On the other hand, all of the candidates have had bad debates and we are still early in the process.

I still think his money and his skill at messaging is absolutely essential to beat trump.

He got shivved like a prison snitch tonight and Warren was the gang leader. It was great. That bastard is no Democrat and no friend of working people. He got what he deserved.

I loved his shots at Sanders...

I just saw blood and intestines

The most famous Socialist is a millionaire with three houses.
And it was called communism and it didn’t work.

Got boos. I could be wrong though.

But it was accurate with regards to his plan about forcing companies to put workers in charge. And it got Bernie to lose his compusure.

The thing I noticed most with Bloomberg was that he gave zero fucks what anyone up there thought about him. I sort of respect that, kind of, but mostly thought he came off like an arrogant prick. He had no real plans, no real answers and didn't give two shits what anyone thought.

And Warren took him to the woodshed more than once.

That attitude to a primary audience was.....awful.

I was willing to overlook some of his statements and behaviors from years ago, and he was hovering around 3 for me, he dropped to the bottom tonight.

"The boards of United States corporations must include substantial employee participation: Borrowing from the successful approach in Germany and other developed economies, a United States corporation must ensure that no fewer than 40% of its directors are selected by the corporation’s employees."

Workers or trade union representatives are usually elected for those seats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codetermination_in_Germany

That's straight out of Marx.

But having workers on a board of directors means they do have have some control over the means of production.

There is a lot more than that to Marxism though.

Do you think Germany has a Marxist government because, by law, workers choose almost half of the board of director members?

Warren's plan, which is having worker representation on the board. It's not some far-out thing.

And it doesn't work on anyone under 50.

The communist one was a low blow.

Warren slapped the shit out of Bloomy, that was my main focus.

Cheap shot to attack 'democratic socialism' as 'communism'
Amplification of hysteria around democratic socialism and he would have done better to defend his own points instead of stuff like that imo

Government placing workers in charge of companies is.

Must be a billionaire thing.

Oh wait, Trump isn't really a billionaire.

So I guess it's just Republican and recent-Republicans.

Seriously, going after one of our own specifically with a Trump talking point? Mike might as well have called Warren Pocahontas.

Note who I am for now.

Now, hopefully we Biden supporters in the next two contests can deliver a strong electoral showing for Joe and keep your support through Super Tuesday -- assuming that's when you vote!

No way can he be the nominee.

He'd never stand up against Trump after this performance.

Via numerous misogynistic and racist “attack” threads, and he confirmed for all to see what a weasel he is.

...the bar I had set for him was placed deep under ground.

But I was generally supportive, giving how he seemed to really be getting under Trump's skin with his ad buys and making waves and looking like a potential candidate to beat Sanders (my #1 priority in this nomination process), but after his performance tonight -- sheesh! I can only hope all those people that apparently abandoned Biden for this guy were tuned in, because if they thought Biden's performance in this campaign was bad early on, they are gonna jump off that Bloomberg ship immediately. He was eviscerated by his competitors and seemed generally unprepared and looked like he didn't even belong on that stage. I've seen him be a quick thinker and have some witty comebacks in live interviews, but he was just … TERRIBLE tonight.

started with his ads just because he was mr moneybags .
Maybe I did not get sucked in at all because I do not watch a lot of tv and had not seen too mNy of his ads .
What ever he was targeting for voters with his ads, never crossed my path, so I kept wondering was it the ads working similar to ( but different than )fox where it’s pure overload and tv watchers start to agree just by quantity?
Hope some flip back to a real candidate

but man, he was horrible. His presentation and his issues were both awful. I can't imagine anyone thinking after that, gee I am more likely to vote for him.

Also, he backed W. Full stop.

He left the debate alive, but without his balls for sure.

Warren pounded him into round ground.

Can’t see how he comes back from this.

me that he's the one, that's for sure.

his own and contribute to the discussions in a positive way

Arrogant, and rudderless.

...and that's if he is (unlikely as I hope that is) the Democratic nominee.

Yes, even Bloomberg is much, MUCH better than Trump.

This is an election where voting for the lesser of two evils, as distasteful as some may find that, is way more important that it ever has been. This is no time for treating one's vote as a mere exercise in personal expression.

...and money. Bloomberg actually has some.

