By the time it was over, Bloomberg was reeling — and Sanders was still standing.
Leading the attack against the former mayor was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who just moments into the debate referred to him as an arrogant billionaire “who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’” Later, in the most memorable exchange of the night, she eviscerated him over allegations of sexual harassment at his company, Bloomberg L.P., and mocked his explanation.
“I hope you heard what his defense was: ‘I’ve been nice to some women,’” she said. “That just doesn’t cut it. The mayor has to stand on his record, and what we need to know is exactly what’s lurking out there. He has gotten some number of women — dozens, who knows? — to sign nondisclosure agreements, both for sexual harassment and for gender discrimination in the workplace.”
When Warren pressed Bloomberg to release those women from the agreements, Bloomberg said, “None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told.” The audience gasped. “These are agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet, and that’s up to them,” he continued. “They signed those agreements and we’ll live with it.”
Warren wouldn’t let up, asking Bloomberg how many such agreements there were and again pressing him to release the women who signed them. She closed her case by arguing that the matter was “not just a question of the mayor’s character” but a question of electability. “We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who-knows-how-many nondisclosure agreements and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against,” she said. “That’s not what we do as Democrats.”
Bloomberg never quite recovered from the dressing down.
Though Warren, former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) appeared more interested in battling Bloomberg, former mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., kept his eye on Sanders. The two led the pack in Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this month and are leading in the delegate count.
Calling Sanders and Bloomberg “the two most polarizing figures on this stage,” Buttigieg described the former as “a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil” and the latter as “a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power.” Referring to their democratic socialist and Republican roots, respectively, he said, “Let’s put forward somebody who’s actually a Democrat.”
Buttigieg also criticized Sanders for failing to rein in overzealous supporters on social media, and he questioned whether the senator had disclosed enough about his physical health after suffering a heart attack last fall. “Transparency matters,” Buttigieg said.
Sanders argued that he had sufficiently addressed the matter by releasing several letters from physicians who had treated him — and attempted to deflect it by raising Bloomberg’s own health history. “I think the one area, maybe, that Mayor Bloomberg and I share: You have two stents, as well,” Sanders said.
“Twenty-five years ago,” Bloomberg responded.
“Well, we both have two stents. It’s a procedure that is done about a million times a year,” Sanders said, adding, “Hey, follow me around the campaign trail three, four, five events a day. See how you’re doing compared to me.”
Sanders and Bloomberg showed little affection for one another throughout the night. At the start of the night, Sanders said that Bloomberg’s support for stop-and-frisk policing during his tenure as mayor would dissuade African Americans and Latinos from voting in the general election if he won the nomination. “That is not a way you’re going to grow voter turnout,” Sanders said.
Bloomberg responded by blasting Sanders’ own electability. “I don’t think there’s any chance of the senator beating President [Donald] Trump,” he said. Later, Bloomberg suggested that Sanders’ worldview was akin to communism, which the senator called a “cheap shot.” The former mayor really seemed to get under Sanders’ skin when he raised the senator’s own wealth.
“What a wonderful country we have!” Bloomberg said. “The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?”
“Well, you missed that I work in Washington,” Sanders responded. “House one.”
“That’s the first problem,” Bloomberg interjected.
“Live in Burlington,” Sanders continued. “House two.”
“That’s good,” Bloomberg said.
“And like thousands of other Vermonters, I do have a summer camp. Forgive me for that,” Sanders concluded. “Where is your home? Which tax haven do you have your home?”
“New York City, thank you very much,” Bloomberg said. “And I pay all my taxes, and I’m happy to do it because I get something for it.”
Perhaps foreshadowing the possibility that no candidate wins an outright majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, moderator Chuck Todd asked each whether they would support the candidate who won a plurality. One by one, each of Sanders’ opponents declined to commit to doing so.
Sanders, who is expected to take a wide lead in the delegate count next month on Super Tuesday, stood apart from the crowd. “I think that the will of the people should prevail,” he said.
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That Dem debate will make a great campaign add for President Trump’s second term.
Even Bill Barr doesn’t like Trump… BILL FREAKIN’ BARR!!!
The picture at the top of this story says it all.
A sad group of privileged, angry sourpusses who fail to inspire outside of their niche.
“And like thousands of other Vermonters, I do have a summer camp. Forgive me for that,” Sanders concluded.
Except only a few hundred have camps on Lake Champlain, even fewer with a private island. That’s for the millionaire class.
this was like watching a funeral…NOT A BERNIE MAN ( unless forced to- i mean I’d vote for the Burl mayor to get trump out of office) but biden and bloomberg were dreadful…I love Pete( the smartest kid in the room ) love Liz and love amy but doubt if they can win…….ARE WE DOOMED TO 4 MORE YEARS WITH THE ORANGE HITLER?
Hmmm…a self-described democratic socialist with 3 homes, including a little lakeside “camp” that’s worth north of 2x the median U.S. house… “just like thousands of other Vermonters”
Sounds like he is very in touch with the average American…
Bloomberg was a freaking idiot! He acted like he didn’t know what to say… He should quit while he’s ahead and nobody in their right mind would vote for him except maybe for a few of his billionaire friends!
