'I like theater, dining and chasing women': Mike Bloomberg in his own words

[arenean]

He’s defended stop-and-frisk and made offensive remarks about minorities. What else has the 2020 contender said?

From today's Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/19/mike-bloomberg-2020-mayor-democratic-primary

[Garrett78]

1. Well...

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/02/a-republican-plutocrat-tries-to-buy-the-democratic-nomination

Democratic city councilwoman Christine Quinn reported that at a party, “Bloomberg gestured toward a woman in a very tight floor-length gown standing nearby and said, “Look at the ass on her.’”

“The Royal family—what a bunch of misfits—a gay, an architect, that horsey faced lesbian, and a kid who gave up Koo Stark for some fat broad.”

“If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they’d go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale’s.”

“Kill it!” Bloomberg allegedly said to one of his employees when she informed him she was pregnant.

“What, is the guy dumb and blind? What the hell is he marrying you for?” Bloomberg replied upon hearing an employee was engaged, suggesting the woman’s father must have paid her fiancé to marry her.

“I’d do her” Bloomberg admitted saying in regard to an employee. When asked about it, said he thought “do” meant be friends with.

“Keep him happy with a good [oral sex],” he is alleged to have told a female employee regarding her boyfriend.

“I’d do that piece of meat.” When Bloomberg was asked about this, he replied that he “didn’t recall” using the specific term “meat.”

“If you want to know if somebody is a good salesman, give them the job of going to the Midwest and picking a town and selling to that town the concept that some man wearing a dress should be in a locker room with their daughter,” Bloomberg said about transgender people.

In a deposition, Bloomberg even testified that he wouldn’t believe a rape allegation unless there was an “unimpeachable third party witness.”

[OKNancy]

2. He's said some pretty shitty things, but in the quote above....

if you read the article, he was single at the time. (1996)

[Squinch]

3. Of all the things he has said that are offensive, is this supposed to be one of them?

If so, how?

[tiredtoo]

4. The more i hear about Bloomberg

the more he reminds me of trump. Saying only he can beat trump, he is the one. Even his ads on tv say "Mike can do it"

[uponit7771]

8. +1, Bloomberg is Trump Light and appealed to Trump for decades.

[Squinch]

13. You think a single guy in 1990s NYC liking dining, chasing

women and theater is just like trump?

You really haven't been paying attention.

[tiredtoo]

48. Ya, I don't think trump liked theater NT

[jcmaine72]

5. Oh phooey!!

Don't you know that all the racist, sexist and classist shit he has both said and done over the DECADES is okay now because he has $62 billion to spend on defeating Dotard?

No shit. I read that right here on DU, so it's all good.

" Is Bloomberg a racist? You betcha. But he's a racist with $60+ billion to spend who may enable us to claw our way back to a semblance of democracy.""

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287525737

How we'll ever be able to convince anyone ever again with a straight face that our party is diametrically opposed to all forms of racism, sexism and classism if Bloomberg is awarded the nomination is problem we'll apparently tackle later....much later.

[uponit7771]

7. +1

[radius777]

16. but the Sanders-left has decried 'identity politics'

over the past few years as 'alienating' the (white) working class. Sanders initially said that Trump's base wasn't racist.

Many Sanders supporters such as TYT and Joe Rogan routinely say far worse than anything Bloomberg has said.

Joe Rogan compared black neighborhoods to 'Planet of the Apes' - yet Sanders proudly accepted his endorsement.

[jcmaine72]

21. Weak tea, and a poor deflection.

I'm certainly no fan of Rogan, but Bernie accepting his endorsement is microscopic compared to Bloomberg actually presiding over and vigorously defending 12-years of systematic civil rights abuses committed against POC in NYC.

Actions speak louder than words, and Bloomberg's past actions against POC are not only unforgivable, but against everything we (still?) stand for as a party. A scripted apology authored by a handsomely paid speech writer and read off a teleprompter can't erase what Bloomberg has done.

When you can dig up something evenly remotely close to the aforementioned abuses in Bernie's past we'll talk. Until then, any attempt to excuse Bloomberg's racist past by pointing to Bernie is not only disingenuous, but makes the person doing it look foolish.

[Dream Girl]

26. You're quoting me here and I am black. Nice way to twist words. Did you learn that in Bernie school

Seriously. My point is that he and Sanders and all of them have done racist shit. Nice cherry picking though.

[jcmaine72]

28. That's not a twist of words, but a direct quote!

Unless your account was hijacked, that is.

That's why I copied the link. No one has to take my word for anything. Just click and read.

[Dream Girl]

49. Words was taken out of context. I explicitly stated that all candidates have displayed racism in

their past actions. That includes Biden, Sanders, Klobuchar and Buttigieg. My point was that many blacks are aware of that unfortunate fact. We expect racism. I've faced racism my whole fucking life. So what you are doing and saying is absolutely slimy and abhorrent. Is that what they teach you in Bernie school? Twist people's words to create the narrative you want to amplify? My whole point was that given the stakes, I'm not willing to hold anyone's feet to the fire on "racism" cause they are all racists. I do find Bloomberg's ample war chest appealing - not gonna lie. I'm not too impressed with Sanders. No one can point to anything he's really done except give the same lame speech for decades and now promise the moon. He would never be able to deliver on what he's promised even if by some miracle he were to be elected. Which he won't be.

