Hear Me Out: Bloomberg is the Sarah Palin of This Election Cycle/Bernie's Rally in Tacoma Shows He's Unstoppable

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This past week America started to get its first real look at the Monotone Mayor of NYC. Well, not really. It was the manufactured sickly, glossy look of slick business-like leadership, which has been carefully orchestrated in an onslaught of commercials made by highly-paid marketing companies who aren’t above taking liberties with footage and stretching, and indeed fabricating, a story in which to sell a commercial image of an aloof and authoritarian billionaire as instead a man of the people. But that bullshit's going nowhere.

Almost as immediately as Bloomberg really got up and running Left Twitter swarmed all over his fabricated candidacy and exposed him relentlessly for the racist fascist that we know he is. Proving again, and this is important to note, that Twitter and online Left Media is a potent force to be reckoned with and just may be the difference in an age in which the corporate MSM has purposely failed to do its due diligence with vetting candidates, for just one thing.

They purposefully didn’t vet Trump because as former CBS head Les Mooves admitted in a an unguarded moment of truth which was captured by a citizen surreptitiously recording, “Trump may not be good for America but he’s great for us.” As my Occupy comrade frequently intoned about our own predicament, “we have to Become the Media.” These are two salient truths being played out in real time right now.

So at tomorrow night's debate voters will get their first real look. And it'll be a lot different than just passively watching the man who's being beamed into their living rooms from their tv screens, that is, if they watch commercials and the corporate media that is propping him up.

Mike Bloomberg. He who flouted term limits to take a third one, and in doing so multiplied his already obscene wealth. Hizz Horror, the racist, misogynist, sexist, fascist Marie Antionette who relished unleashing his NYPD “private army” goon squad to terrorize black and brown by racial profiling over a million mostly young men, who were harassed and intimidated, stopped & frisked over and over again, and arrested for phantom infractions. He who also employed Orwellian surveillance apparatus to illegally spy on the Muslim community, with which they bolstered their street cop pawns to do its dirty work with anti-Muslim propaganda that was played on loops inside precincts all over the city.

He who trampled freedom of speech and freedom to petition one’s government for a redress of grievances in the form of highly aggressive police brutality toward Occupy Wall St. In the end they busted heads, and in the dead of night under a tightly shut down quadrant of the city, conducted a highly coordinated invasion involving the NYPD, FBI, DHS, Fortune 500 companies (aka the nefarious-sounding Domestic Security Alliance) completely wiped out every shred of physical evidence that Occupy Wall St ever existed and brutally clamped down on any further attempts to re-occupy. He who ran a mayoral campaign that used the fallacy of “hey, I ride the subways” but who nakedly spent the ensuing years right after 9/11 turning NYC over to his Big Club real estate crony buddies, who transformed my city into a high-rise luxury living, boutique shopping and upscale hotel dystopian playground for the 1%, which has had the effect of an ongoing crisis of making the city so unaffordable and increasingly inaccessible to the working and middle class.

There's plenty more but I don't think it's all that necessary.

Why? Because when all is said and done, after all the money is lavished but ultimately fails to produce their (his, the DNC and the MSM's) desired results, his introduction into the Democratic Primary will, I think, be viewed as being similar in outcome to Sarah Palin's in 2008.

I remember that summer well when the announcement hit that McCain picked this unknown governor from Alaska. I had been canvassing for Obama throughout parts of PA and it was looking good for him. But then this. It seemed everybody panicked. I got a call from a worried cousin asking what I'd thought. I told him it would result in some temporary favorable bump in the polls, but that ultimately it was not going to matter. A few weeks from now nobody would be worrying about it, I assured him.

I think the two situations will prove to be not that dissimilar in final result. Yeah, obviously he's a billionaire news mogul oligarch with incomparable money advantages. But in terms of what it all will come down to I think there's similarity. Both are cynical tools employed by desperate operatives with the thought being they'll help deliver a win to the parties in question.

Give it a few more days, a couple of weeks maybe, and there's no way by then that even a dim-witted potential voter won't be able to see that this isn't the most cynical, disgusting ploy of outright, insidiously brazen bribery ever witnessed in an election.

