the target in all it's juicy glory. I'm amazed at how many supporters here think the race gets easier after the primary.

[onenote]

82. It's not what the media will say about Bernie

It's what the repubs and their super pacs will say. And it won't be the truth, but it will blanket the airwaves with the message that Bernie is a threat to the American way of life.

Perfectly innocent things such as his work on a kibbutz or his honeymoon in Russia will be turned into material for ominous sounding ads about Bernie being a secret Communist.

It would be naïve to expect otherwise. And it would be naïve to think that it wouldn't work on significant numbers of voters who don't know much about Bernie, including repubs and independents and generally those that don't pay much attention to politics until the finals weeks before a national election.

[JoePhilly]

98. + 1

[Skwmom]

52. Bernie has mentioned ONLY small dollar amounts. Trump will not go so easy on her. n/t

[dubyadiprecession]

53. Don't worry if hillary can take attacks...

They have been attacking her for decades now and she still wants to be president. Donald Trump on the other hand, will be too big of a distraction since he can't go more than a few days without putting his foot in his mouth.

[Gothmog]

54. Sanders has not been vetted at all yet

Dana Milbank has some good comments on general election match up polls https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-would-be-insane-to-nominate-bernie-sanders/2016/01/26/0590e624-c472-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html?hpid=hp_opinions-for-wide-side_opinion-card-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Sanders and his supporters boast of polls showing him, on average, matching up slightly better against Trump than Clinton does. But those matchups are misleading: Opponents have been attacking and defining Clinton for a quarter- century, but nobody has really gone to work yet on demonizing Sanders.

Watching Sanders at Monday night’s Democratic presidential forum in Des Moines, I imagined how Trump — or another Republican nominee — would disembowel the relatively unknown Vermonter.

The first questioner from the audience asked Sanders to explain why he embraces the “socialist” label and requested that Sanders define it “so that it doesn’t concern the rest of us citizens.”

Sanders, explaining that much of what he proposes is happening in Scandinavia and Germany (a concept that itself alarms Americans who don’t want to be like socialized Europe), answered vaguely: “Creating a government that works for all of us, not just a handful of people on the top — that’s my definition of democratic socialism.”

But that’s not how Republicans will define socialism — and they’ll have the dictionary on their side. They’ll portray Sanders as one who wants the government to own and control major industries and the means of production and distribution of goods. They’ll say he wants to take away private property. That wouldn’t be fair, but it would be easy. Socialists don’t win national elections in the United States .

Sanders on Monday night also admitted he would seek massive tax increases — “one of the biggest tax hikes in history,” as moderator Chris Cuomo put it — to expand Medicare to all. Sanders, this time making a comparison with Britain and France, allowed that “hypothetically, you’re going to pay $5,000 more in taxes,” and declared, “W e will raise taxes, yes we will.” He said this would be offset by lower health-insurance premiums and protested that “it’s demagogic to say, oh, you’re paying more in taxes.”

Well, yes — and Trump is a demagogue.

Sanders also made clear he would be happy to identify Democrats as the party of big government and of wealth redistribution. When Cuomo said Sanders seemed to be saying he would grow government “bigger than ever,” Sanders didn’t quarrel, saying, “P eople want to criticize me, okay,” and “F ine, if that’s the criticism, I accept it.”

Sanders accepts it, but are Democrats ready to accept ownership of socialism, massive tax increases and a dramatic expansion of government? If so, they will lose.

Sanders would be a very very weak general election candidate

[KeepItReal]

72. So Sec. Clinton is not capable of Opposition Research? Or just incompetent at it?

It's her campaign's JOB to vet Sen. Sanders.

Obviously they don't have ANYTHING to attack him with and have to use the Rovian strengths-as-weaknesses tactics to try and diminish his record.

"Sanders would be a very very weak general election candidate"



Yeah, right, Gothmog.