Bernie did excellently articulating that we currently have socialism for the Uber wealth, giving foodstamps to walmart employees and subsidies to the fossil fuel companies. I thought he did quite well. What I am yearning to hear: The boondoggle of military spending could be translated into payment for healthcare for all, and I wish I could be grateful for hearing his plan to institute a public bank in every state, and means to circulate enough money so that the artificial shortage of money ( as designed by the uber wealthy) becomes a thing of the past.
Why does Bernie even need a home in Washington — where he never works and never is? Since he started his perpetual presidential ego trip in 2015 he hasn’t spent more than a few hours in DC, where, by the way, Vermonters elected him to be and pay him to be. So why does he need a house there? For the few hours a year he’s actually there he can just stay in a hotel or AirBnB. Oh, wait, I know why he maintains a third house: it’s because that’s what multi “millyunayuhs” do.
It is funny to watch the Wall Streeters of the DNC in full panic “Stop Bernie” mode. Their shills on MSNBC are stammering about communism ( Chris Matthews in particular). Most of the talking heads there are Neo-liberals or outright Republicans like Nicole Wallace ,AB Stoddard, and many of the military/intelligence community “expert” pundits and guests who also sit on boards of corporations that profit from military/intelligence government contracts.
So, take a breath, all of you Neo-liberal flunkies, Bernie will never get the nomination. DNC chair Tom Perez will see to it. They would rather see a former Republican like Mike Bloomberg win or even Donald Trump. This is the same thing the Democratic Party did to George McGovern back in 1972. The DNC preferred to scuttle McGovern’s campaign and support Nixon then to lose control of the party apparatus . Which is why the Democrats are the party of inauthentic opposition to the depraved, gluttonous, fascist Republicans.
Excellent article, especially when one adds Emily Peyton’s observation that Sanders did well “articulating that we currently have socialism for the Uber wealthy…” while the poor suffer. I also agree that the “boondoggle of military spending could be translated into payment for healthcare for all” and other social programs …. leveling the playing field (as they say). No one should be a multi-billionaire while others can barely subsist, hardly meeting their basic needs.
I’ve got to say that it does nothing constructive to point out that Sanders is a millionaire when he’s spent his entire life advocating for social and economic justice. As long as we live in a capitalist economy that is skewed towards (mostly) white men (and those married to them) with a certain drive and skill set, we will have an imbalance of wealth. That Sanders uses his economic advantage to help others is commendable and part of why he is so popular. That his record is so consistent in striving for justice, reaching out to people of all kinds with compassion and clarity about their struggles, accounts for much of the rest of it. This is the case over the 60+ decades of his adult life.
Nobody is perfect. There’s always going to be something that public relations campaigns and general nastiness can use to try to take down a candidate.–especially is there’s nothing of real substance to discuss. And that, to me, is sheer ugliness. Let’s try to stick with policies, okay?
I agree Renée 👍
Funny how many people think that his having 3 houses make him ineligible to speak for poor people. It doesn’t. If you write a best-seller, as he did, you might have a summer house too!
Instead of having 3 freakin houses, Elmer Gantry Sanders could have donated the price of one of his two houses in Vermont to the poor, whom he claims to care about.
What’s this hypocrite’s carbon footprint when he’s powering 3 homes and constantly jetting around the country, anyway?
Guys who defend Bernie’s wealth cuz he wrote a best-seller, i.e., cuz Bernie’s a successful capitalist, have no business criticizing Bloomberg for his wealth.
Eventually we’ll be reading about Bernie’s condo at The Dakota on Central Park West (4th house) and his house in Hollywood next door to Barbara Streisand (5th house). And even then his cultists will be defending him.
Hey Dr. Know, you are a master of those diatribes.
As Ty Cobb said, it’s ten times easier to play the offensive than to play the defensive.
Elizabeth Warren’s suggestion that women at Michael Bloomberg’s company should be released from their non-disclosure agreements shows her inexperience with how things work in the real world. An NDA is commonly used to protect a company’s trade secrets and is also used to protect individuals after a dispute over inappropriate workplace behavior has been settled. The party that filed the complaint often receives a cash settlement as compensation. The amount is negotiated by lawyers representing the parties involved. By signing an NDA, the claimant is saying that they are satisfied with the compensation they received and that they will not seek further recourse or discuss the details of the claim in the future with anyone. It makes no sense to reopen those wounds after a mutually agreed settlement has been reached and money has been paid.
I’d like to see Sanders explain why his home state is 48th in the country for drinking water quality, and – undoubtedly related – among the worst when it comes to public corruption. Not to mention the state’s dismal lack of public support for higher education, crumbling infrastructure, and committed opposition to government transparency.
Warren is the only serious candidate in the race; all the same progressive ideals as Bernie, but with the knowledge and intellectual agility to turn progressive ideals into practical, effective policy.