Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013

Climate change game change: Bloomberg endorses Obama

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106 comments

Climate change game change: Bloomberg endorses Obama

POSTED: Thursday, November 1, 2012, 4:30 PM

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.

Will Bunch @ 4:30 PM  Permalink | 106 comments
106 comments
Comments  (106)
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:23 AM, 11/02/2012
    Watching the fiasco in Staten Island on CNN ( Anderson Cooper) not exactly right wing T.V.. They dropped the ball big time. As I said earlier this may bite Obama in the Arse big time by Sunday if things don't get better soon.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:40 PM, 11/02/2012
    right wing fantasy. hopefully people will suffer and mitt can win even though his policies stink.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:07 AM, 11/02/2012
    doesn't the left like it like this? i mean how much of a carbon footprint are these people without power leaving?
    rysagr
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:43 PM, 11/02/2012
    may you live long and suffer horrible from the future that you mocked. child.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:14 AM, 11/02/2012
    Nobody having anything is the ultimate level playing field, the paragon of fairness, the goal of a leftist society.
    Thanks Barack!
    Mr. Smith
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:18 AM, 11/02/2012
    Thanks for the heads up, Murray. I can't even watch Hannity for the 2 minutes you did, but atleast I know what to expect from the right wing bobbleheads today. I did, however, watch the first few minutes of Bret Baier last night. He spent a few minutes talking about Romney's "momentum", showed some new Rasmussen polls, took a moment to comment on Obama's jacket and then segued into the "scandal" surrounding Benghazi. It was an eye-opening experience into the alternative reality that our conservative friends live in...
    wokmaster
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:42 AM, 11/02/2012
    Wok, was that the first time you had heard about Benghazi?
    Mr. Smith
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:56 AM, 11/02/2012
    No, I've heard it many times from the lunatic fringe of the right wing. It was just interesting to see how Fox manipulates it's viewers. I don't watch MSNBC much for that very reason. I'm sure there are lots of liberals who feel the way I do. We would rather read about the facts or watch something like CSPAN and make up our own mind. Maybe that's why Fox has such high ratings. It's viewers like their thinking done from them - and they like the "news" to fit their views. When will you start referring to the hurricane as "Obama's Katrina"?
    wokmaster
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:05 AM, 11/02/2012
    No, Wok, I don't think Obama caused Hurricane Sandy like you BDS leftists claimed Bush caused Katrina.
    And I don't think it matters what Obama does, other than underwriting the cash to give to Christie to manage. Cash that Bush's FEMA was all too willing to give out to Katrina victims.

    I don't think Obama's sequestration decimating FEMA on January 1 will impact the Sandy funds, either.

    It's going to come down to state/local leaders to lead the recovery, as they can better prioritize the needs of their communities.
    Mr. Smith
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:11 AM, 11/02/2012
    Are you with Limbaugh? He thinks that Christie was showing "man love" to the President.
    wokmaster
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:28 AM, 11/02/2012
    And don't give me this cram that liberals blamed the actual hurricane on Bush. They roasted him for appointing an incompetent hack like "Brownie" as head of FEMA. After the city was flooded, and it was clear that the situation was deteriorating, Bush told him he was "doing a heckuva job". Get your facts straight.
    wokmaster
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:50 PM, 11/02/2012
    category 3 heading toward New Orleans and Bush stayed on vacation and didn't move for days after the disaster. there is no comparison except they were both presidents and both had hurricanes. the right are seriously destroying this country if this is where we are at. start the civil war already.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:32 AM, 11/02/2012
    I think Christie was focused on stroking Obama's famous ego to get the coin flowing for Christie's constituents. I don't think he was focused on the electoral impacts.
    Mr. Smith
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:34 AM, 11/02/2012
    Who do you think did a worse job in Katrina, President Bush, or Ray Nagin? Who should be responsible for recovery?
    Mr. Smith
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:59 PM, 11/02/2012
    the federal government because we are a country. no matter how much you deny it. also we have a black president so you lost the culture war. tea party needs to join the 21st century. know this tea party- you have the left's attention. your actions were the worst thing for your cause(abortion) should have let a sleeping dog lie, because now you are in a fight against the future and you will lose. bye bye bachmann and walsh and alan keyes and murdoch and akins and scott brown and McMahon and the whole backwards bunch who thought you could steal the country back. you can't so move.


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About this blog
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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