Bloomberg for President?

Skeptic Ginger said:
The idea Trump could easily beat Bloomberg is foolish. Of course he can't. Bloomberg probably has the best chance of beating Trump and Trump knows it.

For every Democrat that will stay home if Sanders is not on the ballot, two Republicans will vote for Bloomberg.
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This.

It is a shame that we must do that calculus this primary season, but I see no way to avoid it.
 
Segnosaur said:
A part of me almost homes that Sanders wins the Democratic nomination but loses to Trump in the general election, just so all the BernieBros might see that No, going extreme isn't always the best option for winning an election.

Yeah, some of the BernieBros do seem to be a bit... hypocritcal.
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Really?

given the rhetoric of the Bernie campaign, i don't think it's at all hypocritical to say "No, that blokes one of the Billionaires we're on about, therefore we're not voting for him"
 
3point14 said:
Yeah, some of the BernieBros do seem to be a bit... hypocritcal.
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Really?

given the rhetoric of the Bernie campaign, i don't think it's at all hypocritical to say "No, that blokes one of the Billionaires we're on about, therefore we're not voting for him"
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On the other hand, its hypocritical for them to complain about how "Bloomberg isn't a real democrat" when Sanders himself sits as an independent in the Senate.

Its hypocritical for them to expect any sort of party loyalty (i.e. "Wahh!! People are trying to take away the election from Sanders") when so many are willing to take their ball and go home if Bloomberg wins.
 
Bloomberg is making the "I changed" play - and given is support for female candidates, he has some credibility to do so.
 
Segnosaur said:
On the other hand, its hypocritical for them to complain about how "Bloomberg isn't a real democrat" when Sanders himself sits as an independent in the Senate.
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Have either of these candidates for de facto leader of the Democratic Party ever won an elective office running as a Democrat?

Asking for a Democratic friend.
 
Mumbles said:
I'm not even a Sanders supporter, and given Bloomberg's record as mayor, there's no chance I'd vote for him. In, fact, I'll amend it to "vote blue no matter who, except Bloomberg".

Want to change this? You can't. That's up to him, and thus far he's done nothing at all to move me from this position, while even more damaging info comes out about him. He needs to explain how he changed in the past 5 years from "It's good to send cops out to beat up protestors, spy on muslims, or have people beaten up and possibly sexually assaulted in their own neighborhoods for being black or brown." to "I will protect the rights of all Americans and immigrants and move the US into the future.", and so far all I've heard is "Oopsie doopsie."
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How about “vote blue, not Bloo!”
 
d4m10n said:
Have either of these candidates for de facto leader of the Democratic Party ever won an elective office running as a Democrat?

Asking for a Democratic friend.
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Bernie caucuses with Democrats. Democrats allow him to sit on committees as a Democrat. Bernie votes with Democrats. He advocates for Democratic policies and votes in coordination with the rest of the party. This hangup about him being registered independent is absolutely petty.

This party loyalty smear is just a pathetic attempt to discredit his pointed criticism of the party.
 
Segnosaur said:
Its hypocritical for them to expect any sort of party loyalty (i.e. "Wahh!! People are trying to take away the election from Sanders") when so many are willing to take their ball and go home if Bloomberg wins.
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It makes perfect sense for those on the left to decide that a candidate is too far right to be tolerable. I just don't see the point of Bloomberg. With the other Democratic hopefuls I at least can say it is worth it to vote for them to protect marginalized groups. With "up against the wall" Bloomberg I can't. He's going to rule the same as Trump: based on the principle that things would work better if he could rule without restrictions. People who think the world is better with them as King are dangerous no matter what their whim is today. Remember that Trump was making a lot of bipartisan and pro-labor noises four years ago

For a moderate democrat to somehow decide Trump is better than Sanders isn't so much hypocrisy as a confession.
 
d4m10n said:
Have either of these candidates for de facto leader of the Democratic Party ever won an elective office running as a Democrat?
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SuburbanTurkey said:
Bernie caucuses with Democrats. Democrats allow him to sit on committees as a Democrat. Bernie votes with Democrats. He advocates for Democratic policies and votes in coordination with the rest of the party. This hangup about him being registered independent is absolutely petty.
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So, no?
 
SuburbanTurkey said:
Bernie caucuses with Democrats. Democrats allow him to sit on committees as a Democrat. Bernie votes with Democrats. He advocates for Democratic policies and votes in coordination with the rest of the party. This hangup about him being registered independent is absolutely petty.

