The Bloomberg Debate

Tonight at 9pm ET on NBC from the Paris Theater in Las Vegas, we find out if Mike Bloomberg beyond his TV ads has the right stuff.

New Thread coming tonight for debate watch. This one could be a game changer.

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Author: craigcrawford

Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.

74 thoughts on “The Bloomberg Debate”

  1. “This one could be a game changer.” 

    like a game of musical chairs.

    or even more like the mad hatter’s tea party.

  2. march hare & mad hatter dunking dormouse in teapot,

    a preview of tonight’s debate with mike, bernie & joe – guess who is who.

     

  3. Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people.
    The Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.
    Alice: How do you know I’m mad?
    The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn’t have come here.

  4. One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small,
    And the one that Mother gives you doesn’t do anything at all,
    Remember what the dormouse said,
    Feed your head, Feed your head. 

  5. pogo, a variation on that: one poll makes you win, one poll makes you lose.

    latest californy poll according to mercury news puts Bernie at 32, biden 14, warren 13.    that’s a lotta delegates so you ain’t seen the last of lizzie yet .

  6. from same link above:

    … former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 12 percent.
    Trailing behind the pack, Sen. Amy Klobuchar was at 5 percent, former San Francisco hedge fund chief Tom Steyer at 3 percent and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard at 1 percent, the poll found.

  7. I predict Amy will come out in top.  Tonight, what happens in Vegas goes to DC.  
    I’m sure the high-profile pardons by SFB were meant to distract.   If he thought Blago’s sentence was so terrible, why did he let it go on for the 3-plus years he’s been in office?   No, this is all meant to outrage folks and control the news cycle.   He doesn’t want anyone to pay attention to the smarter, more mentally stable, and, slimmer Democratic candidates.   His dwindling but rabid base won’t watch, so this debate is important for everyone else, especially since Bloomie will be there.   He doesn’t want folks to pay attention to it.   He’s always working an angle.  He’s always lying.   He is a walking, talking turd of a man.   

  8. last straw perhaps?

    NYTimes:

    Mr. Barr was especially irritated by the president’s tweet on Tuesday morning denigrating Judge Amy Berman Jackson shortly before she was to hold a conference call with lawyers in Mr. Stone’s case. Mr. Trump insisted in his tweet that she order a new trial for Mr. Stone but the Justice Department then disclosed that it opposed just such a retrial, a position personally approved by Mr. Barr.

  9. From WaPo coverage of the latest NBC/WSJ poll:

    If he (Sanders) were to become the nominee, about half of all Americans say it makes no difference in their vote that Sanders is a socialist, including about 7 in 10 Democrats. But nearly 4 in 10 adults say that fact makes them more likely to oppose him, including 37 percent of independents and 79 percent of Republicans. Just under 1 in 10 adults say it makes them more likely to support him. Views of Sanders’s identification as a democratic socialist are slightly less negative.

    Not a winning prospect. 

  10. Most Americans like Social Security so the Socialism isn’t a really big thing.  OTOH, being a fraud and liar is another matter.  Latest thing with Sanders is his promised medical records while the Bros are yakking about Bloomberg’s stents which is a procedure to prevent heart attacks.

    They are both elderly and not in the best of health.

    Tonight’s debate could be interesting.  Early voting in NV was 70 K with the caucus still to go.  Total turnout in 2016 was about 80K so lots of excitement.

     

  11. louisville courier journal:

    FRANKFORT — “Bad actors” from hostile countries are continuing their attempts to exploit the Kentucky election system, the executive director of the State Board of Elections told legislators Tuesday.
    Jared Dearing told a state House budget subcommittee that a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official meets with the board every week to go over every scan against Kentucky’s system, which gives him “sleepless nights.”
    “We are routinely scanned by Venezuela, by North Korea, by Russia on a regular basis,” Dearing said. “This is not something that is in the past, that happened in 2016. It happens on a weekly basis.”
    […]
    In addition to finding vulnerabilities in Kentucky’s election system, Dearing said another possible reason why foreign actors would scan the state’s system could be related to McConnell, who is up for reelection this year. 
    “Regardless of whether we’re a swing state or not,” Dearing said, “I would posit the fact that one of the most powerful politicians in the country resides in the state and will be on the ballot in the next election.”

