“I’m afraid of Bloomberg and Bloomberg only. He is the only one that is not a socialist, has experience, and is double-barrel loaded,” said a Republican operative based in the Heartland." --story yesterday in the Washington Examiner
Why is Bloomberg the only one this Repug operative fears?
--He's the key person in the gun control movement, having founded Everytown for Safety and backed many gun control candidates
--He's big-time involved in fighting climate change, having recently ponied up half a billion dollars to shut down the remaining coal-fired power plants in the U.S.
--His top priority is income inequality.
--His civil rights record is strong, and he's backed by dozens of African American legislators and leaders, including his campaign co-chair, ex-Black Panther and current Congressman Bobby Rush.
But, most importantly for the Repug machine, he will use his massive fortune to blast them out of the water.
Biden, Mayor Pete, Klobuchar, Warren: nice and decent people, decent politics, but their campaigns will be outspent by at least 300-500%, and that's just the Trump machine we can see. The Russians and other foreign efforts will increase that advantage massively. Trump's organization has built a huge Disinformation Machine, targeted at social media, that will make 2016 seem like a walk in the park.
I originally wanted Harris, but she's out, and then Warren, but she's toast.
Bernie? He's definitely moved the Overton Window left, which is great, and I wish things were different, but it's obvious: he will be an utter disaster. Within a week of his being nominated, he will be branded a Communist and tied to the Soviet Union and Castro -- partly b/c there is video of him praising those countries' systems. A tiny sliver of the voters will know he means Finland's socialism, not Stalin's. His organization is no match for Trump's and Russia's. He hasn't gotten much of a youth vote boost in Iowa or New Hampshire, so forget about a massive outpouring of young voters. Sanders as the nominee will mean not only four more years of Trump and possibly losing more seats in the Senate, but probably loss of the House. And branding of the Democrats for years as Communists/Socialists.
In other words, goodbye democracy.
Maybe in 20 or 30 years, when those now under 30 years old are 50 and 60, a self-proclaimed Socialist can win, when they're not up against the biggest and most corrupt right-wing American machine in history. But not now. There is no question that Bernie is a major, extinction-level disaster.
The only question is who can win against the Trump juggernaut. A Bloomberg-Stacey Abrams or a Bloomberg-Kamala Harris ticket would be awesome, and is the likely combo if Bloomberg is the nominee. Either of that ticket will take the momentum we've been building and probably win the Senate, increase the house, and blast a tidal wave as they win the White House.
And only Bloomberg can match and beat the resources and organization thrown against us. Yes, it totally sucks that we're reliant on a billionaire, but, until the election finance laws are fixed -- a priority for Bloomberg -- we have to bring a F-15 to the gun fight. And only Bloomberg can.