Oh Bloomie!!!
It appears that Old Crazy Uncle Joe Biden isn’t the only gaffe prone presidential hopeful.
During his at-times-tense interview with Gayle King for CBS This Morning, Michael Bloomberg referred to fellow Democratic candidate Cory Booker as “well spoken.”
The billionaire, who served as New York City’s mayor for an unprecedented three terms, said he and the former Newark mayor-turned-New Jersey senator mutually “endorsed” one another in the past.
“He’s very well-spoken. He’s got some good ideas. It would be better the more diverse any group is,” Bloomberg responded to a question about how December’s upcoming Democratic primary debate is expected to feature only white candidates.
Citing a lack of funding, California Senator Kamala Harris—the only black woman in the 2020 race—suspended her promising presidential campaign on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Booker said it was concerning that a black female candidate didn’t have the resources to compete when the Democratic Party “is significantly empowered by black women voters.”
And if Booker and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro don’t come up with enough coin, there will be a total lack of diversity in the Democratic field.
Well, that’s as far as people of other colors than white are concerned.
When Booker was probed about Bloomberg’s off-color remark, he was “taken aback by it” and that the media titan played into a tired trope about African Americans.
“It’s sort of stunning at times that we are still revisiting these sort of tired, you know, tropes or the language we have out there that folks I don’t think understand. And the fact that they don’t understand is problematic,” Booker told Signal Boost on SiriusXM.
Bloomberg quickly fessed up to the mea culpa—something he’s been developing a penchant for lately.
(Some are still waiting for him to own up to how he screwed over the Exonerated 5. But that’s another talk show topic.)
“I probably shouldn’t have used the word,” Bloomberg told a gaggle of reporters during a campaign event in Georgia on Friday.
Of course, he had another black man in tow. (Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis did the honors, this go-round.)
“But I can just tell you he is a friend of mine, and he is a Rhodes Scholar, which is much more impressive than my academic background. I envy him, and he can certainly speak for himself.”
Envy?
According to Business Insider, Bloomberg is worth nearly $55 billion.
Oh. Okay. Sure.