[jcmaine72]

50. That was the context of your statement.

The link is there for anyone to see. It says it all.

[Dream Girl]

52. I stand by my OP in its entirety

[jcmaine72]

53. Good for you.

[mdelaguna]

31. So true n/t

[uponit7771]

6. K&R, the DNC doesn't need a light weight version of Trump.

[BlueTsunami2018]

9. Nothing wrong with that.

The stop and frisk and racism is a problem but the headline isn’t.

[delisen]

10. Bloomberg totally pro choice & funds Planned Parenthood

He has never wavered on choice and has been. Literally supporting Planned Parenthood..

[denem]

11. That quote is from 1996

[jcmaine72]

12. When he was 54 years old.

Unless our new argument in defense of his past is going to be that a 54 year-old is too young to be held responsible for what they do/say.

[denem]

14. and single.

Divorced in 1993. If he had said -'dating women' - which is what he was doing, it would not have raises an eyebrow.

[Squinch]

15. I am as feminist as they come and I don't see where it is sexist.

Men do chase women, you know.

And women chase men.

That's how babies are born.

Do we need to have the talk?

[denem]

17. He was single, he was dating.

Has had the same partner, Diana Taylor, since 2000. Marriage was from 1975- 1993.

[Squinch]

18. Right? In the 90s I chased men, dined and went to the theater too.

Was there something wrong with that?

[denem]

19. Nothing wrong with that.

I was making the opposite point. Being single and dating is hardly sexist misogyny is it?

[Squinch]

20. Right. Oh, I just assumed everyone knew he was single.

Maybe the outrage is because they thought he was still married?

[denem]

23. The quote was given without a year, so maybe.

[mdelaguna]

32. 😀

[Blues Heron]

22. "friskin kids on the way home is just icing on the cake"

[rzemanfl]

27. Now I want cake, but I have to wash socks. n/t

[Blues Heron]

30. I have to feed the cat

Friskies of course!

[Polly Hennessey]

24. Once upon time I was chased by

men, dined with them, and went to the theater with them. It was enjoyable.

[UniteFightBack]

25. Noble pursuits. nt

[rzemanfl]

29. I like dining and washing, particularly socks. n/t

[Act_of_Reparation]

33. "If women want to be respected for their brains...

...they'd go to libraries and not to Bloomingdale's."

- Michael Bloomberg

I remember us being outraged about pussy-grabbing. This isn't a significant improvement in that respect.

And no, apologizing about it now, when you're running for fucking president, isn't fucking good enough.

[Squinch]

34. You don't see a difference between molesting women and

saying something sexist in the 1980s or 90s when everyone was saying sexist things?

You don't see a significant difference between those two things?

I have been on the receiving end of both. I assure you. There is no comparison.

[Act_of_Reparation]

35. Did I say they were the same?

[Squinch]

37. You said, "This isn't a significant improvement in that respect."

And again, I assure you. The two are not in the same universe.

Its grossly ignorant to suggest they are comparable. And yes, you did.

[Act_of_Reparation]

38. OK, fine.

Let's just settle for whatever asshole struts onto the field because fuck it Donald Trump amirite?

[Squinch]

39. Move those goalposts! Whoosh! There they go! What you said was offensive and ignorant.

[Act_of_Reparation]

41. Yes, I'm sure it was.

But was it more offensive than Bloomberg's assorted statements about women? I only ask because arguments from relative privation seem to be all the rage these days.

[Squinch]

42. Comparing sexual assault with sexist comments and saying

there isn't much difference?

Yes. That is MUCH more offensive than the comments in question.

[Act_of_Reparation]

44. Yeah, that's fascinating.

Do you think, maybe, the point I was trying to make was not that sexual assault and sexual harassment are equal in their effect, but simply that one is not significant enough an improvement over the other to qualify one for the presidency?

Nah, couldn't be that.

Oh, here's another good one:

“If your conversation during a presidential election is about some guy wearing a dress and whether he, she, or it can go to the locker room with their daughter, that’s not a winning formula for most people,”

- Michael Bloomberg, 2016

[Squinch]

46. Done with this grossness. Buh bye.

[Act_of_Reparation]

47. I don't blame you.

Defending Bloomberg? That's going to get exhausting.

[LongtimeAZDem]

36. Did he ever tell women that not having enough sex might give them cancer?

[Squinch]

40. Lol! I forgot that one!

[jmg257]

43. Meh...its not like he said something like "That is one great piece of ass."

You must be a great fuck" to a coworker about his Bloomberg employed girlfriend.

Or "don't like the dress, your ass looks huge in it" to another employee.


Oh wait...


He's a real gentleman, this ass.

[Turin_C3PO]

45. I dislike Bloomberg.

but that comment isn’t too bad. I mean, don’t women and me regularly “chase” each other? He’s said and done far worse things than this.

[samnsara]

51. y'know......NOTHING that any of the Dem candidates have said or done in the past...

...in any way compares to the lying the lawlessness and the cruelty of trump*

[emmaverybo]

54. It can't in scale. None of the others have had access to near unlimited power before. So we must

look at how they operated in their sphere of past influence, considering their truthfulness there, their adherence or violation of law, their compassionate advocacy or cruelty, and judge by attitudes and positions espoused.