The candidacies of people like Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick (potentially) at the last moments of the pre-primary season are answers to questions nobody – and I mean nobody – was asking.
Bloomberg is a Republican billionaire trying the same thing that several other generic Rich White Guy candidates have already done, albeit with a slightly more recognizable surname.
The idea that there was something the Howard Schultz or Tom Steyer campaigns couldn't do that Bloomberg somehow can is…well, it's the kind of thing that appeals to pundits desperate to apply their 2005-era Democratic Wisdom to the 2020 race (The path to victory is right down the middle!) Like Schultz, the most likely impetus behind the campaign is that Bloomberg talked to whatever Politics People he knows – fellow clueless elites, no doubt – and they realized they could milk some free money out of him if they told him it's a good idea.
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He has consultants who are flat-out making things up to encourage him to run, things no professional would say with a straight face and without being very handsomely paid in advance. Things like "Well, you're gonna skip the first four primaries and then win all the rest, because that's a thing that could happen."
This isn't a campaign, it's a handout to the campaign professionals with the least integrity and the best poker faces. I wonder how many election cycles it is going to take before these ultra wealthy egotists who end up getting 2% before dropping out realize that paid staffers have an incentive to tell the candidate who is paying them to continue running.
As for Patrick, the Bain Capital bigwig and former Basically a Republican Governor of Massachusetts, that anyone within the Democratic Party may have encouraged him to run is a sign of desperation. It is possible that he cooked up the idea on his own without anyone in a position of leadership or influence in The Party suggesting this, but he adds little that other candidates do not offer – candidates who are doing pretty badly, overall.
He's a nicer Booker (is Booker not sufficiently Nice?) who's going to repeat the "Big business is our friend and better things aren't possible" message already being delivered by Biden, Pete, and Klobuchar.
If Patrick does have some powerful people encouraging him to do this, it's a clear sign that some people in the Democratic Party still believe that message works and they just need to find the right messenger.
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Imagine being two months away from 2020, being conscious for any point in the last 20 years, and believing that a guy who works for Mitt Romney's venture capital firm is the magic bullet.
rustonite says:
I had forgotten Booker was running- yeesh.
fiorirossi says:
Sorry but you don't have me own this one as far as Bloomberg is concerned. There is a very big difference between Bloomberg and the the other two, Schultz and Steyer. Mayor Bloomberg actually ran for office and was elected three times in a city that is much larger than Mayor Buttigieg's South Bend, Indiana. He is nobody's fool and anyone who knows anything about his years as NYC's mayor or the development of the Bloomberg empire is well aware of that. Don't be concerned that greedy campaign professionals are feasting on his ego.
So what if he is entering the race after 4 primaries? It is perfectly understandable considering how poorly things are going for the Democrats so far. If Bloomberg accomplishes nothing else but waking up his fellow candidates, he will have done us a great service. Bloomberg can stand up to Trump in any debate which is more than I can say for the rest of the Democratic candidates. They will debate Trump as if their righteousness is enough to beat him. It's not.
Steyer and Schultz are jokes. The remaining candidates except Warren are running such poor campaigns, it's enough to scare a lifelong Democrat like me. Of course, let's not forget that other criticism – he is "buying" the election. Oh please! He's in the field for one day and he's already "buying" an election. Let's not wait for any evidence, let's just accuse him from day one. Another cheap shot. If you don't like his policies, criticize him for that. At least base your displeasure on substance.
As for Warren, her campaign is impressive but aren't you concerned that nobody in the Trump camp is worried about her as a rival for the Presidency. No one. The playbook for defeating her is a piece of cake as far as the Republicans are concerned. Imagine the fun they are going to have with her "too far left" policies. So ridicule the "middle of the road" all you want. That attitude will help get Trump reelected. Then you will have doomed any potential reform you desire. It's just stupid to poke fun at the very voters you need to elect any Democratic candidate.
Bloomberg will have to work hard to get the nomination. He has political baggage like any other politician and his billionaire status can work against him as you have shown. If you want to take him down before he even starts, try doing it on substance and not fluff.
democommie says:
@fiorirossi:
This.
I am an independent who never has and never will cast a vote for a RefucKKKlican. I could hedge that by adding, "..,until they once again become a party of reasonably sane people."–but, not in my lifetime, I fear.
