A billionaire media mogul looks at a billionaire mayor and says "What's not to like?"
And, so, Rupert Murdoch has endorsed Michael Bloomberg for a third term as mayor of New York City. Or, rather, the Brooklyn Paper and the Community Newspaper Group have endorsed Bloomberg, which is pretty much saying the same thing, as Murdoch runs both entities. Both puppet organizations came out with mealy-mouthed paeans to our criminally inclined, richest citizen this week, accompanied by an awful picture of Bloomberg smiling (ugh!) And to show you exactly how independently minded those two bodies are, it's the exact same endorsement!
The endorsement skated over the main reason people oppose Bloomberg for a third term—because he's running for a third term!
Granted, Mayor Bloomberg’s quest for a third term has not been the prettiest thing to watch. First, the billionaire mayor, a former Democrat, renounced his Republican Party affiliation during a flirtation with the presidency in 2008 as an independent.
Then, when faced with the obstacle of New York City’s two-term limit, he spent a considerable sum of money to overturn the inconvenient law.
For many voters, that disqualifies Bloomberg from further service.
But for us, it is but a blemish on an otherwise stellar record.
They should have stopped that passage before the last sentence.
And it rolls out this continuing fiction:
And best of all, he’s not a politician.
Indeed, critics complain that the mayor’s personal fortune is bank-rolling his re-election and silencing democracy, but it is that wealth that frees Bloomberg from the affliction of so many other popularity-craving, poll-watching politicians. He can truly answer to the people of New York because he doesn’t need to answer to anyone else.
Jesus. A popularity-craving, poll-watching politician is just what Bloomberg is. He's pure politician from top of his diminutive frame to his well-shod toes. Anyone who doesn't realize that is a fool or a willful toady.
Well-informed people that I talk to have stopped reading any political reported done by these publications. I suggest you do the same.
When people complain about other people not paying attention to the news, I point out to them that we've gotten to the point in this country that if you watch TV newscasts or read most newspapers (what most people think of as news), you wind up as less informed.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually enough people have caught on to the extent that the audience for these things is shrinking.