  13. Mike the billionaire old fart with heart disease is not on my list of people to vote for.  Just another racist, misogynist, homophobe, transphobe greedy old pervert republican.

  14. Democrats need to start defining “socialism” and point out where exactly they stand on it.   Point out to the Pipples what so-called socialism means in THEIR lives, how it affects their quality of life.  Socialism has become a huge catch-word buggaboo and needs to be defused.
    Make plain the difference between “socialism” and socialistic policies. They’re also worried about their taxes rising drastically and that needs to be defused as well.

  15. Saw some Ohio goomers yesterday and all they could say was, “We don’t need no socialism”, “We ain’t gonna vote for no socialist” etc.  

  16. Pretty much everyone in Cal is voting by mail this primary that should help with the counting.  And people are already voting here. We got our ballots last week.

  18. Will Democrats Stand Up to the Bully On Their Own Side?  Good WaPo editorial.

    Also I do wish CNN & MSNBC would stop asking if a woman can win the election.  One already did.  Hillary beat Trump fair and square by several million votes.  It took 30 years of lies, Russian propaganda, all of GOP and rampant racism to lose the Electoral College.

    Now the question should be, can a woman win the states lost in the EC?

     

  19. https://www.newsweek.com/whereswarren-trends-after-nbc-wsj-poll-leaves-elizabeth-warren-out-hypothetical-matchups-1487903

    #WheresWarren” became a trending topic on social media Tuesday after a poll from NBC and The Wall Street Journal omitted results pitting Senator Elizabeth Warren against President Donald Trump in a hypothetical match-up in the November 2020 presidential election.
    Five other candidates were included in the question, but those who agreed to be polled were reportedly not even asked Warren’s chances against the president.
    Warren’s absence from that survey follows a poll sponsored by the same outlets which show Warren in fourth place overall with 14 percent of national Democratic support. That ranking ties her with former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, but places her behind former Vice President Joe Biden with 15 percent and front runner Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who ended up with 27 percent.

    [continues]

  20. query:  if lizzie is tied with Bloomberg in a poll mentioned above, why is she but not he considered to be in 4th place?

  21. But KGC that’s the problem. As I remember it California does not start counting those mail ballots until election day and it takes days or weeks to finish. Correct me if I’m wrong. If I’m right we won’t get the results on the biggest state in Super Tuesday that night. 

  22. Looks like you are correct Craig.  not only vote by mail problems but same day registration and new voting centers.  Could be a couple of weeks.  Hopefully before the convention

  23. Bloomberg a) hates Trumpsky, b) wants to re-brand himself as kinder-than-he-was/a philanthropist giving away “all” of his money, c) Daddy Warbucks coming to save all of us orphans.  
    I hope Amy Klobuchar has as fine a night as she did in the previous debate.  I’ll be voting this week.  Unless something dramatic happens tonight, she’s got my vote.  

  24. Sense from watching them on the stump that Mike’s rivals are going to make a big mistake tonight focusing on his wealth instead of his record. Plays to his strength with voters who like the idea of someone far richer who can overwhelm Trump with cash. 

  25. Yep KGC that means if someone like Liz who needs a big showing in CA will have to wait too long to get it. Also it opens the door to bogus claims of victory on election night if absentee ballots later change the live results. I forecast CA to be Iowa on steroids. 

  26. …must admit i wasn’t a Bloomberg expert before this month, but the more i read, the less enthusiastic i am about him- he’s a straight up Republican running for the Democratic nomination- and people complain about Bernie running as a Democrat?

  27. craig, something else that unfortunately plays to his strength is the stop n frisk charge.  many a hard core law & order conservative will use that as a good alternative and an excuse to dump trump. 