I'm not wasting my time arguing with people who want to vote for Ms. Warren or anyone else–except Bernie, maybe. I think he has well and truly shat in the punchbowl by being Schroedinger's democrat when the mood (and hunger for campaign money) suits him.
I will vote for whoever gets the nod. i will NOT simply cast my vote for someone because they're a prog, v the D or Rbots. I hope, for the sake of the future's adults that todays turn out to not be self-absorbed, stay-at-homes on election day. Not voting is voting for Trumpligulamygdala.
Safety Man! says:
I read it as the outwardly visible panic that Warren was winning the smoke-filled rooms and was going to force everybody to actually pay their taxes.
Tim H. says:
Bloomberg's candidacy looks to me as being all about The Money worrying about a slippery slope towards socialism, you know, the ones who are on the slippery slope towards fascism.
geoff says:
The panic has officially set in! And while I definitely believe the President should be impeached for a wide variety of reasons, the fact that the current inquiry (starts today, kids!) hinges on allegations that the GEB* used his office to get (what looks like real) dirt on the Dems' own frontrunner is JUST the kind of dumbass cluelessness I've come to expect from them.
*Giant Evil Baby
Amateur Socialist says:
Bloomberg's candidacy is a slippery slope. One that leads to the Democratic Party's complete irrelevance in the face of Trump's reign. WTFF is this "No, see he's a good New York Billionaire"… nonsense? The mere fact that he is taken seriously as a candidate for the nomination ought to be understood to be a large sized problem for the Democrats. If he wants to run for president let him do it as a Republican. Which he would be if it was 1988. Same goes for Patrick they only differ by degree.
I'd be more concerned except that it's likely he/they will poll at 5% or under despite a massive air war he will fund in all the ST states. So he will lose and become a little poorer for it that's fine by me.
Amateur Socialist says:
I will further acknowledge that it's possible a billionaire could conceivably claim the nomination with some serviceable legitimacy. But they would have to be willing to do what FDR did and piss off a lot of their rich friends. I don't see it from this lot. None of them.
Tim H. says:
Something to think about, if "The Tangerine Shitgibbon" is replaced by an executive whose policies are driven by a regard for the well being of the majority of citizens, rather than the majority of the money, it will be in a space largely vacant since 1976*. Dusting off pre-southern fried GOP ideas or applying voltage to The Great Society will be insufficient, though they might be useful in crafting the new policies. A hypothetical Warren or Sanders administration will be starting from scratch mostly.
*I think it's fair to consider Jerry Ford as a liberal, they don't make Republicans like him anymore, the Overton window has been moving at a giddy pace the last few decades.
Inkberrow says:
"The Money" as in the likes of Jamie Dimon and Mark Zuckerberg is socially progressive, but knows better than to imagine George McGovern in heels except 72 not 52 is going to carry the day in 2020, should the economy continue to motor along. That goes double since Warren is also Joe Biden and Donald Trump in heels when it comes to brazen puffery about her biography on the stump–for instance, she's been caught speaking with a forked tongue about being laid off Because She Was Pregnant, and methinks the list will get much longer once withering scrutiny is applied. Bloomberg wouldn't be making a move if the smart, er, money wasn't aghast at Warren, Sloppy Joe, and the callow, ignorant and puritanical AOC Bolsheviks to the left even of them.
Tim H. says:
Conservatism, without the impetus of Mammonites, strikes me as being as shapeless as a vacated prophylactic.
Art says:
Bloomberg has one primary purpose in my mind: To provide the setup for a scene where Trump calls him a liar or failure and Bloomberg answers that he is a verifiable billionaire (holds up his tax returns) and that Trump is a fraud and incapable of proving otherwise.
Boom.
It wouldn't be 'game over' , but it would be a YouTube favorite. And quite entertaining.
Yes, this means I'm a bad man and reduced to cheap theatrics instead of substantive arguments. But let's face facts: facts and logical argumentation have no effect upon brain-dead pro-Trump meat bags. So why not have a little fun as we circle the drain?
Brutus says:
Ugh — racehorse politics. I’d be far happier if campaigns were limited to a few months (let’s say 5 or 6) prior to actual election day. Instead, we’re treated to wall-to-wall, year-round, year-over-year distraction that sucks all the air and attention out of the room with little or no payoff. Competing strategies and scenarios populate the news and the blogs and everywhere, fostering constantly revolving minutia and ephemera.