Last edited Thu Feb 20, 2020, 09:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Trump is way, WAY over the top on traits like corruption, incompetence, ignorance, narcissism, dishonesty and disinformation, bigotry, inability to admit error of any kind, blaming anyone but himself for anything that goes wrong, vindictive behavior, total disdain for the rule of law, cozying up to Putin and other dictators, etc., etc., etc.

Bloomberg might share some of those traits to some degree, but not all of them and not nearly to the same wildly exaggerated extent.

Please, wake the fuck up if you think these two are that close to each other, and that our entire democracy isn't under a serious threat that can only be fixed by NEARLY ANYONE replacing Trump.

California ballots came this month for mail in voters. I voted already...but I would never vote for Bloomberg.

Pros:
He's extremely calm and rational. He's speaks realistically about the economy. He is pretty up-front, even when he says "I'm going to keep those things hidden, deal with it." He is a philanthropist. He is against Bernie and calls out his hypocrisy. He is against Trump, and has tons of money.

Cons:
I don't trust him as a Democrat at heart. Philanthropy yields benefits to the donor, as well. The non-disclosure agreements with women are very concerning to me. His taxes and financial ties need to be seen in full, asap. I don't know his full platform, especially for women, children, the sick and the elderly.

I am interested -- not completely turned off, certainly not turned on.

I wonder if he's not going to throw his money behind the Dems now?

Hopefully they didn't offend him so much that he isn't willing to spend the money to help defeat Trump.

Right out of the right wing playbook

fans. Doesn’t belong at Democratic debate with informed candidates who agree to disagree

Fended off some rehearsed attacks by Warren and Bernie.

Stayed focused on the topics, was articulate, and composed. I’d like to see Warren as his VP running mate, I think it would be an unstoppable ticket.

It was very clear that the other candidates had been on the Democratic primary debate stage eight times more than Mike Bloomberg. His debate inexperience showed.

-Laelth

That was a tough room, and rightly so. The other candidates have been slogging through campaigns the relatively traditional way, and all have earned my respect for that. Bloomberg is displaying the power of money in politics which is kinda awesome and grotesque at the same time.

In some ways, it’s the most honest way for him to involve his money. I have been doubtful of him getting the nomination, and his performance tonight didn’t help change that.

Did I mention that I like his ads? I like really appreciate his ads and head games in going after tRump.

He clearly was rusty at this. Or maybe he was never that good of a debater. He also was ganged up on a lot, to the point where it almost made him sympathetic.

As an employment lawyer who represents discrimination victims, I actually understand where he is coming from about the NDA's, to a point, although he could have done a better job articulating it. In my experience, a lot of employees who settle those cases actually do want to keep them confidential, or at least have no problem doing so. By the time the cases settle, most plaintiffs are pretty tired of them and just want it to be over. The last thing they'd want to do is talk to the media about what happened, and often they don't want future employers to know they sued a prior employer. That said, in theory Bloomberg could release employees who signed NDA's from their confidentiality agreements without releasing himself from his obligation to keep it confidential. I say in theory because there are two potential problems with that. First, if the allegations were not against him directly but against someone else in the company, that person might have confidentiality rights under the agreement as well. Second, if he made the release one-sided then he wouldn't have the right under the agreement to respond if someone tells their side of the story.

In short, there are valid reasons for him not to just say "yes" right then and there on the spot, but he should have said something like "if someone requests a release I'd have my lawyers evaluate the request" instead of a blanket "no".

Condense his talking points to 30 to 60 second soundbytes and learn some zingers.

Personally, I think Boston Beth killed him tonight. Others may still support MB, but the base is gone. It's over with. Done.

Also, I get the point he was trying to make about one New Yorker taking on another, but I didn't like that line because it plays in to the negative stereotyping of my home town.

Though he was eviscerated especially by Warren, he remained calm and rational-- seems to be his personality.
He's running to be manager of the USA.

Did you hear the MSNBC panel commenting on how Warren and Bloomberg were having a calm serious discussion during the breaks? Would be very interesting to hear what they discussed.

I thank him for being there because I think he helped Warren by his presence. She benefited greatly.

I would not completely write this guy off though--his money still carries the power to influence the masses. I really can't evaluate his chances, but the must have decreased after this debate.

But I was glad he was there, in part because I'm no fan, and his presence did not disappoint. As I said elsewhere, the date you haven't met yet is always more enticing than the one you have, until you do. The only surprise may be that Bloomberg ended up coming off even worse than I thought he would.