And juxtaposed against Bernie's laser-focused campaign on how corrupt American politics is, and the fact that he's the single most popular, trusted and admired politician in the country as a fighter for people to get healthcare, it will be yet another feather in an already overflowing headdress of Bernie's as he squares off on a debate stage with the most diabolically opposite composite (and almost comically so) of all that he has stood for for his entire life.

This’ll be the first time I'm really looking forward to a debate.

Bloomberg’s going to be literal chum for both the sharks who are starving, Warren and Biden, and some gratuitous chomping for the remaining, slightly gaining (but not for long) younger pup Centrist Corporate Clowns.

By all rights he should be ripped to shreds. First off, everyone on that stage will or should have serious grievances with the way he's bought himself into the debate. It will be glorious to watch. And it may just ironically be the thing that unites the country around Bernie, the sympathetic feelings engendered of which the DNC can't seem to get out of the way of inadvertently setting up for him again and again.

Michael Bloomberg has the charisma of a soggy pretzel. As soon as people get to see his little weaselly authoritarian racist self they're going to be very unimpressed, to say the least. The corporate media of course can be expected to cover up for him for days to come afterward. They're banking on his money and the horse race remaining ever-sensationalized for their benefit. But it'll ultimately be to no avail.

He'll be sunk before you know it, no matter how many bullshit ads he's running.

Here's some Reddit Chapo examples of Bloomberg sabotage I'm digging:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChapoTrapHouse/comments/f4raza/lmao_top_post_of...

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChapoTrapHouse/comments/f4kftb/lmao/

"If character is on the ballot in November, the USA TODAY/Ipsos poll, conducted Wednesday through Thursday, shows Sanders has a clear advantage over the incumbent president. In the survey, 40% of voters said they admired Sanders’ character, well above the 26% who said they admired Trump.

Thirty-one percent of voters said they admired former Vice President Joe Biden, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg each got 30%. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg was not far behind with 29% of voters who said they admired him...

...found 39% of voters said Sanders 'shares my values,' compared to 30% each for Buttigieg and Biden, 31% for Warren, 28% for Bloomberg and 31% for Trump.

However, 52% of voters said Trump did not share their values, while only 36% said Sanders did not.

Among voters who identified as Democrats, 64% said Sanders shared their values compared to 55% for Warren, 53% for Biden, 50% for Buttigieg and 46% for Bloomberg."

Other takeaways: "58% of voters who identified as Republicans said they admired Trump's character while 14% said they admired Sanders. Among Democrats, Sanders was admired by 65% of voters, 10 points more than his closest competitors Biden and Warren, who notched 54% and 53%, respectively."

Of men who said they think Trump will be better for the country than the Democratic nominee, 19% admired Sanders' character and 21% said the Vermont senator "cares about people like me."

Suburban women, a key voting block that helped Democrats flip the House of Representatives in 2018, also favored Sanders, with 38% saying they admired his character and 47% agreeing that he "cares about people like me."

Betting Odds - Democratic Presidential Nomination

Only 3 weeks ago Bernie had a 25pt lead on Bloomberg. A week and a half alter it was 11, and closed to 4.5pts a few days ago. But yesterday it changed direction to Bernie +7. And today Bernie's up again to an almost 10pt lead.

These things will probably continue to bounce around a bit though overall Bernie will be solid going forth. But I think this latest trend, correlating with first Bloomberg's introduction into the race and then the relentless outpouring of beating with which his record as Mayor and his highly inflammatory racist, misogynist, fascist remarks have taken, it's a good indication that he's not faring as well as people think as the media would like us to believe.

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Bernie breaks out of the pack: In Nevada, rival campaigns privately concede the race is for second or third place.

"Bernie Sanders is becoming harder to stop. Nevada is where his opponents are starting to realize it.

Advisers to three rival campaigns privately conceded over the weekend that the best anyone else could hope for here is second or third. Some of them gape at the crowd sizes at Sanders' events — like the swarm of supporters who accompanied Sanders, his fist raised, to an early caucus site in Las Vegas on Saturday, the first day of early voting in the state."

Get ready for it...#BernieInTacoma

And here she is, the very best elected official in the country, Seattle city councilwoman Kshama Sawant (who was possibly slightly too amped up; but I would be too, having fought in the trenches for so long and finally having arrived into such a dramatically confirming event such as this).