As to the candidate in question, his multibillion-dollar war chest matters less to me than his prospective policies and agenda, but I recognize that those billions and how they were obtained have a gigantic influence on his notions about politics and vision for America. I have zero trust that the billionaire class has sound perceptions of pressing geopolitical needs or the suffering of Americans(a healthy majority by now) ill-served by the current empire, not to mention the foreigners upon whom we rain down destruction. As a group, billionaires are far more inclined to maintaining the status quo that rewarded them so handsomely. So until next June or July (assuming his candidacy survives that long), I’ll turn a deaf ear to him (like most of the others).
chuck says:
I live in NYC. As mayor, Bloomberg took a big steaming shit on both democracy and the First Amendment.
I once heard him make a comment about his presidential aspirations, and thought "He doesn't want to be President; He wants to be King."
BTW, Ed, I hope your posts will be a little more frequent; We miss you.
Greg says:
Glad Chuck stepped in to spread some Bloomberg disgust. He was not awful in the way Giuliani was awful, but he was awful just the same. Go to hell, Bloomberg. Take some other billionaires with you.
chuck says:
Why, thank you, Greg, for the kind compliment.
Yes, Rudy was beyond awful. The one thing I want to see most from the impeachment circus and its aftermath is Rudy taking the perp walk in handcuffs.
Even Yankee fans managed to gather up enough brain cells among them to boo him this season.
satrap5567 says:
Twitter and Instagram disappeared. You ok, sir?
democommie says:
@ Tim H.
I cannot believe I missed that yesterday. It's likely because I knew there would be a shitberg somewhere in the punch bowl of commentary.
democommie says:
@ Tim H. again:
And of course the troll did not disappoint.
I thinkto myself–"Is it possible to come up with a candidate who I would despise more than the Orange Chancre?".
geoff says:
Deval Patrick, Managing Director of Bain Capital, makes Barack Obama look like V.l. Lenin.
L O fucking L.
(Maybe i should get a twitter, sorry y'all.)
democommie says:
@ geoff:
Tweeting is like haiku gone bad, imo.
I managed to miss all of the last 13 years of MA politiics by moving to NY, It is not BETTER, here.
mojrim says:
Ah, the mid-life crisis of billionaires. Why can't they just start a rock band like everyone else?
democommie says:
"Why can't they just start a rock band like everyone else?"
Most rock music fans are far more demanding of their rock bands than approximately 64 million voters?
The Glass Menagerie says:
When folks become demanding of their elected representatives and candidates……Those very same folks are accused of being purists and in the way of progress.
democommie says:
@ The Glass Menagerie:
If people don't like the candidate I like (none of them, really) I have no problem with that.
Not voting for the less of two bad choices is, as was seen 3 years ago, foolhardy.
I don't get to vote in my primary, 'cuz I'm not registered as a D or R. I dislike the notion that the caucus gets to pick who I get to vote for but I'll be voting for whoever gets the nod for the D's UNLESS there's an "extinction event" rare change in the U.S. political system in the next 9 months or so.
mojrim says:
@demmocommie Dude, have you actually been near a boomer club on live music night? They demand far less from the mid-life crisis cover band than from their dermatologist.
democommie says:
Boomer clubz exist! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!
mojrim says:
@democommie . Sorry, bro.
democommie says:
@ mojrim:
I think, now that it's been mentioned that I GO to Boomer Clubz–just to try to "turn" youngunz that haven't yet been completely seduced by the dork side.
Carter says:
Think about the billionaires who contribute to the Democratic party. They prosper if the Republicans win. They spend their money to buy off the progressive movement. They would rather the candidates they fund win than lose, but what's important is that the right kind of candidates run. What threatens these donors the most is the wrong kind of Democrats winning, and that is what they are paying to avoid.
It's not "paid to lose" exactly, but certainly paid to promote unpopular things that hurt the party's electoral chances. I wouldn't assume good faith on these people, I doubt they are motivated by an honest belief that openly pro-rich policies are the most strategic position to hold.
Carter says:
… that said, the Bernie campaign could not have asked for a better development than Bloomberg entering the race. It's almost too perfect.
glass says:
Where is Ed? I’m starting to get concerned.
democommie says:
@ glass:
I don't do twitter and find the process of trying to comment on FB too much of a pain in the ass to deal with. I'm thinking he's earning his money in a different way than before and does what he needs to do to do that effectively.
