Bernie Sanders has been a fucking Washington insider for the last three decades.
This idea that Sanders is some outsider who is immune to right wing smear is devoid of any reality and the fact you so willingly fall for right wing smears against Clinton to try and prove your point that Sanders' is immune, just proves the point even more that some folks are really out of touch with reality.
That's not what it means to be perceived as an outsider. What people don't like about establishment or insiders is the corruption and status quo history. Who was further left? Bernie or Hillary? Bernie was. Who is furthest left this time? Bernie, Warren, Biden, Yang, Steyer, Pete, Kamala, or Booker? Bernie is. Point proven.
You say "how would you take down someone like Sanders using a bad faith attack machine", ignoring what the entire concept of "bad faith" is! You are contradicting yourself two sentences into your own post about how Sanders is smear proof using logic that is self contradicting.
Saying shit like "he fights with conviction" is just stupid. It's stupid because it brings this idea that nobody else does, that nobody gives a fuck and he's somehow in all of politics the only person who is capable of saving the human race in some majestic, inhuman way. He fight's with "conviction" because apparently, repeating the same thing for thirty years is what people find inspiring. Nah fuck getting shit done, fuck actually doing politics where you have to inherently compromise when you're dealing with 60 votes (within your own party across two branches of legislature), that shit is WEAK.
Real conviction is having the same stump speech over and over again, where you get to point at a video from 20 years ago and say "See! I have conviction because I'm just saying the same thing", because when ever the conversation is brought up that's literally all anyone ever does.
This is terrible and it just shows how out of touch you are with perception of what an insider or outsider is. Repeating the same thing when those problems are still present does show conviction. I'm sorry, but it does. If we have a climate change problem that isn't getting solved, and Bernie is seen saying we need to combat climate change 30 years ago, it shows that he's not part of the problem because he's been wanting to get shit done on climate change while nothing was getting done. It shows that he had an outsider opinion because nobody was taking it seriously.
When Bernie is shown sticking up for gay members of the military, it shows that even when it wasn't popular, he was sticking up for the gay community. This makes him an outsider. When Bernie calls out US imperialism for decades when we've clearly showed a bipartisan effort to increase our hegemonic influence through war, Bernie gets perceived as an outsider.
If Bernie has been wanting a single payer health care system for decades, even though he compromised, and he did compromise, it shows that he's an outsider because he's clearly been acknowledging what's best for the people and not what's best for the health insurance industry. Yes, I'm sorry, but the compromise doesn't detract from that image.
Bernie not afraid to call out dems is another part of this outsider perception, and is why many have admitted to not liking about Bernie. The "he's not a real democrat" is literally a line said by many democrats. Yes, that is part of his outsider image also. Similarly, Bernie not accepting donations from billionaires and calling out the military industrial complex, big pharma, etc... all of this adds to his outsider image.
Perception matters. No idea why you think it doesn't. It's the same with Biden who despite having a racist past, gets by just because he was part of the Obama administration.
And yes, this despite all those "well actually Bernie did such and such..." facts.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but Sanders is not some magical person that's going to inspire a generation. He didn't do it in 2016, he didn't do it in 2018, and nothing is showing he's doing it now. He's not some underdog that is up against the machine. He's not losing because it's him vs. the world and the world is doing everything to keep him down, no matter how much people keep repeating that same tired bullshit.
Bernie Sanders is DC. Bernie Sanders is politics. Bernie Sanders is not above the bullshit. Bernie Sanders, when the chips are on the table, takes the money and does what any person representing their state does. He has a record of doing it even when it's shit like the Military Industrial Complex, or gun control. It's why people get fucking tired of hearing Sanders as some holy symbol that if criticized simply "doesn't care about working class people", because it's all reductionary bullshit about class warfare.
And yet most of the candidates are running off Bernie's ideas this go around. And although I don't think Bernie is the sole inspiration for this progressive moment, I do think he's the leading figure as of right now. I can't say I'm surprised that AOC, Rashida, Omar, and all the left leaning youtubers are supporting Bernie.
It's clear you don't understand what people hate about DC if you can't sniff out why people think of Bernie in that manner. Were you this blind to perception of an insider that you couldn't see Hillary had that image too? Right or wrong, people want money out of politics, want US to stop regime change wars, want to combat climate change, and want people to be relentless in their support for this kind of progressive platform.
And yes, Bernie is the leader of this movement as of right now. The fact that he voted to keep military industrial complex jobs in his area, the fact that he gets a D rating from NRA and not an F, and despite getting shit on by leftists in the past for his foreign policy don't change that. Bernie has the outsider image due to constantly espousing progressive views and having the best voting record compared to his peers. He's a compromise in a way, no doubt about it, but still the leading figure flaws and all. Just ask the question, who is the furthest left candidate? If it's Bernie then I'm sorry he's going to get the outsider image.