If Bernie was the nominee, Trump and Republicans would DANCE FOR JOY IN THE STREETS.

[RBInMaine]

They would shoot off fireworks, have block parties all night, and dance all night in sheer delight if Bernie was the nominee.

Why? Because they would immediately start producing the ENDLESS ATTACK ADS with hammer and sickle flags saying "Communist Communist Communist."

We would hear "Communist Bernie" constantly from now until election day. We would also see so many other ads:

"Bernie who wants to raise your taxes through the roof."

"Bernie who wants to expand government by seventeen trillion dollars."

"Bernie the porn writer."

"Bernie the do-nothing on-unemployment bum."

"Bernie who says one thing but votes another way if it benefits Vermont."

"Bernie the Fidel Castro lover."

"Bernie the Sandinista lover."

"Bernie whose wife drove a college into the ground."

And SO much more that would almost instantly TANK him in the polls. It would be a political BLOODBATH.

Sorry Bernie fans, but the white cloak which you drape over Bernie would be ripped off in an instant and sunk in an ocean of the most damaging dirt and sludge you could possibly imagine. So far Bernie has been deliberately given a complete pass. Not a single negative ad. Why? Because the R's WANT him to win. They WANT to run against him. They are YEARNING to run against him so they can then start yelling "COMMUNIST COMMUNIST COMMUNIST" night and day and day and night. And it would be DEVASTATING.

[Vote2016]

1. Because they love and respect Hillary and see no issues that can be used to defeat her by landslide?

[RBInMaine]

4. "Leaks state secrets?" Complete and utter nonsense. My goodness, what planet are you on?

[CorporatistNation]

7. "My Goodness..." I Would ASk The Same of You... What Planet Are You On That You Completely Overlook

hard evidence of your heroine, doing all that is well documented... and the list is indeed lengthy... and then to be diplomatic... NOT exactly being TRUTHFUL about it! If you need video documentation of the empirical veracity of this statement, I will be more than happy to provide it... UNBELIEVABLE is the level of COGNITIVE DISSONANCE ... here!

[Bob-o the Clown]

30. Listen to yourself...

and listen to me. Clinton handled top secret materials into her unclassified and unsecured (for 3 months) home-brewed server for 3 months for her emails. Many of the emails are TS/SCI, 22 are so classified, it can't be released for public information. They were all found on her unsecured, unclassified and hackable server.

That, and her relationship with Sid Blumenthal is what is going to take Clinton down.

[RBInMaine]

23. "Leaking state secrets"? Seriously? That is so ridiculous you must on another planet.

[jack_krass]

38. Yes, leaked state secrets. Dont let the bullies shut you up

At the very least, she put state secrets at great risk, but I'm OK with "leaked'. Especially seeing the Hillary supporters are perfectly OK labeling every Bernie supporter a racist.

Not good enough Hillary, Lol

[Tavarious Jackson]

3. Also, Jane has an FBI issue it seems. Some GOP lawman says Bernie helped.

I don't know.. I don't trust GOP. Vermont news reported it.

[Demsrule86]

6. The fact he was a conscientious objector

but voted to send men and women to war would clobber him too...look what they did to Kerry?

[CorporatistNation]

13. FALSE Statement! Bernie Voted To SUPPORT The TROOPS Once They Were Comiited To War By Others Such..

as Hillary! BIG DIFFERENCE! Get Yer FACTS straight...

[J_J_]

8. which is why #chickentrump won't debate Sanders

Right wing BS can easily beat him?

[pangaia]

9. Why am I even bothering to type this?

You OR me?

[foo_bar]

10. I don't think Hill talking points are the same as Trump's

I mean close enough, but it's hard to see Trump making e.g., "porn writer" a key differentiator. Maybe the red baiting since that's common to both parties, but Trump isn't a cookie cutter republican with the blah-blah tax 'n spend pitch, again that's more like a Clintonian third way tack than this sort of reality show fascism we're seeing. If anything Bernie seems to neutralize Trump's "saying what idiots secretly think" motif, while Hillary isn't allowed to say what she thinks because her approval ratings plummet whenever Real Hillary talks about her experiences with poverty or sniper fire, so she has to be carefully stage-managed to compartmentalize the candidate and the image of "???" she's attempting to project.

[Sancho]

11. There is plenty of evidence that you are correct on these and many other scandals...

Bernie had a free ride so far. Admittedly the sources are all over the map, but Trump and friends would have a field day with him. Depending on your interest, he could be attacked many ways. This is just a small number of mostly local and limited circulation publications. On a national media stage, with big RW dollars pushing along, Bernie would be a sitting duck on the topics you raise and others.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/26/exclusive-bernie-sanders-wife-may-have-defrauded-state-agency-bank/

http://freebeacon.com/politics/sanders-and-wife-steered-campaign-nonprofit-money-to-family-and-friends/
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/24583-bernie-sanders-doubles-down-on-f-35-support-days-after-runway-explosion
http://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2015/02/hypocrisy-alert-bernie-sanders-wanting.html
http://muckraker-gg.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-lockheed-and-sandia-came-to-vermont.html
http://socialistworker.org/2015/06/01/what-i-learned-about-bernie-sanders
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredmeyer/2015/08/25/sanders-rubio-support-costly-sugar-subsidies/
http://www.shakesville.com/2015/07/look ... rs-72.html
http://www.shakesville.com/2015/07/look ... nders.html
http://www.shakesville.com/2015/07/look ... rs-90.html
http://www.shakesville.com/2015/07/look ... right.html
http://www.quora.com/What-dirt-is-there-on-Bernie-Sanders
https://bhermannview.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/beware-of-colonel-sanders/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/15/1409803/-Introducing-Bernie-Sanders-the-Hypocrite
https://jhaines6a.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/list-israeli-dual-citizens-in-the-us-114th-congress-and-bernie-sanders-is-on-it-j/

https://www.popularresistance.org/lets-not-be-fooled-by-bernie-sanders/
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bernie-sanders-compares-his-sex-article-50-shades-grey
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/sanders-leftwing-economic

