The only thing that can be said about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s first appearance with his fellow Democratic presidential candidates in Las Vegas Wednesday night was that Mike did not get it done, as his campaign ads promise he will if he becomes president.
He was boring, expressionless and could not defend himself against past racist, sexist and misogynistic comments, including one mentioned by Elizabeth Warren, who said Bloomberg once referred to women as “fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians.” During the debate he also refused to release women who worked for him from sexual harassment nondisclosure agreements, apparently because that would reveal even more of his outrageous behavior than is already known.
Bowing to pressure, however, he has since released three women from their NDAs.
While President Trump was mentioned a few times, most of the “debate” was about the candidates carving up and interrupting each other. Watching it made it sound like there is nothing good about America, homelessness is a national plague (mostly in cities and states run by Democrats, which the moderators failed to mention), and according to some of the candidates, most people are unhappy with their health insurance and want the government to take over.
Democrats call it “Medicare for all,” but it is the single-payer option, a government-run insurance program, which likely means the federal government will in effect become your doctor, deciding who gets care and who doesn’t, who ultimately lives or dies, based on age and diagnosis, and whether you take more from the treasury than you contribute in taxes.
Much of the second hour of the debate focused on the cult of “climate change,” which most Democrats seem to believe in more than they believe in God. The overpopulated panel of moderators failed to ask Bloomberg about a Fox News report (perhaps because they hate all things Fox) that a program funded by Bloomberg pays the salaries of lawyers in the offices of some state attorneys general to “pursue climate-based litigation.”
According to the Daily Wire, a conservative news and opinion site, “The arrangement, which currently pays the salaries of Special Assistant Attorneys General in 10 Democratic AG offices,” the Fox report found, “is drawing new scrutiny now that Bloomberg is running for president. The New York University School of Law’s State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, which was started in 2017 with $5.6 million from Bloomberg’s nonprofit, hires mid-career lawyers as ‘research fellows’ before providing them to state AGs where they assist in pursuing ‘progressive’ policy goals through the courts.”
A number of Republican attorneys general, the Daily Wire reported, “have raised concerns about Bloomberg’s funding of government lawyers, especially since he began his 2020 campaign.” It quoted West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey: “This is a fundamental question of ethics and who’s running our government. When you actually get to place someone under a specific agenda and then pay them and they’re within the office, that starts to call into question whether there are multiple masters within an attorney general office and that starts to really stink.”
Bloomberg appears to be using his considerable wealth in ways other than paying for those ubiquitous TV ads. If his record as mayor of New York City is any indication of how he would behave as president, he should not even be allowed in the tourist line at the White House, unless you are comfortable with government telling you how large a soft drink you can consume, whether salt should be available at restaurants and you are fine with your guns being taken away, along with other constitutionally protected liberties.
While Bloomberg’s money might keep him on political life-support, his credibility as a presidential candidate took a major hit Wednesday night from which he is unlikely to recover.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