[Gothmog]

91. The Clinton campaign has been treating Sanders with kid gloves

The concept that the Clinton campaign has been very negative on Sanders is simply false when you look at what Sanders would be subject to if he was the Democratic nominee. VOX had a good article on the potential lines of attack that Sanders would be exposed to if Sanders was the nominee. http://www.vox.com/2016/2/3/10903404/gop-campaign-against-sanders One of the more interesting observations in the VOX analysis is the fact that Sanders have been treated with kids gloves compared to what Sanders would face if he was the Democratic nominee. I strongly agree with the VOX's position that the so-called negative attacks against Sander have been mild. Form the article:

I have no interest in litigating any of these attacks here. Like any Democrat elected president in 2016, Sanders wouldn't be able to get much done, but he would block attempts to roll back Obama's accomplishments and have a chance to fill a few Supreme Court vacancies.

When Sanders supporters discuss these attacks, though, they do so in tones of barely contained outrage, as though it is simply disgusting what they have to put up with. Questioning the practical achievability of single-payer health care. Impugning the broad electoral appeal of socialism. Is nothing sacred?

But c'mon. This stuff is patty-cakes compared with the brutalization he would face at the hands of the right in a general election.

His supporters would need to recalibrate their umbrage-o-meters in a serious way.

The attacks that would be levied against Sanders by the Kochs, the RNC candidate and others in a general election contest would make the so-called attacks against Sanders look like patty-cakes. The GOP and Kochs are not known for being nice or honest and as the article notes there are a ton of good topics available for attack. Raising taxes is never a good campaign platform (Just ask President Mondale). The GOP would also raise the socialism and age issues if Sanders was the nominee.

Again, I agree with the VOX position that so far, Sanders has not been subject to negative attacks close to what the GOP would use against Sanders and the attacks against Sanders if he was the nominee would be brutal. I urge Sanders supporters to read the VOX article to start to get a feel for what real negative attacks would look like.

[KeepItReal]

94. There is not a single new line of attack on Sen. Sanders mentioned in your post

Sen. Sanders has *ALREADY* been called old, a Socialist, a Communist (by Trump himself), and someone who is gonna raise taxes (to fund Medicare-for-all and free public college tuition, but they never say it like that).

A lot of words in the Vox piece and zero new thoughts.

What else you got?

[Art_from_Ark]

59. Hillary's holding the freaking Sword of Damocles

over our heads with her candidacy

[beaglelover]

62. OK, that's it. You've convinced me to support St. Bernard.

NOT! LOL!!!

[artislife]

65. You have convinced me to vote for hill

Oh....that may be a joke as well...

[Cassiopeia]

74. That's honestly not what this post is about.

I learned long ago no minds will be changed at DU. It's a recent revelation to me however that people on DU, particularly Hillary supporters believe the election will get easier after the primary is concluded. Are you one of those people?

[wendylaroux]

79. No kidding,she has had problems with the little bit of push back from Bernie,

the state she will be in in the general will be horrible.She won't be able to remember what say to what person,

what she said recently,6 mths. ago.

There will be hem hawing,and eye twitching,red sweaty face,barking,belching,nervous giggles,stammering,and that

will only be in rehearsals. gonna be bad,real real baaad.

[EndElectoral]

86. The Rove machine will be full force.

Here's one you might see

(Video of HRC debate on Libya)

Hillary Clinton said we didn't lose an American life in Libya. Ask the families of these four Americans if they agree.

(Show the faces of four Americans killed in Libya)

Out of touch, untruthful, or just dangerous?

This message is brought to you by the Republican Party."

[obamanut2012]

99. She has been facing it for 20 years

Did you miss the Benghazi hearings?

And how kickass HRC did?

[MisterP]

100. see, Clinton doesn't think the main obstacle to victory is the Republicans, but the DEMOCRATS

we're the ones who have to be brought into line, disciplined, carefully monitored, kept in the dark on the past: Trump is a sideshow, a convenient foil to GOTV

it's why they define primaries as "sabotage," but the real question is--are we gonna take it?

[MFM008]

103. she knows

Exactly what's coming.