Is Michael Bloomberg the republican who could beat either Hillary or Bernie? Personally, I hope that he will not become a factor in the race because I want Bernie. Nevertheless, perhaps we should not totally ignore the former mayor of New York City. Rationale below the orange berniedoodle.
On January 23rd Michael Bloomberg announced that he was thinking about entering the presidential race as an independent candidate. How long do you think it took the mainstream republican establishment to conclude that he would be their dream candidate -- if only he weren’t Jewish, pro-gun control, and sane on the topic of abortion? Their thinking might be that since you can’t always get what you want, get what you need: a candidate who is not an embarrassment to the party and who might actually be able to beat whichever democrat he faced in the general election.
Bloomberg is a moderate centrist, and that may become the flavor that a majority of voters will welcome after the sort of bizarre primaries we are seeing this year. Here are some excerpts from his Wikipedia page:
Some of the policies Bloomberg advocates parallel those of either the Democratic or the Republican party platform. He is socially liberal or progressive, supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, strict gun control measures, and citizenship for illegal immigrants, for example. On economics, foreign, and domestic issues, Bloomberg tends to be conservative.
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Environmentally, he believes man-made climate change is real.
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He has stated that he smoked marijuana in the past, and was quoted in a 2001 interview as saying "You bet I did. I enjoyed it."
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He opposes the death penalty
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Bloomberg has expressed concern about poverty and growing class divisions stating, "This society cannot go forward, the way we have been going forward, where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing."
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Bloomberg has consistently pushed for transitioning the United States’ energy mix from fossil fuels to clean energy.
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"I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker."
In addition, he is wicked smaht ;-)
He could make a very attractive candidate indeed. The question is whether the RNC tries to figure out a way to cut a deal with him so that he runs as the republican standard-bearer. If so, the Overton Window could make a large move in a short amount of time. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016 · 7:01:07 AM +00:00
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patg
UPDATE: In light of what some of the commenters have written, let me clarify that I am not talking about Bloomberg running as an independent or third party candidate. IMHO he is too intelligent and too politically sophisticated for that. Rather, it is about him running as the official candidate of the republican party – if the RNC can figure out how to deny the nomination to Trump and the rest of the clown car. Someone who knows more than I do about the mechanics of nominating may have ideas about this.