Why Is Everyone So ‘Ho-Hum’ About Billionaire Bloomberg Just Buying His Way Into The Democratic Primary Debate?

This should not be normalized. 

By Ross Barkin
The Guardian (2/1/20)

With an estimated worth of $3bn, Donald Trump is just barely a member of the billionaires’ club.

Michael Bloomberg, on the other hand, boasts a reported net worth of $60bn. While the president of the United States plays a monstrously wealthy oligarch on TV, Bloomberg is the genuine artifact – and he’s already spent more than $250m on a presidential bid that has, through the power of money alone, catapulted him to the edge of contention. On Sunday he’ll be airing a $10m Super Bowl ad.

If the Democratic party is serious about standing up to oligarchy, it should shun Bloomberg.

This is not one of those columns that will argue Bloomberg can seize the Democratic nomination. With a national polling average still below 10%, he has daunting odds as long as some combination of Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren remain in the race. Democratic voters will always favor a liberal stalwart over a former Republican who aggressively boosted George W Bush’s re-election bid, unleashed a militarized police force on black and brown New Yorkers, and once mocked the idea of raising taxes on the rich.

But Bloomberg has bought himself a ticket outside the basement of the primary, and this should alarm far more professional Democrats and progressives than it has so far. Even Tom Steyer, a fellow billionaire, is a pale imitation; he’s reportedly spent less than half of what Bloomberg has, despite entering the race earlier.

Unprecedented

This should not be normalized. Bloomberg is unleashing an unprecedented, inordinate amount of personal wealth on an advertising blitz that demonstrates just how frail our democratic institutions really are.

But his shamelessness seems to be working. Some Democrats, convinced they could use a useful foil to boost their own bids, are inviting him on the debate stage. …

Read The Rest

  • DNC Shifts Debate Qualifications, In A Boost For Corporate Democrats — The Democratic National Committee is no longer requiring presidential candidates to show grassroots support in order to qualify for debates, meaning that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may soon be on stage.  The DNC on Friday unveiled its qualification criteria for the ninth Democratic presidential debate on Feb. 19 in Las Vegas, and announced it was doing away with the previous donor thresholds. … Read The Rest And 48-Second Ad

(Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source nd free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )

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Michael Moore Trashes DNC For Selling Out To Slip Billionaire Michael Bloomberg Into Debates

[Editor’s Note: Moore’s comments about the DNC and Bloomberg cash intrusion in the debate process at the 6:00 mark. Don’t donate a penny to the DCCC or DNC, but do send financial support to Bernie Sanders, other progressive candidates and advocacy groups. — Editor]

The Hill

“The DNC will not allow Cory Booker on that stage, will not allow Julián Castro on that stage, but they’re going to allow Mike Bloomberg on that stage because he’s got a billion —-ing dollars!” At a Bernie Sanders 2020 rally in Clive, Iowa, filmmaker Michael Moore slammed the DNC’s debate rule change, former NYC Michael Bloomberg, and ‘corporate Democrats.’

Link To 23-Minute Video