"I know Bernie can't win, but..."

[RiverNoord]

300. By reasonable, I meant 'legitimate,' and, in this case legitimacy is actually going to matter more

than conventional right-wing smears.

Al Gore 'lost' because he was Bill Clinton's Vice President. The right-wing smear machine couldn't bring down Clinton, but the residue stuck to Gore, and being an intelligent, decent man was irrelevant. Also, he tried to play things just a little too safe.

Of course the right-wing machine will smear the hell out of Sanders - the problem is that he won't be playing anything safe. They haven't faced anything like him in a opposing candidate, ever. Not the modern right-wing smear machine. If the smear offensive is conducted as it has been in the past, it will, generally, and paradoxically, increase interest in his candidacy. The smear machine is as much about tainting the Democratic 'brand' as it is about specific attacks on individual candidates.

Sanders can't be smeared that way - every attempt at smearing him because he's a 'Socialist' will only increase his appeal. Here's a guy who has no problem with saying what he means, and all the prior socialist smears were made against candidates who believed that 'Socialist' was the worst thing that the party could be branded as. Sanders will openly say - yes, I've been a socialist, and here's what that really means.

This is not going to play out like past elections.