Michael Bloomberg 2020 campaign megathread

[Xing]

[redjohn]

The absolute entitlement from billionaires like Bloomberg isn't surprising, but it's obnoxious as always.

[Forward]

Can OP please change title from "Micheal" to "Michael"? It's really bothering me for some reason.

[Progressive Pessimist]

He, and any other candidate considering jumping in at this late time, really should have accepted that Democratic primary voters are not going to budge from supporting the top three or four candidates.

His money would be better spent supporting a candidate he would prefer in the primary, or even down-ballot races if he truly cares about the party and its chances for success in 2020.

Or hell, if he really wants to defeat Trump so badly (as everyone should), he could also consider bankrolling Weld against him in the Republican primary or something.

Running in the primary is a complete waste of everything possible for him: money, reputation, time, etc.

[President Johnson]

Bloomberg is now taking back his earlier stance on Stop and Frisk. Even if he's sincere, it has a certain taste that he's doing it for political purposes.

'I was wrong': Bloomberg sorry for 'Stop and Frisk' in about-face apology ahead of potential presidential bid

Michael Bloomberg apologized Sunday for the New York Police Department's use of "stop and frisk," a policing tactic the former mayor and potential 2020 candidate has repeatedly defended as helping to lower the murder rate during his time in office while critics have slammed the measure as racist because it overwhelmingly impacts men of color.

The apology came during remarks the former three-term mayor made at a predominately African American mega church in Brooklyn, New York, where he addressed "stop and frisk," a type of aggressive policing that allowed -- some say encouraged -- officers to detain a person on virtually any type of vague suspicion, search that individual without a warrant and arrest the person if any kind of illegal substance or weapon was found.

The policing approach, officially called "Stop, question and frisk," sparked a backlash from activists throughout Bloomberg's tenure as mayor because it disproportionately affected African American and Latino men.

"Now hindsight is 20/20. But as crime continued to come down as we reduced stops and as it continued to come down during the next administration to its credit, I now see that we could and should have acted sooner. And acted faster to cut the stops. I wish we had. And I'm sorry that we didn't," Bloomberg said.
"But I can't change history, however today I want you to know that I realize back then I was wrong and I'm sorry."

The former mayor's reversal comes months after he defended the policing tactic in January as he publicly mulled a 2020 bid at the time. Bloomberg, who has recently filed paperwork to get on the Democratic primary ballots in two states, is now again considering jumping in the race, and his new comments could be viewed by potential voters as an attempt by the former mayor to abandon what is arguably one of the most controversial aspects of his tenure in the run-up to an official campaign announcement.

[...]

Full CNN Article

[Pheurton Skeurto]

What an awful, terrible grifter. Why can't he (and Steyer) sit this one out and put their money into downballot races if they're so worried about the nominee?

[DaWN]

What an awful, terrible grifter. Why can't he (and Steyer) sit this one out and put their money into downballot races if they're so worried about the nominee?

Because they're raging egotists

[SN2903]

I say yes. He runs the risk of looking like a flip flopper but he got on the right side of the issue for the primary.

[GP270watch]

 No, immediately I saw people sharing clips of his appeal after the judge made her ruling in the case. His apology rings hollow given his dogged defense of the policy and the way he brushed aside the clearly racist based stops of overwhelmingly innocent people.

 He has no credibility. He even stated that critics of this policy were trying to police by "Political Correctness".

Bloomberg is not fit to be the Democratic nominee.

[Alben Barkley]

Honestly I think he might have been better off just owning his record and telling people to deal with it. Flip-flopping now looks like blatant, desperate pandering.

Not that he wouldn’t be screwed either way.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

It doesn't matter because he's irrelevant

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

It doesn't matter because he's irrelevant

[Joe Biden 2024]

It doesn't matter because he's irrelevant

[RaphaelDLG]

Yes, even though it won't work, because he only wins with minority support

[junior chįmp]

Rich white devil Bloomberg probably committed more crimes amassing his riches than all the people he stopped and frisked

[Progressive Pessimist]

It doesn't matter because he's irrelevant

That, and the timing of him only apologizing for it while potentially eyeing the presidency make this overall bad for him.

[here2view]

Who care

[Libertas Vel Mors]

No. Those who like him like him for policies like this, and those who don't won't believe him.

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

It doesn't matter because he's irrelevant

All aboard the empty quote chain

[McGarnagle]

No

One, it wasn't a convincing apology

Two, it draws attention to one of his most glaring flaws straight out of the gate

Three, NYC Mayors tend not to be very smart strategically or otherwise when it comes to running for President

[TML]

Whether or not he truly believes what he says here, only he knows for sure.

However, the fact that he only gave this apology after throwing his hat into the ring for the presidential election is a sign that his apology might not be genuine. A more genuine apology would probably have been given much earlier than this (as soon as he personally realized his mistake), and in a more impromptu fashion.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

Title ^

[beaver2.0]

No, he'd still be on the fringes.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/Eugene_Scott/status/1197268668939472896

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/Eugene_Scott/status/1197268668939472896

This is good. This is what he should be doing alongside supporting down-ballot Democrats. It's effort and money better spent than a Quixotic presidential run is.