[CorporatistNation]

15. No Biden! No Warren! If A Substitution Needs To Be Made, The ONLY LEGIT Candidate IS Senator Sanders

I've met and spoken with Biden for quite a while... Nice salesman. NOT going to change a thing as he is an apparatchik of The Establishment just like Hillary... Perhaps not as bad as HRC in that regard, but he will toe the line for THE POWERS THAT BE!

[Sancho]

21. It's an imaginary discussion, because Bernie won't be the candidate...

There are plenty of other good Democratic candidates who would be better than Bernie, but point of the OP is clear. Bernie would be an easy target for a general election. He has plenty of issues that the repubs could exploit.

So far, it has not been worth their time and money.

GOP debates rarely mentioned Bernie. The RW PACs run ads against Hillary, but no Bernie. They could if they wanted.

[pipoman]

22. What kind of a Democrat compiles, harbors, and publishes such a list?

[Sancho]

25. It's a list of what the GOP would start with in a GE...

Actually, that's just the tip of the iceberg as an example. In the real world of today's politics, that's the way it is.

If Bernie supporters don't know about his history that could be used against him, then they are naive.

The OP listed some possible issues. I merely provided a few links to those topics and similar ones so than DUers could see that the OP was not hypothetical - but the potential attacks were really out there.

[pipoman]

34. Surely you aren't pretending that if there is a list for bernie

There isn't a 3 volume set for Hillary?

[saltpoint]

12. Republicans don't dance. eom

[DrDan]

14. a barrage of ads with the video of bernie proclaiming "I am a socialist and everyone knows that."

[CorporatistNation]

16. Socialist Meme is A RED HERRING! Very Few Give A Sh**! Only HARD CORE RIGHT Wingers, and...

they will never vote for ANY Dem anyway! A TOTAL BS argument!

[DrDan]

20. ignore that risk at your peril - it is enough to get the RWers riled up and enthused about voting

[Warren Stupidity]

17. Every poll out there says you are full of it.

[shawn703]

18. The 1950s called

They want their Red Scare back

[pipoman]

19. One of the dumbest screeds I have ever read on DU.

What about hiding your official Secretary of State email server in your basement? What about the demonstrable and incessant lying? What about Hils love affair with investment banking corruption?

No, trump will target whomever is the Democratic candidate and Sanders has a fuckload less baggage than Hillary.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. Doesn't matter who the Democratic nominee is.

Bernie, Hillary, or Jesus, the Republicans would blast the Dem nominee with attack ads, innuendo, misinformation, and flat out lies period. Tactics might differ, but the strategy would be the same so not really a compelling reason to pull support from a candidate. Quite the contrary.

[babylonsister]

26. There's lots of dirt and sludge out there but

you most assuredly are applying it to the wrong candidate. Why are you so nervous? What's the point of this OP? Who are you trying to convince?

[AgingAmerican]

27. You blew your poop slinging wad on this one

Weak sauce

[99Forever]

28. Bwahahahaha...

... another trip up the Denial River.

Tailgunner Joe McCarthy called, wants his lameass, sorry, punkish Red Scare back.

[Scuba]

29. Trump would much rather run against Hillary, who he can easily disqualify ...

... just by accurately citing her record.

He's got nothing on Bernie and is afraid to run against him, afraid to debate him. Trump can only lose votes by facing Bernie.

[Dustlawyer]

35. Trumps Handelers told him not to debate Bernie because if he helped Bernie pull off an upset of

Clinton at the convention Trump would lose. Bernie has been getting stronger the more people hear his message while Hillary's numbers drop the longer she runs. Independents really love Bernie whereas Hillary, not so much.

Trump is going to be Trump no matter who he runs against. He will badly lose debates to either Hillary or Bernie, but Hillary has some real dirt mixed with fake dirt for Trump to make mud out of to hurl at her. Bernie is clean, nothing Trump would make up would stick.

[Bob-o the Clown]

31. Don't you have LePage to take care of first?

Before you run your mouth off....

[Alex4Martinez]

32. Are your ten hate Bernie points as bad as the ten hate Hillary points the GOP would use?

Are you serious?

"Hillary who can not be trusted"

"Hillary who prisons you predators"

"Hillary too good to use government email"

"Hillary has hedge funders in the family"

death penalty, outsourcing, anti-working wage, there's no bottom to the pit of negatives.

[CBGLuthier]

33. Great thing about Clinton is so many people hate her so much they don't need to say anything

more about her. She will lose to Trump.

[Betty Karlson]

36. Only because they are disconnected from reality.

[RazBerryBeret]

37. Oh, Come on...

do you really want me to make a list of the things we will be hit with if Hillary is the nominee? you know it will be quite a bit longer.....

[jack_krass]

39. Wishful thinking: Bernie polls better against Trump than Hillary

[Hiraeth]

40. Well, the RWNJs can rest easy. You have done their work for them! Bravo !!