This is very reminiscent of arguments I had back in 2008. One big selling point of Obama over Clinton was the idea that somehow he'd be stronger because he didn't have baggage. The Republicans wouldn't have any material to smear him with, and maybe, just maybe, he could successfully reach across the aisle, because unlike Clinton he wouldn't be hated from the start. At the time I argued that whatever the merits of Clinton versus Obama might be, we should not factor that line of thought into it, because the moment Obama emerged as the likely nominee, the Republicans would be 100% convinced he was every bit as much the anti-christ as Clinton, and they'd have all manner of supposed scandals to smear him with. Sure, they couldn't go after him about Whitewater, but they'd find something, and if they couldn't find anything, their conservative media handlers would invent something fast, and the marching morons would subscribe to it without reservation, from day one.
At the time, that was just a guess on my part. But, with the benefit of hindsight, I see that it was entirely correct. As soon as Obama emerged as the likely nominee, the Republicans convinced themselves he was the worst possible person to be president. They even started talking up the relative merit of Clinton (in a vain attempt to peel off some PUMAs). They may not have had Whitewater to work with, but they instantly convinced themselves that he'd been born in Kenya, and that he was a Muslim, and that he and his (Christian) minister hated America. Heck, in a virtual tribute to Whitewater, they even invented a real estate scandal for Obama -- based around supposed misconduct involving Tony Rezko buying up land for Obama. That's in addition to the various scandals they floated that didn't get as much traction (accusing him of plagiarism, involvement in a gay murder, and fluff about arugala, accusing his wife of anti-American comments, and so on).
I think liberals and Democrats make a mistake when they make decisions in anticipation of what conservatives and Republicans will think. Conservatives and Republicans, for the most part, don't think. They just mindlessly hate whoever has been identified for them as their enemy. They hated Clinton in 2007, and didn't miss a beat transferring it to Obama in 2008 -- grabbing on to Obama pseudo-scandals as firmly as they grabbed on to Clinton pseudo scandals. The same will happen if Biden emerges as the likely nominee in 2016.
That's not to say there's no argument for supporting Biden over Clinton -- there could well be. For my part, I support Sanders over Clinton. I just don't factor in the Clinton pseudo-scandals in that decision. They'll have pre-fab pseudo-scandals set to go the moment Biden, Sanders, or anyone else emerges as the likely nominee. The Democrats could nominate Jesus Christ and within a few days the Republicans would be convinced the guy is a corrupt, communist, Kenyan, Muslim, arugala-chomping homosexual.
