Free Republic

Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently complained to a Wall Street gathering that “the Republican Party is no longer the party of business.” He predicted that union members, not corporate executives, would be voting GOP this fall. This is a problem? Many union members vote Republican. They were the core of the “Reagan Democrats.” Working people need a growing economy with increasing opportunity. Of course they should vote GOP. Bloomberg’s remarks help explain the rise of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Average people increasingly believe the current system to be rigged against them. Washington is far...

<p>Donald J. Trump's reaction to the potential run of Michael R. Bloomberg in the presidential race was simple: Bring it on.</p> <p>"I would love to see Michael run -- I would love the competition," Mr. Trump said in a brief interview before a rally of several hundred people who lined up for hours to see him here.</p>

With polls showing a surge by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in early-voting states, billionaire Michael Bloomberg is weighing a presidential bid as an independent, third-party candidate, the New York Times reported Saturday. Bloomberg, the popular former mayor of New York City, has sent up trial balloons before. But this time he seems concerned enough about the rise of candidates on the fringes of both parties - and Hillary Clinton's weakness in Iowa and New Hampshire - to assemble advisers and set down plans. In fact, Bloomberg is reportedly even studying up on past third-party runs by H. Ross Perot...

So who’s waiting in the wings with a humongous bankroll and a proven history of enforcing the type of big-government policies the Democrat faithful love? Click to the next page to find out. …when that time finally comes, and the inevitable euthanasia of Hillary Clinton’s political ambitions finally materializes, it won’t be Sanders who benefits. Nor will the other Lilliputian Democrat hopefuls, like Jim Webb, Lincoln Chaffee or Martin O’Malley. It’s going to be Mike Bloomberg.

I’m a Democrat and I am very concerned about the upcoming presidential election. Our country’s ability to tackle all kinds of inequality—racial, gender, economic and the list goes on—largely hinges on the outcome of the 2016 election, and on whether or not Democrats prevail. I want to make clear that I don’t think all Republicans are completely misguided, just many of them, such as union-bashing Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and polarizing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and thuggish New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Moderates like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio—although too far to the right on many issues for me—at...

Jonathan Gruber seems to be giving the propagandists of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia a run for their money. In addition to bragging about hoodwinking the American public into believing that healthcare reform was actually about reforming healthcare, he has also called abortion a “social good” because it kills “marginal children” in poor communities. This gem of a human being, unsurprisingly, was also a vocal advocate for former Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s cigarette tax… Ya know, the $5.85 tax on each pack of smokes (which inevitably drives tobacco sales to the criminal, tax-evading, entrepreneurs like Eric Garner)? According to Breitbart.com:Michael Bloomberg, who is...

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that he will not be seeking a third-party run for the presidency because he does not want to be responsible for helping elect Ted Cruz or Donald Trump. There's been lots of talk about Bloomberg prepping for a third-party run if the Democrats nominated Bernie Sanders and the Republicans nominated either Cruz or Trump. But with Hillary Clinton looking more and more inevitable, Bloomberg apparently feels he doesn't have to step in as the savior anymore. He writes, "The current presidential candidates are offering scapegoats instead of solutions, and they are promising...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that he will not running for president in 2016. In a post on Bloomberg View on Monday, Bloomberg ended months of speculation that he would mount a third-party bid, saying his candidacy could inadvertently help elect Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz, both of whom he said were unpalatable options.

While leaving the station after my radio show Tuesday, the thought occurred to me that if Donald Trump is the nominee for the Republican Party and he loses the general election, it won't be his fault. It will be all the elitist, establishment Republicans who have dismissed and assaulted him since the beginning. It will be all the nasty commentary, the statements about how unelectable he is and it will have very little to do with the Democrats' actions or Trump himself. It will be the result of collateral damage from a nasty primary election; he'll have some guilt in...

