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Bloomberg leaving the GOP. Warm up to a president run?
nexuscrawler
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/mayor-bloomberg-quits-the-gop/
Mayor Mike Bloomberg is announced today that he is leaving the Republican Party. Bloomberg is a lifelong Democrat who ran as a Republican. His announcement cam with strongly worded attacks on the partisanship in Washington and the country in general. Bloomberg has fueled rumors of a possible presidential run with his recent visits to vital primary state New Hampshire as well as reaching out to Govenor Schwarzenegger of California on pollution issues.
This could throw a real wrench in the works of the 2008 election. Chances of him running as a Democrat, especially given his defection and the strength of candidates, would be virtually impossible. As a independent he would likely draw a decent vote from the moderates of both parties.
What do you guys think of this development? Is he really gearing up for a 2008 run despite insistence that he intend to finish his term as mayor? Is he simply positioning himself for a run at another office in 2009? Or is the choice purely idealogical?
Mayor Mike Bloomberg is announced today that he is leaving the Republican Party. Bloomberg is a lifelong Democrat who ran as a Republican. His announcement cam with strongly worded attacks on the partisanship in Washington and the country in general. Bloomberg has fueled rumors of a possible presidential run with his recent visits to vital primary state New Hampshire as well as reaching out to Govenor Schwarzenegger of California on pollution issues.
This could throw a real wrench in the works of the 2008 election. Chances of him running as a Democrat, especially given his defection and the strength of candidates, would be virtually impossible. As a independent he would likely draw a decent vote from the moderates of both parties.
What do you guys think of this development? Is he really gearing up for a 2008 run despite insistence that he intend to finish his term as mayor? Is he simply positioning himself for a run at another office in 2009? Or is the choice purely idealogical?
nexuscrawler on
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I know nothing about his ideals, either. I would assume fiscally conservative?
if that's true, then i like him already, because that's hilarious/awesome
Why can't more of our politicians sound like that?
if he ends up running for president, there's a good chance he won't anymore.
i miss trumanesque stuff like that too, though
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg
Wikipedia... for when you're too lazy to use Google.
He worked in finance are a trader and adviser for years
He founded the Bloomberg financial news network
He is one of the nation's richest men and biggest philanthropists
Politically:
Killed the NY Board of Ed giving more education control to the city government
Was behind the NYC smoking ban and the transfat ban
Supports amnesty for illegal immigrants
Has made a big issue of going after out of state gun retailers who sell guns used in crime in the city
Managed to keep the city's budget somewhat balanced in the follow-up of 9/11(raised taxes to do so)
Increased oversight of Wall St trading.
Basically he's a middle of the road politician with a focus on public health and financial moderation. He more or less stays away from idealogical issues. His faults in my book are over-support of residential developers (particularly the fiasco with the stadium and the Olympics bid) and the further raising of astronomical taxes.
If Rudy's candidacy colapses, moderate Republicans might be shopping around.
It's the Republicans whose party is somewhat disunited at this point. The Democrats are comparatively content with all their choices.
There's the trouble of him being a divorced New York Jew who has publically supported gay marriage.
I don't think Jew hating evangelical Christians are really supporting Guiliani in huge numbers at this moment anyway.
I mean, who wins if this undercuts Rudy? McCain, Romney, Thompson? That opens up some room on the center right for Bloomberg to take votes.
Ha ha ha ha.
Just like the Democrats are doomed in 2006 and Democracy Bonds are waste of money right buddy?
I'm seriously holding you responsible for President Brownback, FYI.
I know it'll never happen, but at least I have my dreams.
*Some will suck it up and rally behind Hillary.
*Some will stay home because, really, fuck the Republicans.
*Some will go shopping for third options- Bloomberg, the Greens, the Libertarians, whoever.
On the other end, you have the Republicans. They're just plain unhappy. They want Hillary to go up. They NEED her to go up. She's the only opponent who can energize the base to go vote Republican. If Obama or Richardson or Biden or whoever goes up, the Republicans have no popular villain, they hate their field, they stay home in droves and get Mondaled at the polls. If Hillary IS the opponent, though, they'll come out.
But then here's Bloomberg. He may not be a savior either, but he's prominent, he was a Republican until "last year", and he may be a damn sight better than the guy the GOP puts up. There may be a slight schism going.
Basically, Bloomberg may be the guy in the right place at the right time. I don't give him high chances of winning, but he's probably going to pick up enough support to where the big two are going to have to sweat.
Ablooablooabloo.
Higher than our sitting Prez?
The entire "Hillary can't win" is a stupid ass meme to begin with. Everyone was saying the same thing when she ran for her Senate seat, and look how that turned out.
And it's not "Hillary can't win" it's "Bloomberg would fuck over Hillary the most from the Democratic field".
Then how the hell is she leading Obama by double digits last time I checked?
Yeah, but six months ago it was 56% favorable.
These things aren't written in stone.
If by get it you mean "watching you post tired Republican talking points that have been around since 2000", you'd be right.
She has money, fame, and huge recognition for so many reasons. Her favorability rating ought not to even be a debateable issue. The fact that it is tells you a lot.
As for Bloomberg, I like his stance on immigration.
The real question here is who would an independent like Bloomberg hurt more right now? He'd certainly draw most of his support from the middle. Ordinary people who are sick of partisan hackery and just want some shit to get done. Moderates are fleeing the GOP like rats from a sinking ship but I'm sure there's plenty wary of investing themselves in the Dems right now. The big issue is since he's just a mayor he has little to no forgein policy history. 2008 is going to be largely a referendum on Iraq and someone who's said very little about i is an oddity to say the least.
He does sound convincing.
Why can't more politicians talk like humans? Speeches with tinges of sarcastic (ok that isn't sarcasm) dickholery seem endearing. Despite it hurting their chances with certain other demographics, I'll be all over the first candidate to drop some F-bombs like it ain't no thang.
The problem is, almost all of his policy stances skew pretty exclusively to the left. I mean, the only way he could even get away with calling himself a republican was because he was running in New York, where you have to skew left.
That being said, most of his support is going to come from the left, I really don't seem him being able to spin the centrist crap on the national level... at least not enough to draw anyone in from the right.
But I like him.
So I'm emotionally torn.
I'm with you... I wish he were a viable candidate, I think he's great.
Unfortunately, I still think viable third-parties will only come about through a governmental revamping of the electoral process... which I doubt many democrats or republicans would be down for.