Kevin Sheekey, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign manager, admitted on Thursday that his boss’ debut in the Democratic presidential primary debate wasn’t pretty.
“Listen, I think Mike’s gotta get his legs under him,” Sheekey told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle. “Certainly he had a better second half of debate than the first, I will admit that.”
Though he downplayed Bloomberg’s performance as a mere hiccup in the long election cycle ahead, the campaign manager agreed grimly with Ruhle’s observation that the former mayor seemed incapable of defending himself against his rivals’ blistering attacks.
“Listen, I think you’re right,” Sheekey said. “We need to push back a little harder against people who were screaming about things they haven’t done and get Mike’s record out there better than we did last night.”
The campaign aide said he welcomed the “Bronx cheer” Bloomberg had received, a reference to the multiple boos the crowd dealt to the billionaire when he bungled his responses to the other candidates’ scathing jabs at his tax returns and the allegations of sexual misconduct at his company.
“But I think Mike will be back,” Sheekey said. “This is a campaign that right now is just getting interesting.”
Still, the campaign chief seemed already resigned to the possibility that Bloomberg’s campaign won’t survive Super Tuesday on March 3, saying that he’s “not sure” the billionaire will manage to sink frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“It may be there’s not much campaign in March after that date, but we’re certainly fighting hard as we can to make sure that there is,” Sheekey said.
Watch the interview below:
Bloomberg’s campaign manager admits the candidate didn’t do well in the debate: “Mike’s gotta get his legs under him.” pic.twitter.com/IFMf4K9KDv
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 20, 2020
Bloomberg's campaign manager says he's “not sure” the billionaire will manage to beat Sanders. pic.twitter.com/YMvusM2ui3
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 21, 2020
This story has been updated to include the second clip of the interview.
Ya think?
He tanked because he’s a lousy candidate with a shit record on every social movement we’ve had in the last decade. He had the police terrorize Occupy Wall Street. When people said Black Lives Matter, he chuckled and said no they don’t, now get against the wall and spread 'em. And when women said, ‘Me Too’ Mike told them to shut up and get him a beer, right after signing their NDA. How could this man not appeal to democrats the country over?
Mike’s okay on climate change. Not so much anything else though.
Sheekey did much better than Bloomberg.
This is a great analysis by Martin Longman.
As much as I enjoyed watching Michael Bloomberg get carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey or Sanders take incoming over the behavior of his supporters and staff, and as satisfying as it was for Buttigieg and Klobuchar to drop their Mr. and Mrs. Nice act and let their raw ambition shine, what I really enjoyed was seeing the candidates let their emotions and values drive their performance.
Like most everyone else, I’ve grown tired of watching Sanders deliver the same old lines in debate after debate, but having Bloomberg beside him as the personification of everything he loathes really brought out a fresh passion in him and let us see how deeply he believes in what he’s saying. Bloomberg’s presence did much the same thing for Warren, who unleashed every bit of bottled up outrage she had in her reservoir. And she spared no one on the stage. Podhoretz compared her performance to Machine Gun Kelly, and that’s pretty accurate. However, her aim was excellent.
…
A lot of the commentariat was somewhere between disconcerted and horrified by the overall incivility of the debate, but I thought it was tremendously revealing. More than any debate I can remember watching, we got to see behind all the posturing and strategizing that usually makes debates nothing more than performative art. It takes a monumental amount of ambition and self-conceit to think you should be president and it’s a good thing to see people drop the nice act and bring out the knives in an effort to win. But it was more than just seeing the candidates act like they really care about their campaigns. When they let their emotions rule them for a change, they gave us a better picture of the kind of issues and values that drive them.