Sanders says he's 'disgusted' by Bloomberg's $30 million ad buy

[Uncle Joe]

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tore into former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday over news of Bloomberg's $31.5 million ad buy as he mulls his own White House bid.

“I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections. It’s just the latest example of a rigged political system that we are going to change when we’re in the White House,” Sanders said in a statement.

“If you can’t build grassroots support for your candidacy, you have no business running for president. The American people are sick and tired of the power of billionaires, and I suspect they won’t react well to someone trying to buy an election.”

(snip)

Sanders’s rebuke hints that Bloomberg’s immense wealth and ability to dig through a bottomless war chest to blanket the airwaves with ads could emerge as a top line of attack for other liberal candidates in the primary field.

(snip)


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/471733-sanders-says-hes-disgusted-by-bloombergs-30-million-ad-buy

[ritapria]

1. Bernie v Bloomy

Bernie's Ready to Roll ….

[beastie boy]

10. Bernie v. Bloomy... fighting for the #4 spot

Just kidding. I hate the rich bastard (and I don't mean Bernie) for buying up free speech. It's called free for a reason, which apparently escapes Bloomy completely.

[Uncle Joe]

20. One thing is for certain, I have no doubt

the corporate media conglomerates (the well paid pundits) will be spoon-feeding the American People all things Bloomberg and it won't need to be based on his poll rankings.

[JoeOtterbein]

2. K n R

[George II]

3. Does he explain how Bloomberg is "circumventing the political process"?

[TwilightZone]

4. Because it's not "grassroots"

As if that's some kind of requirement in politics.

Sanders' campaign spent $220 million in 2016. He should know better than anyone that it takes massive amounts of money to be competitive. Criticizing an ad buy seems like an odd line of attack, though he did manage to fit in yet another claim about the system being rigged against him.

He should probably spend less time obsessing about where candidates are getting their funding and more time differentiating himself from the other front-runners. Warren, in particular, seems to be encroaching on his base.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Bernie's advertising money is representative of the over million individual donors that contributed

to his campaign, the same holds true to a lesser extent for most of the other candidates.

Where candidates get their money is critical in determining whose interests they will predominately represent should they come to power.

[TwilightZone]

13. That's a distinction without a real difference.

Claiming that his sources of funding as a whole are any more or less valid than anyone else's is rather disingenuous.

Campaigns require a lot of cash. For Bloomberg, we know where all the money came from, at least for the moment. Sanders can only account for what his campaign directly raises and spends, and even then, he doesn't itemize most donations.

Is he going to disavow or reject all other funding? How about from PACs like National Nurses United, who spent about $5 million on Sanders ads in 2016?

Of course he's not, but that also undercuts his argument that his funding is somehow purer than everyone else's.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Only if one desires to live in a plutocracy.

Definition of plutocracy
1: government by the wealthy
2: a controlling class of the wealthy

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plutocracy

Bernie is raising a lot cash (record amounts actually) but it's from the American People, if his message of universal representation didn't resonate, that wouldn't be the case, that's democracy.

[BeckyDem]

41. +1.

Good for Bernie. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

53. ...

[betsuni]

9. And isn't it Bloomberg's own money? Can he corrupt himself?

Is he beholden to himself now, in his own pocket?

[sheshe2]

12. Steyer too.

His own money and his ads are all over the TV machine. Doesn't mean I have to listen to them.

[betsuni]

25. And even if you listen to one or two by accident, you will not become instantly brainwashed.

It will probably make everyone with a TV on during that week get sick of Bloomberg. It's a pity that Trump didn't have many ads last election -- I thought more Republicans would be sick of him by November.

[HerbChestnut]

21. One of Trump's "selling points" was that he was putting his own money into the campaign.

Because of that, people thought he wasn't beholden to special interests, ignoring the fact that is *is* the special interest. We all know how that worked out...

[betsuni]

23. He lied and went right along with Republican policies which are beholden to special interests.

The Democratic Party platform is for regulation, higher taxes on the wealthy, and are not beholden to special interests.

[HerbChestnut]

30. Exactly, he lied.

How much do you really trust Bloomberg, a multi-billionaire, who has a vested stake in those special interests?

[Blue_true]

35. Bernie also skipped over the part that Bloomberg's ad buy is going to be a

big attack on Trump's corruption and complete lack of integrity and morals.

[Joe941]

5. Bernie wont let him buy the election!

[msongs]

6. so Bernie is not spending any $$ on advertising? nt

[BannonsLiver]

22. His donations are made by actual angels.

Each dollar is hand certified for purity of essence.

[radical noodle]

32. LOL!

Too bad a lot of people will miss that comment.

[betsuni]

34. Grassroots angels, not corrupt establishment angels.

[oldsoftie]

7. Dont worry, Bernie. He's not buying the election. He's not buying 4th place!

But maybe he'll be around long enough to make trump squirm

[jmowreader]

11. And HOW long has Bernie been in politics?

News flash: $30 million is NOT a huge ad buy in this day and age, and last I checked neither radio, television nor newspapers give ad space away for free.