Inkberrow says:
Big Ed is reportedly among the selected left-wing cognoscenti duly closeted at the request and under the pay of the Chick-fil-A corporate leadership to plot the company’s Great Reawakening. Ed may make Senior Vice President in charge of Social Justice Pedagogy if the moral transition maintains ninety percent moral purity according to crucial influencers. “Great chicken sandwiches, and better people”, Ed says.
democommie says:
Hey, inky, where's the linky to all that evidence about Ed's supporting the 9/11 terrorists.
You made that stupid assertion a while back and, so far, have supplied one extra large fuckall by way of proofl
I knew you were a piece of shit a while back but I thought perhaps it was a limited group that was aware of just how much of a piece of shit you are. Sad to say, many people, many very fine people are saying that you're a piece of shit, also, too.
Do go dig up that proof and trot on back here with it. OR, just continue being the lying sackofshit douchenozzle that you seem to enjoy being.
democommie. says:
Too many cocks? You can never have too many cocks! I wish I were surrounded 24/7 and by 360 degrees by cocks! Large,small,smooth and prickly! Give me cocks! I love the cocks!!!
The Liberal says:
I need my moral vanity stroked. Anyone else?
democommie says:
Some piece of shit Trumpliguscum seems to have hijacked my account. Ed doesn't seem to monitor this space so I doubt that he'll do anything about it.
If it doesn't soune like me, it prolly ain't.
Reality says:
Flint still doesn't have clean water. Perhaps Trump should visit and act as if he was drinking genuine Flint water on camera? Oh snap!
democommie says:
@ Reality:
Maybe it will cure his bonespurz?
A Democrat says:
Curing bonespurz? As long as that cure has been means-tested!
Safety Man! says:
@ glass
@ democommie
Besides as a general venting outlet, I think the main value to Ed of doing this blog was to demonstrate readership to publishers. Now that he’s writing professionally, I suspect he just doesn’t need to post as regularly anymore, mainly just when he wants to. Or because he moved 4 states and got married. Or all three.
democommie says:
@Safety Man!:
Yes, I think you're right.
I do miss a few of the regular commenters here. I go to a few atheist blogs–they're fun, at times.
The trollz there are aggressive and stupid, sorta like Komodo Dragons without the ferocity, charm or wit.
Russian Bot says:
Liberals pride themselves on their intellect so people who are trying to manipulate them accuse them of being stupid. The critic is supposed to fall silent for fear of other liberals thinking they are stupid, an epitaph they reserve for poor Republicans.
The Democratic Party is using Trump to blackmail women into voting for a toxic sexist, Black people into voting for a racist, and poor people voting into voting for a plutocrat. It’s kind of amazing that nobody gets mad about that.
If you support and elect him (Biden), you deserve everything you get. You know he is racist, sexist, elitist, and punitive. You know he’s one brick short of a full load. And you will vote for him anyway because your leader told you to. Because you obey authority like a good little victim.
Tulsi made Mayo Pete almost…….Cry.
Btw,It's obvious the loss for the Dallas Cowboys to the Chicago Bears was the fault of Russian influence. Those gosh darn Russians.
Democrat Liberal says:
Biden MUST WIN!
Biden should choose Pete Buttigieg as his VP. These two will continue to destroy the dreams and aspirations of those beneath the PMC. This strategy has been working for over 40 years. Working folks (WAGE EARNERS) must be stripped of any and all dignity that is still remotely tangible. Those living below the affluence of the PMC must be shamed and reminded daily of their lowly status among our communities and country. They do NOT deserve any representation from our government. Let's be honest,working people ARE STUPID!! Moreover, it's obvious we MUST GO TO WAR AGAINST RUSSIA!!! Voting for Biden will continue the rightward direction of the Democratic Party and this is the ultimate goal. Of course,in a perfect world, Hillary would run at the last moment as our beloved deus ex machina. And, as our SAVIOR!
The Democrat says:
Trump is dangerous. Extremely dangerous and obviously a misogynist. He just tweeted that he could leave a woman stranded in a sinking automobile to drown in a lake and his base would still vote for him as if nothing had happened.
Incredible and frightening.