Progressives (Liberals)

Bloomberg is a one man Koch Brothers Inc.

Alex Burns
@alexburnsNYT
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@alexburnsNYT
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@nkulish
In 2015, Center for American Progress researchers wrote a report on U.S. Islamophobia, w/a 4300-word chapter on the Bloomberg-era NYPD.

When the report was published, the chapter was gone.

By then, Bloomberg had given CAP ~$1.5mm. That number has grown.

Sanders can win in November. He's going to humiliate Trump. Watch him.

I hope you're right. But I think you overestimate the appeal of a "socialist revolution" to the average voter. Especially within this current Potemkin economy.

Sanders has a very enthusiastic group of supporters, but they are a relatively small minority in the country as a whole. I doubt very seriously that American voters will ever choose a socialist for president. France chose one (Mitterrand), but his policies while in office gradually moved to the right- mostly out of necessity, given the issues he faced.

The odds of a Sanders win are very low and those of a Congress willing to enact any of the proposals he has so vaguely articulated are even lower.

Unaccountability is the bane of my existence - my primary complaint about the 'untouchables' in this country.

Bloomberg is the pinnacle of unaccountability. He can buy parents whose sons died in custody. He buys the news. He buys integrity and grinds it under his feet. Watching DeBlasio.

If Bernie Sanders weren't the man he is, he'd have been paid a princely sum to drop out by now. He's the only voice for regular people.

Bloomberg triple-pays community political workers so that other main candidates and down-ballot candidates lose all their local workers. I am surprised to see the evil money can cause.

Bloomberg is the anti-christ for America...and yes, I know how that sounds.

I'd rather hope than despair. I see Bernie as the guy with the strongest hand to beat Trump, himself an atypical candidate in 2016. At some point I was thinking that Warren was better placed (more polished, more pro-business, a woman) but she pretty much collapsed all by herself.

Bernie knows what the problem is: the system doesn't work for the people. He's got this basic diagnostic right, and that allowed him to craft the weapons to fight back, eg an army of small donors to beat the 1%.

In the end, the Orange Douche must be stopped. And it won't be stopped by TV commercials, nor by voters' nostalgia for the good old days. Trump brought something radically new, and in my view he can only be stopped by a radically new political proposal. "Same old same old" won't work.

Maybe so, but the chances of Biden are lower still.

Sanders has been campaigning since around 2015, I am not sure he qualifies as something new. He's been singing the same song for decades. It hasn't caught on to as many democrats as it might be made out to. Moreover, it hasn't among any right-leaning independents or moderate republicans. Even in NH, he didn't receive as many votes as he should have, he might be leading by a slight margin, but not in a huge way to make a clear front runner. We have no clear front runner as yet. When the field thins, I can't make a prediction about which candidate will benefit. On the other hand, unfortunately, Trump has clear united support behind him who sticks with him no matter what as we have all witnessed.

He's proposing a radical departure from the dems' more traditional (and formulaic) centrism. That's new alright. Why do you think the kids support him?

I agree with you there. Biden is sinking fast. It will be interesting to see how the primary race unfolds in the Democrat party - their eager new left wing component is increasingly focused on Sanders as Warren and others fade, while the more moderate establishment continues a rather desperate (now that Biden is fading fast) search for an electable candidate acceptable to them. I suspect most now have their eyes on Bloomberg, but that will likely involve a serious struggle within the party.

It is interesting to note the similarities between Bloomberg and Trump. Both have succeeded in business, both defy the conventional norms for liberals and conservatives, approaching issues in a new and pragmatic way. Bloomberg has a successful Political track record as mayor of New York (but one that causes some angst among many left wing Democrats), and Trump has redefined the political scene in the country, achieving some breakthrough successes in economic and regulatory policies (but also remains an consummate, and intemperate vulgarian). A contest between the two would be exceedingly interesting.

Because it sounds good to have everything in life for free. But it's not new, he's been preaching it for decades.

Because they're kids.

Kids support Trump as well.

Jesus Christ! The condescension!...

Did it occured to you that they might want a future? A different one than the sinking and warming piece of **** we made for them?

I'm not watching Bloomberg, i can't see how he's got a chance.

You might think of it as condescension, perhaps. However, when you keep up with the government and how it operates, you become more practical of what we can achieve and what we can't or perhaps even shouldn't achieve. I am not sure we should even have free college for all the Paris Hilton's of the country. Why for heaven's sake? Couldn't we spend that money elsewhere and find more ways to help those who actually need help to get free higher education so they don't have to spend the rest of their trying to pay back student loans? I mean, there are practical solutions rather than everything for everybody free agenda. Life is not that simplistic and government sure ain't.

We have enough weapons of destruction to destroy the world five times over. That’s free, but I’d rather have healthcare.

We have enough for the Pentagon to lose a few trillion dollars—that was free, but I’d rather have the Green New Deal so my grandchild doesn’t thirst to death because of undrinkable water.

We have enough money to bail out Wall Street when they make a killing on regular working people, all free. I didn’t want that, I want to be able to get dental care and still pay my bills.

I don’t want all the **** some asshole oligarch makes sure his asshole politicians make me to pay for to perpetuate his ungodly billions, I want a decent way of life. I want my money spent for people, not billionaires and wars and the destruction of the planet.

You may prove correct. Bloomberg certainly has a steep hill to climb to be acceptable to the left wing of the Democrat Party. However, depending on what unfolds in the state primaries ahead, he is likely to emerge as the only contender potentially able to beat Trump in the November election, As the election draws near that consideration is likely to grow in importance to the leaders of the party. They are , after all, the ones who were so surprised by Sander's popularity in the 2016 Primary and Hillary's subsequent defeat by Trump. This past year, having judged the current crop of Democrat candidates largely unelectable, they resurrected the hapless Joe Biden as a "winnable" candidate, only to see him falter and fail in the ongoing political contest. Their fear of their new left and their appetite for victory haven't abated: without Biden they have only Bloomberg.

I agree this will bring the internal divide within the Democrat party into very sharp focus. The results are, as yet unclear, however history confirms that as the Primary nears completion the virtues of a more likely winner become more significant.

The 1972 Campaign of Democrat Senator McGovern may be instructive. In the wake of Robert Kennedy's assassination and Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick incident the establishment of the Democrat Party was leaderless. McGovern, then a relatively far left wing Democrat ran a Bernie-like campaign, gathering a majority of state delegates and, finally the party nomination. The result was the most lopsided Republican victory (Nixon) in over a generation. I believe the memory of that loss has not yet disappeared among Democrat leaders, and that was the motivation for their failed resurrection of Joe Biden and may well lead them to endorse and choose Mike Bloomberg.

He has a chance, but right now it's mostly because he's an alternative to Trump. Whether his candidacy develops into a more conventional political campaign if he secures the nomination is hard to determine at this point since Trump himself is so unconventional.

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YOOU DO REALKIZE THAT'S FROM THE ONION AND THEY'RE SATIRICAL NOT FACTUAL, DON'T YOU/ SHAME ON POSTING THAT AS IF IT WERE FACT.