Bloomberg Qualifies For Debate, Faces Attacks On Stop-And-Frisk Policy And Sexist Comments

Democratic presidential candidate, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during a press conference to discuss his presidential run on November 25, 2019 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has qualified to appear on the 2020 primary debate stage on Wednesday night after having reached the Democratic National Committee’s required polling threshold.

“Mike is looking forward to joining the other Democratic candidates on stage and making the case for why he’s the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump and unite the country,” Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg’s campaign manager, said in an emailed statement to TPM.

The DNC eliminated its donor requirement in early February for the debates, to the anger of Bloomberg’s rivals, who accused the DNC of greasing the wheels for the billionaire’s self-funded campaign.

The other candidates have signaled that they’re ready to pounce on the former mayor’s racially biased stop-and-frisk policy that primarily targeted young black and Latino men in New York City, which Bloomberg defended in a leaked 2015 audio tape while claiming minority neighborhoods are “where all the crime is.”

The other presidential hopefuls will also likely zero in on Bloomberg’s shockingly misogynistic comments as CEO of Bloomberg LP, such as saying he’d “like to do that piece of meat” in reference to certain female employees and telling an saleswoman to “kill it” when she mentioned she was pregnant.

NBC News and MSNBC will host the debate at 9 p.m. EST in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, days before the state’s caucuses begin.

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Notable Replies

  1. So. Does this mean he’ll be pissing outside the tent?

  2. I completely want another millionaire party-switching misogynyst to be my president.
    The only thing that would make him more qualified was if he had his own tv show.

  3. I wonder if the very recent Yale study that claims M4A would save 450 billion and 68,000 lives annually would give Warren and Sanders a boost? If you clink on The Lancet link highlighted in blue, you can access the study if you register.

    Epidemiologists from the Yale School of Public Health, University of Florida, and University of Maryland School of Medicine, have calculated that a single-payer universal health-care system in the US would likely lead to a 13 percent saving in national health-care expenditure and prevent more than 68,000 unnecessary deaths. By replacing premiums, deductibles, co-payments and out-of-pocket costs with a progressive tax system, Medicare for All will not only save the average family around $2,400 a year, but also give lower-income families access to the services they need, the researchers say.

    Published in The Lancet, the study first sets out the current state of affairs. Over 78 million Americans (24 percent of the US population), do not have adequate access to care. This number includes over 37 million Americans who have no health insurance at all. However, the situation could get worse if the ACA is scrapped by Trump.

    I know, people still would hate to give up their private insurance if they are happy with it.

  4. I ain’t saying anything until Howard Schultz and George Soros weigh in.

  5. His own show? Hell, this one has his own channel!

    https://www.bloomberg.com/live/us

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