BLOOMBERG 2004 Convention speech.

[Dem4Life1102]

[rockfordfile]

1. Yeah that makes him look bad

[Kaleva]

2. It's good to know you'll vote for him if he becomes our nominee.

[Dem4Life1102]

5. Hopefully not

Or we are just trading one rich authoritarian for another.

[Kaleva]

7. My guess is that you believe Trump must go and you'll vote for Bloomberg if needed

[Dem4Life1102]

10. Very reluctantly

Four years ago I think it was Bill Kristol who said, “The candidacy of Donald Trump is a test of character and the Republican Party failed it”. Bloomberg’s candidacy is a similar test for the Democratic Party. I hope we don’t fail it.

[phleshdef]

12. Only because I live in Ohio.

If I lived in New York or California or somewhere like that, I would straight up leave the Presidential part of my ballot blank. I can't say that for any other viable candidate. I can vote for any of the others and have a clear conscience. Voting for Bloomberg for President would feel like voting for Joe Lieberman or Joe Manchin.

But I live in Ohio and Obama won here twice, it can happen again. So I will vote for him if he is the nominee and then I'll go home and drink.

[Kaleva]

14. I'm fine with that. You do what you think best.

[CentralMass]

26. Like wise with you if any other candidate wins.

[Skya Rhen]

3. But he's rich and he alone can fix it. That's what matters.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Bush isn't running, or so I'm told.

[Dem4Life1102]

8. True he's not

But there are several democrats running who are all better choices than Bloomberg.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. Can they beat Trump?

I think Bloomberg would whip his sorry butt.

Nothing else matters this time.

[Dem4Life1102]

18. Yes

And trading one rich racist authoritarian for another is no bargain.

[jcmaine72]

20. +1 Yep. In fact...

...it would be a pretty shitty deal for the American people all around. We can do better than this as a party.

We MUST do better than this as a party.

[Cal Carpenter]

27. Yep, and this one is competent

It shouldn't even be up for debate.

[Bradshaw3]

35. Recent polls dispute that

It's funny that it keeps being repeated here as if it were a fact that only Bloomberg could win. All the top Dems beat drumpf. So why do we have to nominate a recent repub who helped keep the Senate repub and whose political history - like pumping for Bush- is often despicable.

[MoonlitKnight]

42. We don't need to nominate Bloomberg to win

But if we do, it would only demonstrate that our party would have impeached and removed a Democrat if she had done the same things Trump has. Because we would be handing the presidency over to a Republican in order to save the country. And it’s not a knock on Bloomberg. He knows the threat Trump poses and is offering an option.

[uponit7771]

6. What The F k ?! Why isn't Bloomberg running as a republican !?!??

[4139]

9. " I want to thank President Bush....

The President deserves our support. We are here to support him. I am here to support him.“

[delisen]

11. ..and as Mayor of the City attacked on 9/11 I will do what I have to to get the federal funds for

our city.

[phleshdef]

13. I really don't think Bloomberg had to speak at the RNC to get funds for New York at that time.

We were still very much in total "9/11 rah rah, America 'fuck yea!`" mode in that particular moment. Thats a huge reason why Bush managed to scrape by a win.

[delisen]

15. Actually there was much conflict and Bloomberg believed the City was being shortchanged

regarding many programs beyond 9/11 bioterrorism and national security, scubas No Child Left Behind.


https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/9268/

Each February, a team of Bloomberg’s wonks scours the Bush budget to figure out how bad its impact will be on the city. In April, the mayor releases the fruit of that process, a thick, richly detailed book that outlines New York City’s agenda in Washington. This obscure 300-page document is the bible for understanding how the Bush administration treats the city. Every federal issue of importance to New York is described along with a comparison of how the Bush administration and Congress plan to treat it. The book sometimes reads as if it were written by the Democratic National Committee. On issue after issue, the Bloomberg administration, sometimes in withering language, describes how Bush’s proposals are bad for New York. One of the most common phrases appearing in the book is “Position: Oppose.” It crops up again and again when summarizing the Bloomberg response to Bush policies.


The above article has a wealth of information. I myself remember front page stories on how some 9/11 monies meant for NY were going to places far away. Schumer was less perturbed by 9/11 allocations than was Bloomberg who had major complaints about social program allocations as well.

[renate]

44. this is very interesting

And studying it in such detail and so methodically--what a contrast to Trump who just does everything by the seat of his pants, and who couldn't care less about actually running things (thank goodness, actually).

