Why Bernie must not be the nominee

I agree with this post on DU, and I hope the author won't mind my republishing it here. The words below the asterisk all belong to the original author, not me. I'm merely stealing them.

By the way, you do know that there is video of Bernie participating in anti-American protests, dontcha? Also, there's video of Bernie saying that he was "nauseated" by JFK. 

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Hello all, it’s been a while for me. I have been viewing from far after the travesty of 2016. But I’m making this post so that I hope there is some understanding from those further to left of me as to why people like me are scared of a Bernie nomination.

First, in full disclosure, I’m a 35 year old living in CA who is supporting Joe Biden. And it’s not that I love everything Joe stands for but I truly believe he is the best person to face trumps bullying tactics and go toe to toe with him. But at the same time, and I hate to say it, but whoever becomes our nominee will face a major uphill battle, not just with election interference but with how strong the economy is. I mean WE know it’s a result of Obama economic policy but there is never a collective messaging from the Democrats to address that talking point. It’s hard to state we should be in charge of the economy to the blue collar worker when what’s presented is job, wage and stock market growth. We can hope for downturn but at this point unlikely.

Let’s face it, Bernie has not even come close to facing the onslaught of the Republican war machine. I mean they were successful in swift boating John Kerry to return a terrible president for 4 more years. All they have to do is dig into his past and repeatedly play ads over and over in battleground states. One I can think of is Bernie stating, “I’m a socialist.” Now in the liberal bastion of CA, it won’t really move the barometer, but in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin that will all but ensure Trump will win. Socialism, combined with ads like how much M4A and free higher public education will cost the American taxpayer, even if not true, will drive the independents directly into the arms of Trump.

The second part is let’s say Bernie is is the nom, you put him on the debate stage, not any fault of his own, but trump will look powerful and young and his immaturity will throw him off his messaging, with “crazy Bernie!”. Trump won’t let the debate stage stop his classlessness. And his cult will eat it up. If you don’t think imaging matters, look at Kennedy vs Nixon.

The third reason, is that he can’t even answer how he will pay for all of his goals. He literally said when asked how he will pay for M4A, “I don’t know”. That’s another ad right there. And if he can’t answer, the inevitable logical conclusion is to raise taxes not just on the ultra rich but on everyone including all those middle class independents he’s trying to court. This is why Hillary brought up promising things he can’t follow through on.

In the end though, yes this country has huge issues that need to be addressed. Healthcare income inequality, immigration, education, but THIS IS NOT the election to do so. We need to win this election to salvage what’s left of the America we knew. Take back the senate or it’s all for naught. If we don’t win, it’s over. This is a must win, not a change election, that’s why I and many moderate friends I have, along with what looks like many on this board are worried about. I’m not against a Bernie like candidate eventually, if the country is center left but I feel it still remains center right, which is why we have president trump instead of president Clinton.