As usual she pulled no punches in calling for an end to "capitalist exploitation" and a warning to the DNC that if they're thinking of rigging it again we'll have a Million March on Milwaukee:

Let's keep piling on, folks.

Looks like we might have them on the run for real this time.

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Comments

Mark from Queens's picture

This is an existential David & Goliath fight right now that we're actually in a position to win.

Which means maybe we'll soon start beginning to rectify some of the wrongs of a sick and diseased capitalist system which has literally been killing us.

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." ― Frédéric Bastiat

Wild time, folks.

Nite all. I'm spent...

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33 users have voted.

"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Steven D's picture

@Mark from Queens I tend toward pessimism so your posts help provide me some balance.

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9 users have voted.

"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

WoodsDweller's picture

If you add up all the attendees at events by all the centrist candidates for the last 50 years, that's WAY more than attended this rally.

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29 users have voted.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Song of the lark's picture

Expect pushback. They are truly scared of Bernie.

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polkageist's picture

@Song of the lark

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

Situational Lefty's picture

Thanks for this update.

You've got me feeling the 2016 Bern again!

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13 users have voted.

"The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." Yossarian

mimi's picture

simply said: he is old, can't debate or talk to a live audience with arguments that are convincing and his money will be worthless as everybody knows the dollar is going to be ... kaput. Why being afraid?

Great essay and analysis, Mark. I am so glad I can watch that debate now live thanks to the links JekylInHyde's posted.

Oops, if i click on your reddit links, I get this message:

Are you sure you want to view this community?
This community is quarantined

It is restricted due to significant issues with reporting and addressing violations of the Reddit Content Policy.

As a visitor or member, you can help moderators maintain the community by reporting and downvoting rule-breaking content.
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No thanks, I am too scared. Won't click.

Manno, they are more dangerous than the coronavirus now.

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Cassiodorus's picture

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7 users have voted.

"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Raggedy Ann's picture

Bernie will come to New Mexico but if he does, I'll do my best to see him.

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10 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Wally's picture

. . . like in that Tacoma video when he got up to his podium.

That'll be the best way to counteract the mean Bernie Bro baloney.

I don't think I've ever seen him smile so much as at that rally.

And as more and more poll results come in, I can certainly understand why he's grinnin':

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democrat...!

[video:https://youtu.be/iV9C8jlhOmY?t=15]

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11 users have voted.

and clear analysis. All true about His Horror.

I'm going to re-post it on WayoftheBern.

If you object, I will delete it.

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6 users have voted.

NYCVG

WoodsDweller's picture

should make some memes about Bloomberg as Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons. A couple of good memes might be enough to neutralize a hundred million worth of glowing TV ads.

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5 users have voted.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

ZimInSeattle's picture

Smile

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5 users have voted.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020

mimi's picture

Progressives Will Stay Home for Michael Bloomberg
by Rena Novick. There are some tid-bits of info in it, which are not easy to swallow:

As Josh Barro writes in New York Magazine, Bloomberg is “17 times wealthier than President Trump.” Plus, Barro adds, “unlike Trump, he’s a self-made billionaire.” In Vox, Emily Stewart argues that the former New York City Mayor and current Democratic candidate for president “has all the resources he needs to combat the Trump machine, and he doesn’t have to spend time and energy courting donors and then returning favors to them if and when he’s in the White House.
...
Money also can’t prevent journalists from looking closely at Bloomberg’s record. The New York Times observed this past week that the campaign has been “on the defensive over past recordings that showed him linking the financial crisis to the end of discriminatory “redlining” practices in mortgage lending, and defending physically aggressive policing tactics as a deterrent against crime.”
...
The ability to buy your way into power is not proof that people like what you do — for Bloomberg or for Trump. As Arwa Mahdavi writes in The Guardian, “If these two billionaires end up battling it out for the presidency, I am not sure it matters who wins in November. Democracy will have lost.”

Sanders imo should represent himself as the FDR of the twenty-first century. That should take the wind out of the establishment Democrats and make them look as bad as they are.

Just saying. May be I got it wrong.

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