No. "Exposing" Hillary is like it's own cottage industry. The conservatives have been building the case against her for literally decades. Their guns are trained on her and they have even developed some degree of sophistication as in avoiding ways to attack her which don't play well to certain groups and are counter productive.

Furthermore, Bernie is attacking her on issues that will be completely marginalized and not considered in a general election featuring Hillary as the dem. So in a general election featuring Hillary vs. Trump or Cruz, there will be nobody stepping up to complain about Wall Street, further health care reform from a single payer perspective, or the war machine, or the environment (ehh maybe some talk there but nothing serious). You will instead see a lot of identity politics, labeling, and smear tactics shaping the discourse.

I've switched candidates. I'm backing Hillary. Whoever the GOP nominee is will annihilate Sanders in a general. Most of the GOP nominees are simply unacceptable. Trump/Cruz are ghastly. Rubio may not screw things up as badly. Sanders would almost ensure the GOP nominee will win, and if it's Trump or Cruz it would be catastrophic.

So, Hillary it is.

Risk of what, losing an election? Or is it more dire than that?

I thought if Bernie wins then Bloomberg will enter. Who would you vote for then?

Don't know, as I don't know enough about Bloomberg. On the surface Bloomberg doesn't seem bad (a progressive "republican"). I thought I'd like Sanders since he would be left of Hillary on almost everything. I'd like to see some changes domestically, even if it meant my taxes being increased a little bit (maybe).

The problem is I don't trust him (Sanders) on foreign policy. Essentially Hillary would be Obama's third term in terms of foreign policy, I'm OK with that. Sanders I'm not sure about, and I have no idea where someone like Bloomberg would stand on foreign policy.

The last few cycles have brought about some strange choices. McCain, all in all, I don't think would have been a disastrous president, but he chose Palin, which automatically made me think he lost his mind. So there was no real choice there. Romney wasn't really an option either. Trump or Cruz are totally unacceptable, but Cruz seems to be the really dangerous one. Trump may be open to reason. Rubio maybe, too. But supporting Sanders and then having the chance that he faces Cruz is something we can't risk.

Cruz would be a total and complete disaster as President of the United States. I would actually be scared if he became president because there's no telling what he would actually do. His own party hates him. Trump is probably second in that fear, but only slightly. I could live with Rubio. The candidate I was really hoping for on the GOP side was Chris Christie. I could live with him and would support Sanders if I thought it would come down to those two. Obviously that's not going to happen, so I have to adjust my support.

There really is no choice in the matter. I have to support Hillary, as much as I have to hold my nose while doing it.

Check RealClear before you think your assumptions, moron. Sanders does better than Hillary against either Trump or Cruz. So you can go back to pretending to be for Sanders if that is your 'reasoning' for pretending to switch.

Until he actually wins the nomination, when the media and Repubs will bang on every day about the evils of Socialism and Reds under the beds.

I imagine the Repubs would be quietly rooting for Bernie.

Do you think I don't know the numbers already? Sanders leading either candidate at this time means nothing. We already know what will happen in the general if Sanders wins the democratic nomination. Essentially the GOP machine will pump a billion dollars into the attack ads against Sanders hammering away at him being a tax-raising socialist who wants to change the fabric of America. When those attacks begin, Sander's numbers will start really quickly. This is why I said Sanders will get his clock cleaned in a general and that I'm changing my support. I've already considered your idiotic argument and am thinking way past it.

I know you think I "envy your originality", but as time goes on YOU are the one who is the blatant muppet. You are downright ****ing dumb.

This is exactly right. If the GOP was actually smart, they would be pumping a LOT of the big money into somehow supporting Sanders. If Sanders can beat Hillary for the nomination, essentially whoever the GOP nominates will win. Almost guaranteed.

All such thoughts are much more theoretical than actual polling data, and are much less relevant.

