To borrow a phrase from Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren beat Michael Bloomberg like a drum at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate.
He was the debate’s biggest loser, and the evening showed that he is way out of his league. The former New York City mayor was dry, out of touch, and boring. With his feet held to the fire by the other Democratic candidates, namely Warren, Bloomberg seemed like a lost puppy looking for his owner. He wasn’t sure of himself, and his inadequate responses on serious issues show that although money can buy thousands of advertisements, it clearly can’t buy you a good debate performance.
In a shot heard around the world, Warren eviscerated Bloomberg when she said: “We’re running against a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Michael Bloomberg.” It was a powerful punch that knocked Bloomberg off his game. He didn’t really recover the rest of the night.
From allegedly calling women “fat broads,” telling pregnant employees to “kill it,” and using NDAs to silence women who would speak them out, @MikeBloomberg‘s record of sexism is appalling.
Rarely agree w/ her, but kudos to @ewarren for calling it out.https://t.co/bCfvNNkAYH
— Brad Polumbo (@brad_polumbo) February 20, 2020
Bloomberg has spent more than $350 million to move up in the polls. But after this debate performance, what does he have to show for it?
Just that he isn’t the strong, capable fighter that Democrats are looking for to compete against President Trump. I’m willing to bet that many Democrats who had backed Bloomberg will return back to Biden after the mayor’s nightmare debate performance. Though Biden isn’t a perfect candidate, this debate showed that he is still a warrior who is willing to fight for the things he believes in and cares about. Bloomberg, meanwhile, didn’t meet that standard.
Bloomberg foolishly believes that spending massive amounts of money will protect him, but it won’t. It won’t stop the questions about his past. Money and advertisements won’t make enough people turn their eyes from Bloomberg’s extremely troubling history.
A winning campaign is not just about running advertisements — you also have to answer tough questions well. But when your record is as bad as Bloomberg’s, it’s hard to see how that’s even possible.
At the debate, Bloomberg couldn’t properly answer questions about stop and frisk, redlining, allegations of sexist behavior, and criticisms of his use of nondisclosure agreements. His responses were all awful and inadequate. Bloomberg’s faults are so disqualifying that it seems nonsensical for anyone to support him at this point. He’s a train wreck, and Wednesday night, it showed.
The debate proved that Bloomberg isn’t charismatic, isn’t any good at retail politics, and can’t connect with voters on a basic level. Sure, he’s a great manager and highly successful businessman, but none of those skills can transform the mayor into someone voters would actually like to see as president. Bloomberg is learning the hard way that money can’t buy everything — especially a presidential election.
Shermichael Singleton (@Shermichael_) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a Republican strategist and political analyst regularly appearing on MSNBC.