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. Is that when Republicans were wearing fake Purple Heart bandaids to mock or nominee John Kerry?

Narrator: yes, it was.

[jcmaine72]

19. Disgusting! Almost as disgusting as this....

"We disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little".

Seriously, if we can't do any better than this as a party than we're all screwed.

[ecstatic]

21. yikes! nt

[David__77]

22. I wonder if he thinks he that was the wrong call.

...

[jcmaine72]

23. I doubt if this man has ever reproached or second-guessed himself about anything.

Judging by his campaign so far, he'll simply spread some $$$ around to try and make stuff like this go away. If he succeeds it'll say more about us than him, and that will be a sad statement indeed.

[David__77]

24. I dunno. I guess we shall see!

He does add an interesting twist.

I suspect that it would be smart of him not to participate in debates.

[jcmaine72]

29. That wouldn't be fair to the voters of our party.

If he's going to run, he must participate in future debates. Let there be some accountability here. Since the media is obviously unwilling to do so, let the other candidates challenge him on his past in front of an national audience. No one should be entitled to just cruise control it through a Presidential primary unchallenged, not even someone with his billions.

[David__77]

30. I wasn't referring to any sense of justice.

I just mean that if his goal is to be nominee I think it would make sense for him not to participate in a Democratic debate. I don’t plan to vote for him.

[jcmaine72]

33. It would certainly make sense for him.

Hopefully, however, he wouldn't be allowed to do such a thing. That's all I'm saying.

Your post raises an interesting question: Are candidates allowed to decline debating the other candidates during a Presidential primary and/or election? I honestly don't know, but I sure hope that's not allowed.

[BootinUp]

25. How big does our tent have to be? I look forward to seeing him in a debate

against the Democratic candidates unless he ends his bid first, I'm cool with that.

[MoonlitKnight]

43. It's a big tent

Trumpism vs the rest of America. We should embrace it by pointing it out at every opportunity. But we should still nominate a Democrat.

[C_U_L8R]

28. His 2016 Democratic Convention speech is more relevant

[Bradshaw3]

36. His 2016 support of Toomey more relevant

Toomey barely won wiht Bloomberg's help, helped to keep the senate repub, and just voted to acquit. Pretty damn relevant right now.

[brooklynite]

31. BLOOMBERG 2016 Convention speech.

[Dem4Life1102]

38. When someone tells you who they are believe them.

[Tom Rinaldo]

32. I will support Bloomberg if he is our nominee

But if you don't think that this speech, which will be widely seen and circulated, will repress enthusiasm and cost us votes that Democrats will need to win - among young voters in particular but not exclusively - you aren't paying attention.

[Bradshaw3]

37. Excellent point

We can also look forward to those blue collar voters in the Midwest wondering why they should support him, or young people, or POC. Many strategic reasons he should not be the nominee.

[renate]

46. I haven't watched it--I'm not able to right now--but

Democrats (most of them anyway) are going to vote against Trump if he's running against a ham sandwich, and couldn't a speech at the GOP convention persuade a few Republicans--especially never-Trumpers--to go out and vote for Bloomberg? I'd have thought that a candidate who'd been a Republican in the past would make conservative voters a little more comfortable than even a consistently centrist Democrat.

But like I said, I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, so I don't know how bad it looks for him.

[emmaverybo]

34. That people feel they have to vote for Bloomberg to stop Trump, and that he might become the

president of the US as a result, is yet another terrible and appalling consequence of Trump’s rise to power. With Bloomberg, Trump will be the curse that keeps on cursing.

I imagine it will be incredibly hard for Obama, among others, to have to endorse him if he wins the primary.

[boston bean]

39. Can't argue with that. But 4 more years of Trump and we won't recover.

You can’t blame people for wanting to stop that.

They are on the right side.

I really do think nothing else matters either. But still remain undecided.

[emmaverybo]

40. I don't blame them. It is, however, a tragic irony, to remove the architect of one racist policy,

Muslim and Hispanic immigration, for the champion of another, Stop and Frisk.

[boston bean]

41. He says he was wrong. Better than never saying you are sorry.

[emmaverybo]

47. Up until he decided to run, he defended stop and frisk and he insisted it had brought down

crime rates despite no evidence to suggest it was his policy that affected the crime rate and no increase in crime rate after policy suspended.

[MoonlitKnight]

45. What kind of judges will he appoint?

What about climate change? Who will be Treasury Secretary?