Can't Buy Him Love

Tom Robbins, Village Voice:

Michael Bloomberg thinks he hears America calling. He alone hears this call, but that doesn't matter. Unfortunately for us, he is eager to answer.

Fresh from his confab in Oklahoma where he consulted with grizzled wise men, Bloomberg can be expected to announce any day now that he sees no alternative except to bow to this people's draft and place his own name before them on the November ballot.

He needs no stinking caucuses to do this, no treading through New Hampshire snows, no forced smiles through endless living-room chats, no stadium rallies only half-filled with supporters, no late-night flights over frozen cornfields, no town-hall meetings that so easily go awry with one little misspoken word. He need engage in none of these tedious democratic exercises. He will simply buy himself a place on the ballot, just as he did here in New York in 2001.

Through the miracle of the Internet and all the television and mail advertising that a billion expendable dollars or more will buy, he will run his campaign chiefly from the safety and comfort of his East Side mansion, New York City cops standing guard outside.

It doesn't matter that this candidacy will be a project of the utmost vanity, a billionaire's conceit. This kind of self-indulgence of the affluent is a phenomenon that we have no choice but to get used to, like warming oceans and the ceaseless chatter on cell phones. What's worse is that he could even win.

Agence France-Presse:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could be planning an independent White House bid, but even in his own city, voters would be reluctant to support him, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey found that despite a popularity rating of 73 percent, Bloomberg could count on only 34 percent of New York City voters if he ran as an independent presidential candidate.

"It's a Democratic town. If he runs for president as an independent, New Yorkers will do what they usually do and vote Democratic," the polling institute's director Maurice Carroll told reporters.

Bloomberg wouldn't even win New York City

WABC:

SurveyUSA conducted an identical survey exclusively for WABC in four separate geographies to measure the awareness of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and possible support for a third-party run for president.

For each survey, approximately 800 registered voters were interviewed, 3,200 voters in all. Surveys were conducted in New York City, the 50 United States, the state of Pennsylvania, and the state of California.

The results do not bode well for the mayor.

Even in the five boroughs of New York City, where Bloomberg is best known by voters know him best, he does not finish above 28 percent no matter who his Democratic or Republican opponents would be.

Michael Bloomberg is a Concern Troll

Michael Bloomberg wants you to know that he's concerned.

The New York Times reported on Monday that:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, sounding every inch the presidential candidate he insists he is not, brought his message of pragmatic, nonpartisan leadership to California on Monday, telling a crowd of Google employees that the nation was “really in trouble.”

In unusually stark terms, Mr. Bloomberg expressed his frustration with the state of the nation, touching on campaign-style issues like the war in Iraq, immigration, education, health care and crime before a crowd of more than 1,000 employees at the Google campus here.

Isn't that sweet? The man cares. And like most billionaires, he's been able to put his money where his mouth is. According to Newsmeat, he has. Since he became mayor, these are his leading campaign donations:

$250,000 to the Republican National Committee
$250,000 to the RNC Republican National States Elections Committee
$12,100 to Joseph Lieberman
$5000 to Rudy Giuliani's Solutions America PAC

He's also made major donations to:

George W. Bush, John Sweeney, Vito Fossella, Harold Dallas Rogers, Richard Shelby, John McCain, Peter King, James Walsh, Lynette Boggs McDonald

What do they all have in common? None are Democrats. And having done so much to enable the worst government in American history, what does he do when public support for that government collapses? He bails. Very noble. Very visionary. Such a brilliant display of leadership.

And, of course, that same vision accords well with the very best of the Bush Administration's war on the Constitution. As the New York Times reported:

Undercover New York City police officers have been conducting covert surveillance of political, social and religious groups since Sept 2002, after administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg persuaded federal judge to enlarge Police Dept's authority in wake of 9/11 terror attacks...

And as the Times editorialized:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's record on free speech is already pretty poor. Unless he wants to make a disregard for New Yorkers' rights part of his legacy, he should make sure that the police understand what civil liberties mean in a democracy.

But Bloomberg was still defending the policy, just a few months ago. In fact, his championing of basic police state tactics also extends to immigration policy, as the Associated Press reported, in 2006:

Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg thrust himself into the national immigration debate Wednesday, advocating a plan that would establish a DNA or fingerprint database to track and verify all legal U.S. workers.

And although he poses as a moderate, he refused to enforce New York City's domestic partnerships law.

So, let's not allow the corporate media to get away with painting Bloomberg in soft, warm hues. Let's also not kid ourselves as to the political impact, if he does run.

As the New York Times explained:

Several analysts argued that a three-way race with Mr. Bloomberg running as a third-party candidate could ultimately prove more of a threat to Democrats than to Republicans.

So, let's get this straight: after having strongly supported the Republicans (and their ally) who created the current disastrous state of the nation, he's now very concerned about it. He's left the political party he helped enable and is considering an independent run for the Presidency. An independent run that will do nothing but continue to help that disastrous political party.

Michael Bloomberg doesn't deserve our support, or even our consideration of support. Michael Bloomberg deserves our disdain.

Thanks, Mike

New York Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, sounding every inch the presidential candidate he insists he is not, brought his message of pragmatic, nonpartisan leadership to California on Monday, telling a crowd of Google employees that the nation was “really in trouble.”

In unusually stark terms, Mr. Bloomberg expressed his frustration with the state of the nation, touching on campaign-style issues like the war in Iraq, immigration, education, health care and crime before a crowd of more than 1,000 employees at the Google campus here.

You're obviously running for President, but one question: if you're so goddamned concerned about the state of the nation, why did you support Bush's re-election. Mike?

Police State

New York Times:

For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.

From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.

They made friends, shared meals, swapped e-mail messages and then filed daily reports with the department’s Intelligence Division. Other investigators mined Internet sites and chat rooms.