After "Former GOP Oligarch" Bloomberg Airs Ad Criticizing Online Vulgarity, Progressives Point to Former Mayors Long Record of Bigotry by Eoin Higgins!
(2020-02-17 at 20:59:38 )

After "Former GOP Oligarch" Bloomberg Airs Ad Criticizing Online Vulgarity, Progressives Point to Former Mayors Long Record of Bigotry by Eoin Higgins!

"Speaking for myself, I would rather be insulted on Twitter by random, anonymous users (something that has happened often from non-Sanders-supporters) than subjected to stop-and-frisk, workplace harassment, indiscriminate Israeli bombing, mass surveillance, and other Bloomberg policies."

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is taking aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race.

Former New York City Mayor and current billionaire Mike Bloombergs 2020 Democratic presidential campaign on Monday released a nearly minute-long ad decrying online behavior from ostensible supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign, a move that earned Mr. Bloomberg pushback from progressives who cited the businessmans long history of bigoted, offensive statements and behavior.

"I guess Mr. Bloomberg is not done beating up on Black and Brown people,"" tweeted Mr. Sanders campaign press secretary Briahna Joy Gray in a reference to both the senators multiracial coalition and Mr. Bloombergs tenure as New Yorks mayor.

The ad targeted left-leaning social media users unhappy with Mr. Bloombergs entry into the race and the billionaires past.

Mr. Bloomberg has already spent over $350 million of his own money on the race-a pittance of the $61.8 billion Forbes estimates his wealth at. The billionaire is focusing his energy on the Super Tuesday contests and is pulling out all the stops for a good showing in the states in a scheme seen by observers as aimed more at stopping Mr. Sanders or fellow progressive White House hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) from raising taxes on the one percent.

"Michael, you are an oligarch investing $1 billion so you will not have to pay $3.56 billion in taxes under Ms Warren and Mr. Sanders," said progressive radio host Benjamin Dixon. "You also know you are willing to lose to Donald Trump and your run for president will still be a good investment."

Mondays ad came after excessive handwringing over Mr. Sanders supporters in the media as the Vermont senator racked up popular vote wins in Iowa and New Hampshire and drew record crowds around the country. On February 10, the day before the New Hampshire primary, MSNBC host Chuck Todd referred to supporters of Sanders, who lost family in the Holocaust, as "brown-shirts." The strategy may not be working, as at least one New Hampshire voter reported voting for Mr. Sanders as a direct result of MSNBC attacks.

In reality, said Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald, there is no comparison between mean tweets and the harm Mr. Bloomberg has done over his career.

"Speaking for myself, I would rather be insulted on Twitter by random, anonymous users (something that has happened often from non-Sanders-supporters) than subjected to stop-and-frisk, workplace harassment, indiscriminate Israeli bombing, mass surveillance, and other Mike Bloomberg policies," Mr. Greenwald said.

Social media users pointed to Mr. Bloombergs history with women and abuse, noting that the billionaire has settled 40 cases of sexual harassment and discrimination from 64 women over the course of his career.

"This ad but instead it is 64 screenshots of all of Mr. Bloombergs sexual harassment settlements," said progressive activist Alex Thorne.

New York Times opinion writer Liz Bruenig wondered about the relative scale of harassment.

"Mike Bloomberg allegedly told a pregnant woman to "kill [her baby]," and suggested that a computer program that can perform oral sex could replace his female employees," tweeted Bruenig. "So sorry his comms team had to see some rude tweets, though. Must have been hard."

The former mayors critics also noted Mr. Bloombergs documented friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, and Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged "madame" who solicited children for Mr. Epstein and his wealthy friends to abuse. Mr. Bloombergs personal information was in Mr. Epsteins "little black book" and the billionaire was photographed with Maxwell in 2013.

Center for Media and Democracy journalist Alex Kotch said that while Mr. Bloomberg represents a threat to progressives, ultimately his attempts to buy the election will fall flat.

"The bottom line is that Mr. Bloomberg is a former GOP oligarch who has said and implemented far worse things than the random Twitter accounts and Dems will not go for it," said Mr. Kotch.

Reprinted here from "Common Dreams" has been providing breaking news & views for the progressive community since 1997. We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100% reader supported.