There is already a large reservoir of anti-socialist propaganda which is constantly maintained at something above a low hum. But the fact is things aren't working for people now that unions are diminished and capital is free to move where it wants. I'm sure you are familiar with the saying "It's the economy, stupid.", a phrase so simple and brilliant it could have been said by the great Herm Edwards. You can only sell people on something while you can point to some credible evidence it is working. There are millions of people who have, in the span of a few months, gone from "Socialism? eww. Just, no." to "Hey it works in Europe. Why do have to get robbed to make rich people richer?" The fact is Bernie has a set of well defined policies, and they aren't even that radical. They are practical, and he is a very plain spoken, sincere person who can relate those plans to voters. In a historical role reversal, his opponents in the mainstream are the ones who have to perform gymnastics of abstraction (or avoidance) to defend their policies as good for anyone (because they really aren't). You have to consider the hurdles in branding that Bernie has already overcome.

On the question of who the repubs want to win, secretly, I don't know. They are probably looking at the polling data and rooting for Clinton. Hillary has high negatives, and that does motivate the right wing base to actually get out and vote. Hillary is the devil they know, they have a ton of dirt on her, and I am sure they fear Bernie's strength with independent voters.

BUT HES A GODDAMN COMMIE WHO WANTS TO TAKE AWAY YOUR FREEDOM AND SOCIALISE [sic] YOUR LIFE AND HES 75 YEARS OLD!

lol @ all of this. I've rarely seen any type of political analysis so totally wrong in every single sense. Every point you've brought up here is comical except for "Hillary has high negatives".

Hah. Hahhaha. Oh man. Guess what? In this particular case, you are original. No one else is dumb enough to believe the crap you just spewed.

Bernie has only been getting stronger over time. Surging, one could say.

But you claim to have been supporting Bernie when he was less strong, when EVERYONE was claiming the argument you make here which made a ton more sense then than now.

So you claim you were supporting Bernie when he was thought to have no chance, but now that the numbers show he does you are drudging up that argument? which was there the whole time? This is pretty much proof you are a liar and you never supported him. You're a moron who thinks they can trick people, has their utter failure explained to them, but persists. Few sights are more pathetic than that.

Bernie is building momentum but I don't think it's because everyone turned into a European socialist society loving freak overnight. It's because people simply dislike Hillary. Even the people who like her don't like her. I've never said Sanders had no chance. I fully expected him to have a shot to win the nomination. He's been leading in NH for quite a while now.

As I've said, I'm a liberal democrat. There are certain things that are important to me but what is ultimately the MOST important is that we avoid a true moron being elected. We remember the Bush years. We need to avoid that again. I think Cruz is potentially worse than Bush. I will be doing every single thing I can to ensure that doesn't happen again, and the way to do that is by supporting Hillary, not Sanders.

wil shrieking now. Good stuff.

Maybe what I said about independent voters is also correct.

You think we don't know the problems that Hillary has? She comes off as dishonest and self-serving. She's a person who obviously wants to be president. No one in their right minds thinks Hillary is "one of us".

As always, you go out of your way to pat yourself on the back to tell people the sky is blue. No ****, dude. We can all see the obvious as much as you can.

Freedom to be shot up in public places by the capitalism's disgruntled grist? Freedom to have your children sent into wars to defend the wealth of sociopath billionaires? Freedom to have your job shipped overseas to virtual slave labor? Freedom to transfer the wealth of the nation, through means largely inscrutable except for their elements of injustice and immorality, to the financial elite who do nothing but parasitize us?

When there was a strong middle class, anti-socialist propaganda made some sense and could therefore find some traction. Now that more Americans are exposed to "market forces" they, shockingly, don't like it and are open to alternatives that apparently work well in other countries.

The internet is not controlled yet, and it will be the downfall of elitist culture. People are educating themselves in ways that are not fully understood yet and at levels not yet appreciated. Sanders is just the first national footprint of that giant which is coming.

Your quote above sounds much more like an old man yelling at clouds than Sanders does. I hope the G.O.P stays with that argument instead of anything more sophisticated and effective, and they probably will given their tendencies.

Dueces, do you really think you know how the rest of America feels and everyone else is just incorrect? Like, do you really think people are now ready to go the European socialist route?

If you truly think this, you're even dumber than I thought.