Anyone trying to understand why Donald Trump always has thought New Hampshire would be friendlier to him than Iowa should put aside the polls for a moment and focus on what each state's Republican voters are putting on their Spotify playlists. According to data for the week ending Feb. 1, Iowa Republicans can't stop listening to "This Is Amazing Grace" by Christian rocker Phil Wickham, which opens with the verse: "Who breaks the power of sin and darkness/Whose love is mighty and so much stronger/The King of Glory, the King above all kings." Republicans in New Hampshire, meanwhile, prefer "Idle...

Ignore her, Mr. Mayor! Run! For months, we’ve been hearing rumblings that Michael Bloomberg was considering a third party run in 2016. So far, nothing’s materialized but, thanks to a “splintered” Democrat base, the rumors never really died down. In fact, they’ve grown even louder on the heels of Hillary’s New Hampshire defeat. The thinking on the left is that, if she can’t beat the socialist crypt-keeper, she has no chance against an energetic GOP. That may or may not be true, but it’s causing the former New York City Mayor to rattle the third-party saber - and the DNC...

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, confirmed on Monday that he is actively considering running for president as an independent. In a dramatic interview, the 73-year-old said he was 'looking at all the options' and expressed disgust at the current state of the White House race. Bloomberg would be the richest candidate in American political history with a fortune of $36 billion, dwarfing the resources of Republican Donald Trump and enabling him to self-fund a campaign many times over.

Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla The Florida open carry bill has moved out of Committee in the Florida House.  It will likely be voted on by the full House in the next few weeks.  From cbslocal.com: TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - A bill that would allow Florida gun owners to openly carry their weapons is headed to a full vote. The bill cleared a committee vote 12 to 4 on Thursday.The next step will be a full vote by the Florida House in the next few weeks.The difficulty lies in the Senate, where Senator Portilla is Chair of the Judiciary Committee...

Virgin America CEO David Cush stunned a San Francisco audience Wednesday night when he responded to a short, but controversial, question: "Trump or Hillary?" Essentially, the question was posed in the spirit of a lightning round asking him which candidate he thought would win a prospective Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton presidential race. That followed a prior question on which team he expects will win the Super Bowl. Like a pitcher hoping to get out of a tight situation with a curve ball, Cush first avoided the question: "What's that? OK. I'm looking for the exit." That sparked laughter from...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now threatening to enter the presidential race and spend $1 billion of his vast fortune. Bloomberg spent 12 years as Mayor and obviously misses the media limelight. Although he is two weeks' shy of his 74th birthday, Bloomberg is obviously not interested in retirement. He was originally registered as a Democrat, then became a "liberal Republican," before settling in as a so-called Independent. He is under the delusion that he can appeal to centrist voters disgusted with the two party system. In reality, Bloomberg is a hard core leftist who would severely...

President Obama on Wednesday met with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ally of the White House on gun control. The meeting, which was not on the president's public schedule, comes as he is weighing new executive action on guns in response to a series of mass shootings that have marred his presidency. Obama huddled with Bloomberg "as part of the administration's continuing push to address gun violence in America," the White House said in a statement. "The two discussed ways to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have access to them...

A top editor at Michael Bloomberg's media empire has left the company, citing concerns over how it will cover the former New York City mayor's presidential aspirations.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking a look at the 2016 presidential landscape, and putting the pieces in place for a possible presidential run, sources close to Bloomberg said.

Galled by Donald J. Trump's dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton's stumbles and the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side, Michael R. Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for an independent campaign in this year's presidential race. Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has in the past contemplated running for the White House on a third-party ticket, but always concluded he could not win. A confluence of unlikely events in the 2016 election, however, has given new impetus to his presidential aspirations. Mr. Bloomberg, 73,...

...Michael Bloomberg...trashed two top-tier Republican presidential candidates in a CNN interview airing Friday.After dismissing "right-wing crazies" who reject mainstream climate science, Bloomberg was asked by CNN's Christiane Amanpour what he made of the GOP field...."There's one of them who was a surgeon, unfortunately at Johns Hopkins, who doesn't believe in science," Bloomberg said. "Somebody said that's like a business executive that doesn't believe in profits."Bloomberg then said that Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had said some of the "stupidest" things about climate change despite his intellect. He noted that Cruz's intelligence had been praised by Alan Dershowitz, a prominent US...