  28. a big OMG hitting other news media

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/19/donald-trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-russia-hack-wikileaks

    Donald Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon if he would say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic party emails, a court in London has been told.
    The extraordinary claim was made at Westminster magistrates court before the opening next week of Assange’s legal battle to block attempts to extradite him to the US.
    […]
    A statement from Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson shows “Mr Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC [Democratic National Committee] leaks”, Fitzgerald told Westminster magistrates court.

    [continues]

  30. note date was 3 months after mueller appointed special counsel

    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lawyer-assange-offered-us-pardon-cleared-russia-69075408

    At a preliminary hearing held Wednesday in London, lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said that now-former Republican congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, visited Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2017.
    Fitzgerald said a statement from another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, recounted “Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr. Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.”

  31. Agree with you Pat about stop and frisk. I actually think there are plenty of black voters in crime ridden communities who see it differently than the pundits and activists blasting Bloomberg for this. Tricky stuff. 

  32. btw patd i’ve always assumed your “AiW” quote, above, was the reason you use the Cheshire Cat as your avatar, in that “we’re all mad, here”

  33. ”I actually think there are plenty of black voters in crime ridden communities who see it differently“
     
    why?  how many did you talk to?

  36. I live in DC Bink, talk to more blacks than whites on my daily walks, find them more pro policing than not. But we have a racially diverse police force, so maybe that’s a factor. 

  38. Alrighty, then.  Maybe you can ask them specifically about S&F and report back!  Eagerly awaiting.

  39. Bloomberg should have to earn the nomination, we don’t have to just hand it to him because we are afraid of trump.

  40. We recently had an interesting episode in our neighborhood where a black drug dealer was operating out of a townhouse and his “mules” were traveling back and forth several times daily to carry drugs elsewhere. My black neighbors provoked police to stop and frisk them. My white liberal neighbors were alarmed by those tactics. Eventually the dealer was jailed and problem solved. 

  41. I have several black friends and scores of black pals and former neighbors. They tend to be of two minds regarding “stop & frisk,” and sometimes both simultaneously. Seeing everything through the lens of white oppression, they conclude that stop and frisk is white oppression. Seeing through the lens of vulnerability to violence, they conclude that those hoodlums have to be caught. The younger Blacks tend to lean toward the former view, probably because they are more likely to be stopped and frisked. The older Blacks tend to lean toward the latter view, probably because they feel their age and vulnerability. The answer may also vary with the color or age of the person asking the question. My dear friend Stan is the elderly and infirm, inner-city black uncle of a black suburban policeman. He’ll give you multiple views on policing and race relations in the same sentence. 

  42. My experience here is that black folks want tough police enforcement so long as it’s fair, and even if their own kids get more attention. Like a local Mom told me, “My boy is good but won’t hurt for him to remember to stay there.”

  43. Ai yai yai.. buncha whites speaking for blacks.  i do it, too, since there it seems there are zero people of color that participate, here, but i don’t presume to be able to read their minds. 
     
    The only reason one, here, might defend S&F is to try to help shield Bloomberg from criticism in an effort to help his bid for the Democratic nomination, and i question the wisdom of that, at this point.
     
    If he can buy the nom then let him, but like i said, he should be made to earn it- and who’s gonna make him?  Liz, tonight, because she is a bad-ass and cares more about this country than the viability of her candidacy.
     
    *raises sword to Liz*

  44. Xrepub, my DC experience might be unique because we have a mostly black police force, at least in my neighborhood, so the white suppression issue a non-factor. Maybe that’s the answer. If your force looks like your community the cops can get the job done, even if they have to push the envelope a bit.

  45. Ha, coincidentally I was just talking to a cop whose black at my local 7-Eleven, told him about the discussion we’ve been having here. He said, “It ain’t about race. It’s about crime.” Offered to pay for his hot dog, he declined. And he advised me to keep my wallet in my shirt pocket instead of my butt.