[crazytown]

14. CBS: Largest one week political ad buy in history

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287356395

[ritapria]

15. It's 30 million dollars in 8 days !

How much money is Bloomberg planning to spend in the next 8 months ? ... 500 million dollars ?.. A Billion ? This is a disgrace

[whopis01]

51. News Flash: It was the largest one-week buy in history.

Get your facts straight.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

16. It's amazing to watch people play dumb over this.

Huh? Billionaire trying to buy an election? What’s the problem?

[George II]

18. Unless he starts paying voters to vote for him, he's not buying any election.

[Uncle Joe]

19. I hear you Hassin.

[AncientGeezer]

56. Bernie is a millionaire...he can spend his money..no?

[TexasTowelie]

24. Is it possible that Bernie fears another candidates that offers reasonable, actionable proposals

that have a chance of getting through Congress while his own proposals are unattainable and unaffordable? Stay tuned.

I don't have much knowledge of what policies Bloomberg will advocate for, but I'm not going to eliminate him from consideration based solely on the fact that he is a billionaire. At the same time, I'm going to be more inclined to vote for the Democrat that has been a member of the party through thick and thin than I will for the candidate that is only a Democrat when presidential elections occur.

[betsuni]

26. My theory is that Bernie thinks the ads are going go negative against him.

You know, he's always talking about how the billionaires and establishment hate him will stop at nothing to defeat him with smears and rigging and corruption things.

[TexasTowelie]

27. Unlike the GOP,

I have faith that Democrats are intelligent and will be able to evaluate the policies to select the best candidate to run in the general election. We have a good track record in that regard over the past several decades.

[ritapria]

38. Bernie is not afraid of Bloomberg

In a 2 person race Bernie would crush him 2-1 …..Mayor Bloomberg " ain't too popular with POC …...Bernie is in competition with Joe for working class voters and minority voters ….. Bernie is now leading Joe amongst Latino voters, still miles behind him with AA's …...

[betsuni]

40. I didn't say he was. He's the one who thinks billionaires/establishment are afraid of HIM.

This month in a tweet: "The billionaire class is scared and they should be scared."

[George II]

48. The difference is that Bloomberg is spending his own money, Sanders isn't.

[Kurt V.]

31. I'm sure its possible. I'm sure thats not Bloomberg. are you?

[TexasTowelie]

33. As I said earlier,

I don't know enough about where he stands to make a conclusion since I didn't pay much attention to NYC politics while he was mayor, but your attempt to bait me is amusing.

[Kurt V.]

43. I'm a simple man asking a simple question.

[TexasTowelie]

44. I doubt that I'll be voting for Bloomberg,

but I'm not going to let anything said on DU influence my decision and after careful consideration if I see Bloomberg as the best option then I reserve the right to change my mind. I'm not particularly wild about any of our top contenders, but I've already eliminated several of the candidates that were on the debate stage on Wednesday.

[Kurt V.]

28. .06 % of his wealth. the wealth of these ppl are practically unimaginable

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. What bothers me about this isn't that Bloomberg is "circumventing the electoral process,"

because he really isn't. In our deeply-flawed political system, though, money can buy a lot of publicity and effectively drown out the voices of less well-funded candidates. I don't think Bloomberg will be able to win the nomination despite his ad buys, but if he really wants to be sure a Democrat defeats Trump, he should spend that money on GOTV or donating generously to PACs supporting other campaigns, or advertising for liberal causes.

[myohmy2]

36. yes...

" The American people are sick and tired of the power of billionaires,..."

...I know I am...

...most people I know are...

...disgusting amounts of wealth owned by a handful of people has ruined our country...

...only Bernie is willing to do something serious about it...

...may God help us all...

[TexasTowelie]

42. .

[myohmy2]

45. ...

...

...

[George II]

47. How much has BS spent since he decided to run for president? About a quarter BILLION dollars.

[AncientGeezer]

57. Like give away his millions of wealth?

Let us know when he does that ok.

[zentrum]

37. Me too.

[YOHABLO]

39. Well unfortunately he has money to throw away. Let him.

I don't think he has a chance.

[George II]

46. Hasn't BS spent about a quarter BILLION dollars running for president? At least Bloomberg...

....is spending his own money, not others' money.

[NurseJackie]

50. It sounds like professional jealousy to me.

Hasn't BS spent about a quarter BILLION dollars running for president?

I believe you're correct. It sounds like professional jealousy to me.

What's he afraid of?

[OldRed2450]

49. Bernie has spent tens of millions on media ad buys

So what's the issue?

Remember this?


https://vtdigger.org/2016/07/15/sanders-campaign-millions-go-to-mystery-firm/

[underthematrix]

52. What this article is selling about BOTH Bloomberg and Sanders is outrage.

Don't fall for it. We're all on the same side - getting that criminal and his congressional cabal out of our government.

According to https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-bloomberg-launches-100-million-anti-trump-ad-campaign_n_5dd014c8e4b0294748180270 these are ANTI-TRUMP ads which will help all the candidates with the exception of Tulsi Gabbard.

[jalan48]

54. Oligarch's deserve to be represented too!

[AncientGeezer]

55. I'm sure he is...but it's Bloomberg's to spend..same as Steyer's

Bernie may be disgusted but he can't yet(never will be able to) tell anyone how they can spend their own money