Climate change game change: Bloomberg endorses Obama
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Climate change game change: Bloomberg endorses Obama
With each passing hour, it's looking more and more like Hurricane Sandy is the Cuban Missle Crisis of climate change -- and a political moment we'll long remember.
Much like Gov. Christie's post-storm embrace of President Obama, there's reasons to be cynical about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (and plenty of reasons to dislike him) but this is a stunning turn of events however you look at it:
In a surprise announcement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Thursday that Hurricane Sandy had reshaped his thinking about the presidential campaign and that as a result he was endorsing President Obama.
Mr. Bloomberg, a political independent in his third term leading New York City, has been sharply critical of both Mr. Obama, a Democrat, and Mitt Romney, the president’s Republican rival, saying that both men have failed to candidly confront the problems afflicting the nation. But he said he had decided over the past several days that Mr. Obama was the best candidate to tackle the global climate change that the mayor believes contributed to the violent storm, which took the lives of at least 38 New Yorkers and caused billions of dollars in damage.
“The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of next Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief,” Mr. Bloomberg wrote in an editorial for Bloomberg View.
“Our climate is changing,” he wrote. “And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it may be — given the devastation it is wreaking — should be enough to compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.”
The other interesting thing, and a sharp twist of the political knife to Mitt Romney's back, is that Bloomberg said he could have endorsed '03 Romney. Probably a lot of folks could have -- more proof that the Tea Party and talk radio may have destroyed the Grand Old Party for a long, long time.
- The last grasp for straws. After Christie called the president "GREAT", the writing is on the wall. Besides even before Sandy, Obama was bouncing back from the FIRST debate.
Ya'know Christie called the first debate. I suspect that now he is calling the next election.
— Cuddles 
Man - the way that Republicans are turning on Christie for actually paying Obama a compliment is ugly.
— Talking point sleuth- Rush Limbaugh was squealing LOUD! Which means it really hurt... — carl and sons
When NYC starts putting up levees like New Orleans (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/nyc-sea-barrier-could-have-stopped-surge_n_2057981.html) then I wonder what the climate-change deniers will say?- Money quote from Bloomberg:
When I step into the voting booth, I think about the world I want to leave my two daughters, and the values that are required to guide us there. The two parties’ nominees for president offer different visions of where they want to lead America. One believes a woman’s right to choose should be protected for future generations; one does not. That difference, given the likelihood of Supreme Court vacancies, weighs heavily on my decision. One recognizes marriage equality as consistent with America’s march of freedom; one does not. I want our president to be on the right side of history. One sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not. I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine - Nannies for the Nanny State.
Doesn't play well in "Oiho."— Mr. Smith - Romney in Ohio at his storm relief event (changed at the last minute from "victory rally":
“We’re going to box these things up in just a minute and put them on some trucks, and then we’re going to send them into, I think it’s New Jersey."
He thinks it's New Jersey.
The canned goods were bought at Wal-Mart by Romney staffers, to make it look like they had received donations. Phony charity, just like Ryan's soup kitchen stop a couple of weeks ago.
How does that play in Ohio?
— carl and sons - Lying about the auto industry (after advocating to let them go bankrupt).
Doesn't play well in Ohio.
— Talking point sleuth - I like Bloomberg for his independence...great article about him in this month's Atlantic. However, he is all for a nanny state, and that is what I dislike about him. He would be better off not supporting any candidate, but since he is going for a third term as mayor (if he can get away with it), he will support Obama since his voting base will support Obama.— FletcherT
- Hail Obama! Hail Obama! Hail Obama!— bill a,tkins
- Did you figure out how to use a car charger yet? lolz...... — The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine
- Poor atkins. Can somebody get this guy some seroquel? He knows it's over. Such a letdown after Romney's temporary surge from the first debate.
— wokmaster - "All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for fearless leader," declared Grover Norquist at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February. Norquist, who has promulgated a no-tax-increase pledge that has been signed by 238 Republicans in the House and 41 in the Senate, went on: "We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go.... We just need a president to sign this stuff....Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen.... His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared."
Do you think Mr. Romney could be any "Republican with enough working digits" (that is the President) to sign the legislation already prepared by Mr. Norquist?
— EIK - Tonight on the Levin show many a caller suggest Christie was a 'tra1tor' for his dealings with Obama. Think of that for a second. UAW files an ethics complaint against Romney. It doesn't seem to hold much water, but the UAW contends that investors into Adelphia then used their leverage to gain favorable increased pricing in their dealings with GM. They also state that profits gained by Romney were not disclosed.— Murrayman
- Well here we go. Hannity on Fox, within the first two minutes of his show, has suggested that the situation in NYC is looking like "Obama's Katrina". Right wing media is capturing the rightful anger of the Staten Island residents and then suggesting that FEMA is not on site. They actually are on site, as I type this.— Murrayman
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