I'm coming around to Bloomberg

[extvbroadcaster]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Trump is getting worse, and another 4 years seems impossible to comprehend. But he will win again unless the Democrats can run somebody that can beat him.
Biden - sorry, he was ok as VP but he is a gaffe machine and looks like he just woke up from the crypt. No.
Warren - big money is scared of her, she comes across like a schoolmarm and she's a woman. No.
Sanders - he looks crazy, has had a heart attack and will never cut it in the corn belt. No.
Buttigieg - makes sense and knows his stuff. But I've lived in red states and a huge hunk of people will never vote for a black, woman or gay. No.
Klobuchar - she can't seem to bring the excitement and she's a woman. See above. No.

So that's the field. Any of them, Trump will run over like a truck. He will call them names, tell lies, and be the huge dick he is. All the while eating fried chicken from a bucket (paid for by the taxpayers, of course).

So that leaves Bloomberg, and he checks a lot of boxes. He's a man (see above about red states). He's run New York. He's not afraid of Trump. And he's rich enough to stick it up Trump's ass with a candle. No matter how many rich GOP donors Trump has in his pocket, Bloomberg can buy and sell them. Money will make a difference here. So I'm leaning toward Bloomberg. Because winning against Trump is the only thing that matters now.

[LakeArenal]

1. Sorry to hear all that.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

2. I will vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is

Scratch that-

I will RUN SCREAMING to the polls to vote for the Democratic candidate!

[calguy]

3. I'm still with Joe

But if he is unable to turn it around by Super Tuesday, I'm going with Mike. For all the reasons you stated. I think Joe can best trump, but still needs to prove it. Mike is a huge winner, which is the main reason why he is hugely rich. He is smart enough and crafty enough to beat trump at his own game. He's rich enough to hire the best and brightest minds in the business to get the job done. I'll have no problem getting behind Mike should my #1 choice fail to make his case.

[FBaggins]

4. We all may have to

But I'm sure not looking forward to it.

[Kingofalldems]

5. Wrong forum.

[mnhtnbb]

10. Yes. Repost in Primary.

Me, too.

[tavernier]

6. If he's the candidate, I'll vote for him.

Why exactly isn’t he debating?
All this protocol stuff confuses me.

[KewlKat]

17. He's self funded, so no donors. Thought the debate rules had polls and number of donors...that's my

guess why he's not in the debates. No donors.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. I may be with you there, but this post belongs in the Primary forum.

[quakerboy]

8. That does seem to gloss over a key detail

Bloomberg is a major face in the guncontrol movement.

All those red state folks who wont vote for a woman or poc or gay person? They sure as f aint voting for the man whos biggest claims to fame are "new york billionaire " and "that guy who funds all the groups thst wsnt to take my guns away".

Got a backup plan?

[aeromanKC]

9. I hope you're wrong about the woman thing.

There will be a woman on the ticket most likely a woman of color.. (Abrams and or Harris most likely)

Totally agree with you on Bloomberg though. He's my #2 at this point and most likely be my #1 by my primary day. I strongly believe he would crush Trump in November.

[lunasun]

11. You were stopped and asked a question when trying to post in General Discussion

Why are you bringing this here ?
Please

[stopdiggin]

12. respect your opinon

but ...
Another rich (not just rich but filthy rich) .. white .. older male.
Kinda' sounds like "if ya' can't beat em' .. join em'"

Which I WILL do, reluctantly if called upon (ANY of ours is a 1000 times better than the criminal cabal)
And .. I've lived in red areas too (it's scary) .. and I think you are correct about a lot of them having a LOT of trouble with a "first man."

[sarisataka]

13. So the list of people who cannot beat Trump is

-women
-gays
-blacks
-non-billionaires
-Democrats
Did I miss any?

[tman]

14. Amazing how we couldn't find a strong candidate in this year of all years.

The most incompetent, corrupt and unpopular president in US history has a very good shot at reelection.

[Azathoth]

15. I'm not a fan, be we need to accept he's a credible candidate

He's not just a bored "billionaire buying his way into the race" like, well, Trump. He's a centrist and a successful three-term mayor of a city with a larger population than many states. Once upon a time, that kind of centrism and executive experience were considered the gold standard credentials for becoming a top tier presidential candidate. He's also used to giving press conferences and handling the media, and is far better at it than gaffe-a-day Biden. And, to be fair, while Trump bought his way into the race, he paid for it with Russian and Breitbart credit cards. Bloomberg is paying for it with his own credit card, which means he's not indebted to anyone.

We really have two options: either we take the enthusiasm route and bury the GOP with turnout from our side like Obama did, or we take the traditional route and appeal to moderate swing voters who turn out reliably every cycle. If we go with the second option, Bloomberg is probably our best bet.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. I will 100% support whoever wins the nomination

Biden, Bloomberg, Bernie, Mayor Pete, Warren. All would be great alternatives to the fascism another 4 years of Trump means.

[blogslut]

18. Take it to Primaries

Wrong forum

[flamingdem]

19. 538 has him at 1% to win..

Of course that might change but things aren't easy for Bloomberg.