  46. Can’t really opine on S&F  – never having lived anywhere the policy existed.  I could talk out of my ass (which I generally enjoy and would be nothing new) but I won’t.
     
    I don’t think anyone has handed or could hand Bloomberg the nomination.  He’s getting favorable press treatment based on his ads and his desire (and financial wherewithal)to take it to SFB, but so far he doesn’t have anything but rising poll numbers.  I seldom agree with Henry Olsen, but he’s got a few good points in his Wapo op-ed about Biden’s run not being dead yet – and I’d say that to the extent there is any validity to the knowing when to hold ’em point he makes, it would apply in the adverse to those who seem to be shooting stars (i.e. Bernie and Bloomberg, at least today).  It’s easy to count chickens before they hatch and to prematurely declare this or that candidate out of it, but so far all’s we got is IA & NH and a slew of polls.  But I digress.  If Bloomberg is going to be a factor he’s got a lot of convincing to do, otherwise he won’t get the VOTES that he needs in enough states to get enough delegates to have a shot at the convention.  We won’t necessarily know who the nominee will be after Super Tuesday results are in, but I’d wager to say the field will be winnowed down to 3 or 4 going into the mid-late March primaries, and by April 28 we’ll know whether we’re in for a shit show or not.

  47. 5,000,000 stop and frisk occurrences. Many folks stopped repeatedly   How many were white?

  48. Pogo, I don’t see Joe-Pete-Amy-Liz surviving Super Tuesday with enough money even for cell phones and rental cars unless Bloomberg implodes tonight. Looks like him and Bernie to the finish line. 

  49. Another pal’s son was killed a few days ago : Black and 19 years old. Maybe a ‘stop and frisk’ law would have saved him, but probably not. However, that mom must surely be in the mood to support ‘stop & frisk’.
     
    I think Black people’s answers on stop and frisk are all over the map, depending on the age and mood of the person asked, the tone and color of the questioner, the setting and the audience, if any. 

  50. I have put another topic proposal in for your review, Mr C. I hope it meets with your approval.

  54. George Mason: “The president ought not to have the power of pardoning, because he may frequently pardon crimes which were advised by himself. It may happen, at some future day, that he will establish a monarchy, and destroy the republic.” Constitutional Convention, 1787

  56. Craig

    Have you watched the History Channel’s three part “Washington”.  It’s an excellent warts and all biography.

     

  60. Stephanie Grisham being unusually dense about history today:

    “It takes compassion and care from families, communities, places of worship and schools, all coming together to give our children the very best future.” –  Flotus, speaking to women at annual Women of Distinction luncheon hosted by PBA Univerrsity 

     
    Who knew Melania was in favor of Hillary Clinton’s “It Takes A Village”
     

  66. Sadly xrepub, according to the documentary he had healthy slave teeth pulled for his dentures. But paid them for it, as if that helps. Guess John Adams is the only major founder who wasn’t a slave owning bastard. We just gotta live with that. 

  67. Classic movie quote:  “Freedom is a luxury no king can afford.” -Louis Calhern as King of Karlsberg in The Student Prince

    And since tonight’s debate may require imbibing, a song to go with it.

     

     

  68. “he had healthy slave teeth pulled for his dentures“
     
    Thank you for elaborating on that, sincerely- i was curious.
     
    That’s something straight out of a horror movie.

  69. George and Martha rotated their slaves because PA had a law that any slave in the state more than six months was declared free.  

    Washington remained dependent on slave labor, and by the time of his death in 1799 he owned 124 slaves, whom he freed in his will, and controlled another 193, most of whom remained enslaved. Washington expected his slaves to work diligently from dawn to dusk, six days per week, and be kept busy year round.

  72. Bloomberg isn’t going to apologize for being rich.  He didn’t come from wealth, but he built it.   Poverty is not a badge of honor.   I think Bloomberg might knock Bernie on  his behind.   Hoping for another great night for Amy.

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