This party loyalty smear is just a pathetic attempt to discredit his pointed criticism of the party.
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That's not exactly true. Sanders did not contribute to much Democratic Party fundraising, didn't help other Democrats raise money and yet he came in, in the 2016 election cycle expecting to reap all the benefits of being with the Party.
 
d4m10n said:
So, no?
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Technically, he switched to the Democratic Party on a regular basis in state races then switched back to Independent after the election. He had a deal with the DNC not to run a Democratic candidate against him. That prevented splitting the vote causing the Democrats to lose the seat.

It was a complicated situation because Vermont doesn't show party affiliation on the ballot.

There are some other details in there over the years but that is basically it.
 
I've never been part of either major party but it seems weird to me that they just let people take over their whole **** like that, having never shown any formal commitment to the organization.

I mean, not my circus, not my monkeys, but damn.
 
d4m10n said:
I've never been part of either major party but it seems weird to me that they just let people take over their whole **** like that, having never shown any formal commitment to the organization.

I mean, not my circus, not my monkeys, but damn.
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Behind every fetish is a **** up. Back in the 1960s there was a primary where a new, charismatic progressive won handily, and then the party elites said "nope, we're going with this establishment guy who technically isn't even running in most of the states but he's done us a lot of solids over the years," only to have him lose historically in the general because it turns out people don't like being told that.

Tangentially on topic: I wish Bloomberg would run as an Independent and split the Trump vote. He's not a damn Democrat no matter how much money he can piss away paying people to say otherwise.
 
Yikes! I turned on the debate a couple minutes ago, right in the middle of Biden and Sanders viciously yelling about Bloomberg and millionaires and billionaires.

It's looks awful that they are out of control with anger.

IIRC, Sanders' bitterness about Clinton was very apparent in the 2016 primary as well. He bitched about the DNC being unfair to him.

Maybe Steyer is better off not being there. Does that really work anymore?

Bloomberg got interrupted twice by Biden, then Todd cut him off to let Bernie get his point in. The other candidates had pretty long turns compared to Bloomberg.


Now Sanders is repeating his same old talking points about all the other countries doing better than us.

Now Biden is at it again, "I'm the only one that did it, I got blah blah blah passed

No Biden, Obama did those things.

Warren's off with a personal constituent example.


Now Biden is screaming again.
 
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Beelzebuddy said:
Tangentially on topic: I wish Bloomberg would run as an Independent and split the Trump vote. He's not a damn Democrat no matter how much money he can piss away paying people to say otherwise.
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We need a Political Opportunity Party for centrists who happily switch their affiliations when it helps.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
That's not exactly true. Sanders did not contribute to much Democratic Party fundraising, didn't help other Democrats raise money and yet he came in, in the 2016 election cycle expecting to reap all the benefits of being with the Party.
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And I suppose Bloomberg gave a lot of his own money.
 
angrysoba said:
And I suppose Bloomberg gave a lot of his own money.
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Let's keep the issues in their columns. The discussion was about Sanders switching back and forth between Independent and Democratic Parties, and you can throw in Sanders getting mad that he didn't get the support from the DNC he felt as a Democratic Party candidate he was owed.

Do you see Bloomberg complaining the DNC isn't supporting him?

Back to who has done what. Bloomberg is getting a lot of flak tonight for all the Republicans he supported in the past.

NYT:
Bloomberg’s Money Machine: 5 Takeaways on His Political Spending
The presidential candidate has donated billions to progressive causes over the years. That has earned him enormous influence with Democrats, even those who take issue with parts of his record....

The New York Times took an exhaustive look at his spending and found that Mr. Bloomberg had given away or spent more than $10 billion on a combination of charitable and political donations. Much of that has gone to important and largely apolitical ends, in fields like public health, but The Times’s examination revealed in new detail how it helped the candidate build an influence network on a scale rarely if ever seen....

His areas of concern are fairly consistent, focusing on gun control, education reform, the environment, the arts and public health, including smoking cessation and soda taxes. ...

He has been endorsed by dozens of Democratic politicians who have benefited from his spending. A number of them are members of Congress, but most are mayors, from cities like Houston, San Francisco, San Jose and Washington.
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So the answer is, yes, Bloomberg has supported Democratic candidates. I'm not sure Sanders ever did contribute (time and support, not cash) to any Democratic candidates.
 
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Skeptic Ginger said:
So the answer is, yes, Bloomberg has supported Democratic candidates. I'm not sure Sanders ever did contribute (time and support, not cash) to any Democratic candidates.
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Pre-2016 Democrats were just fine keeping Sanders at arms length. The rank and file were hardly looking to be closely associated with him, so mostly he did exactly as they wished. His being an independent was of mutual benefit for him to position himself as an iconoclast and for them to have distance from a socialist ally.

So that is mildly disingenuous.

Anyway, Warren just murdered Bloomberg so we can lock up the thread. His answer about the sexual harassment NDAs was a disaster.
 
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