Bernie Sanders would be EVISCERATED by the Republican attack machine in the general election.

[thesquanderer]

123. It is Bernie who is going LIGHT on Hillary right now.

Heck, at a recent debate, she accused Bernie of helping the banks bring down the economy by voting for the CFMA deregulation, and he didn't even bother mentioning that it was Bill Clinton who signed it into law, so if Hillary had a beef with it, she was taking it up with the wrong guy. He lets plenty of stuff go by, staying much more focussed on his own message than on trying to score points against Hillary.

Even getting back to your original point, "There is no piece of slime they can throw at her that she hasn't already had thrown at her" -- she has never before had to run under her newest clouds (she always seems to have new ones). Bernie isn't making anything at all out of the email server in her house, the drip-drip-drip of the actual released emails (and who knows what's to come there, in terms of new ammunition the Republicans would be able to throw at her), the contributors to the Clinton Foundation and how many of them were from countries who got the arms deals they wanted... It's easy for us to see these things as non-issues, but the Republicans--and public at large once the Republicans frame them in a general campaign--may not. Bernie isn't touching them.

Meanwhile, the Hillary side is so desperate to find things to throw at Bernie that they just plain make things up. He was sexist by saying that people on different sides of an issue yell at each other. He had the nerve to not raise money for other Democrats, until he had the nerve to raise money for other Democrats. He may or may not have been the person in a picture ("we're not claiming he's not the fighter for civil rights he claims to be, but...&quot . He's going to take away your ACA coverage, your Medicare, etc.

As for : "Sanders has very limited foreign policy experience in an election where foreign policy will be front and center." There is not a single potential Republican candidate that has more foreign policy experience than he has, so this would not hurt him in the general.

As for: "I don't hear Bernie saying a word about expanding small business in the private sector and increasing wages in the private sector where the vast number of jobs are actually created." What about the $15 minimum wage? BTW, what is the Republican plan to expand jobs in the private sector? I'll tell you what it is: cut taxes to businesses. As if that's ever worked. Sanders will invest big in infrastructure, which not only provides jobs, but also functions as a stimulus to the economy which in turn strengthens local businesses. This is a big difference between the Democratic and Republican approach, and if you don't buy it, then you're in the wrong party.

Sure, the Republicans will harp on socialism, on turning us into Denmark. Meanwhile, when you actually look at the specific "socialist" proposals (tuition free public college, increased minimum wage, single payer heath care, making the wealthy pay more in taxes), most people actually favor all of these things.

Of course he'll never win over 100% of the electorate. But he only has to win over a bit more than half. The fact that a big chunk of people won't vote for Bernie OR Hillary in the general is a given.