[Bradshaw3]

20. Bloomberg is paying influencers

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-bloomberg-is-paying-influencers-to-make-him-seem-cool-9

Do they do things like run down other candidates on a political forum they recently joined? While ignoring facts like Bloomberg financing senate campaigns for repubs who ended up acquitting drumpf? Or ignoring his policies as mayor that hurt POC and would make it hard for him to win their votes? I didn't see those things on this list as invalidating his candidacy.

I did see a lot of sexism though, sorta like having females employees sign NDAs and then not releasing them from them for the campaign. Woud that hurt him with the all-important suburban vote? Could very well, but that didn't make the list either.


Hammmm....

[Demovictory9]

21. one of the nanny types is rushing to get this thread shutdown

just giving u heads up

[CatWoman]

24. why do you call people wanting the rules enforced "nannies"??????

[Hekate]

25. It's not being a "nanny type" to want to keep the knock down drag out fights in a separate room

That's why the Admins do this every season.

No, I am not alerting.

[mr_lebowski]

29. As someone called to juries VERY often ... and nearly always choosing to leave the post alone ...

I hear what you're saying.

However, it's also kinda breaking the rules to complain about the admin of the site.

AND it's also entirely cut and dry that this is the wrong forum. Not a matter of opinion.

So there's that.

[Hekate]

22. Vote Blue no matter who. Now please move this to the Primaries forum.

No, I'm not alerting.

[jeffreyi]

23. Yup.

Hold nose if necessary. No way do the others have any chance against the machine.

[Beartracks]

30. Step 1: Vote for the Democrat, even if necessary to hold nose.

Step 2: See Step 1.

That's it.

=========

[Sunsky]

26. This post belongs in the Democratic primaries forum

I'm warming up the Bloomberg too, still not there yet though. I was a definite no before, but now I'm more accepting of his candidacy. Still not in my top choices. Stop and frisk is a huge issue for my community.

[mr_lebowski]

28. I wish I could proclaim this to be an unreasonable calculation ...

But I've been hinting things along similar lines (albeit more tactfully) for quite awhile, so ... unfortunately I can't entirely disagree.

We REALLY need a Bill Clinton or Barack Obama for 2020 ... and we don't have one.

[Awsi Dooger]

37. Depth means absolutely nothing in a field of presidential candidates

You either have the ideal nominee or you don't.

Our 2020 field was always troubled because nobody had the ideal blueprint...not even close. I have mentioned that many times. Issues don't matter at all. You need someone who has the correct combination of age and charisma and gender and bio.

If Amy were a male we'd be in great shape. Or we'd be in great shape if Pete were older, more experienced and especially if he were heterosexual. It is ridiculous to dodge that final variable. Once we leave our own primaries we don't want to be startled when our nominee is rejected by a vital few percent we desperately need. Maybe in 2060 a gay man can be elected president. It's not happening in 2020, especially against an incumbent.

Bloomberg indeed owns the best combination to defeat Trump. I have mentioned many times in "Primaries" that among a shuttle bus of older white folks in Naples last November while attending an LPGA golf tournament I heard the other passengers discussing the Democratic field. I was surprised when they were willing to consider a Democrat above Trump. But not any Democrat. Everyone except Biden and Bloomberg was dismissed as, "too far out there," meaning too liberal. They agreed that the only two Democrats they would consider are Biden and Bloomberg. Then the most vocal guy said, "Biden is not too far out there. He has that going for him. But he often sounds confused. Not Bloomberg. He's in his 70s but is still very sharp." To my amazement, others loudly agreed. Immediately agreed.

Granted it's anecdotal but I have learned to pay attention to what I hear at golf tournaments. It's an older white crowd and they vote. I knew throughout 2016 that Donald Trump had far greater opportunity than most were giving him, based on everything I was hearing while attending those golf tournaments during the spring.

The OP's crypt summary of Biden is also unfortunately accurate, in fact more accurate than I preferred to believe at the time. It would be a dominant mocking theme of a fall campaign.

[dem4decades]

31. Bloomberg is growing on me.

[librechik]

32. if he is the candidate, I will vote for Bloomberg. I will even vote for Bernie

if he gets the nom. We all have to stand together at the end. I lost friends who refused to vote for Hillary after Bernie lost. His followers were (and are) full of hate for the weak sisters who preferred Hillary. I meant Sisters deliberately.

I don't care. Bust Trump or bust.

[Crazyleftie]

33. Beware of Bloomberg

He wants to cut "entitlements"...and is anti lbgt

[DarthDem]

36. False

He is not anti-LGBTQ.

[pandr32]

34. I especially agree with your last paragraph

It is unfortunate that being a woman or gay is such a handicap. I would add having color, but we broke that ceiling once (hopefully will again)--I certainly wish it wasn't still such an issue, but then it is seeming as though the Civil War is in round 2.
Being old and white is not the best scenario, but Bloomberg has a couple of serious advantages to make him a strong contender: as you stated he "can buy and sell them" and he was a successful mayor of a major American city and is his own man. I think he wants to stomp out the vileness that has infested our nation for the last three years and return us to pre-Trump as his final legacy. He deserves our help and we are lucky to have him.

[Gothmog]

35. Bloomberg is electable and is currently my second choice

Neither sanders nor Mayor Pete are electable

[JudyM]

38. Locking

Primaries discussions can only be posted in the Dem Primaries forum.