‘I’d Do Her’: Mike Bloomberg and the Underbelly of #MeToo

theatlantic.com ^ | SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 | Megan Garber

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Disparaging comments. Demeaning jokes. As the mogul reportedly considers a 2020 presidential run, it remains an open question whether his long-alleged history of undermining women will affect his chances.

If you find yourself seeking, in these turbulent times, evidence of steadiness among the chaos—proof that even as the seas rise and the winds whip and the world that was gives way to the world that will be, some things will remain the same—here is a fact that seems always to be true: Mike Bloomberg is considering a run for president.

The newest version of the old truth comes from an article published this week in The New York Times: The billionaire former mayor, the paper announces, validating the rumors, is again considering a presidential run—this time, however, as a Democrat. It would not be an easy candidacy. “Mr. Bloomberg,” the Times points out, “is plainly an uncomfortable match for a progressive coalition passionately animated by concern for economic inequality and the civil rights of women and minorities.” Indeed: In an interview with the paper, Bloomberg defends stop-and-frisk. And, voicing “doubt” about some of the revelations that have been made in the course of #MeToo, Bloomberg mentions as an example Charlie Rose, who had broadcast his show from a space in Bloomberg’s corporate offices. He declined to say, specifically, whether he believed the many allegations against Rose. “Let the court system decide,” the former mayor said.

What is not fully addressed in the Times article, however—and what is not fully explored in the many similar pieces that consider the current iteration of Mike Bloomberg’s presidential ambitions—is a series of stories about him, accumulated over decades, that suggests in the aggregate a distinct pattern when it comes to his treatment of women:

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https://twitter.com/LisaMei62/status/1192608239357218822

@LisaMei62

Bloomberg with Epstein pimp, Ghislaine Maxwell. Does he think running for President will shield him from exposure of his crimes?

[A_Former_Democrat]

I dislike mayor blooming idiot as much as anybody else but good Lord get a few paragraphs down and here’s this female author actually trying to make Christine Ford Blasey a victim.

I am so sick and tired of this PC victimhood.

[canuck_conservative]

Wow, the Atlantic is already doing a hit piece on Bloomberg, and he hasn’t even announced.

Guess the Deep State is really worried about ANY unapproved, outsider candidacy ...

[lee martell]

Who is the fresh faced younger lady to the left?
One of his daughters?

[Zhang Fei]

Oddly enough, the article makes Bloomberg sound like an ordinary guy instead of his impassive public persona:

[“Bloomberg’s Sexual Blind Spot” is how The Village Voice summed it up in 2001. “Anti-woman obnoxiousness,” Cord Jefferson, then at Gawker, called it in 2013. Part of that obnoxiousness involves the many reports related to what Bloomberg once told a reporter: “I like theater, dining, and chasing women.” (He elaborated: “Let me put it this way: I am a single, straight billionaire in Manhattan. What do you think? It’s a wet dream.”) In his 1997 autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, the mogul bragged about keeping “a girlfriend in every city” during his years working as a Wall Street stock trader in the 1960s and ’70s. He is reported to have said, of the computer terminal that made his fortune, “It will do everything, including give you [oral sex]. I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business.”

There’s more: Bloomberg reportedly saying to a journalist and the journalist’s friend, as he gazed at a woman at a holiday party, “Look at the ass on her.” (He denied having made that comment.) Bloomberg, according to a top aide, seeing attractive women and reflexively remarking, “Nice tits.” Bloomberg, mocking Christine Quinn, the then-speaker of New York’s City Council, for going too long between hair colorings. (“The couple of days a week before I need to get my hair colored,” Quinn once said, “he’ll say, ‘Do you pay a lot to make your hair be two colors? Because now it’s three with the gray.’”) Bloomberg mocking Quinn again, she said, for failing to wear heels at public events. (“I was at a parade with him once and he said, ‘What are those?’ and I said, ‘They’re comfortable,’ and he said, ‘I never want to hear those words out of your mouth again.’”) ]

[thinden]

Bloomberg with Epstein pimp, Ghislaine Maxwell. Does he think running for President will shield him from exposure of his crimes?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Running for office has worked as a great defense for the clintonistas for years

Suppose bloomberg will show up on any flight manifests for the lolita express???

(Video at 10?)

[Dogbert41]

It's shocking that he was referring to Helen Thomas.

[Zhang Fei]

[Bloomberg with Epstein pimp, Ghislaine Maxwell. Does he think running for President will shield him from exposure of his crimes? ]

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If you have proof that will withstand judicial scrutiny, you could single-handedly torpedo his candidacy and become a hero of the republic.

[Chode]

What Bloomberg reportedly did concede is that he had said of Garrison and other women, “I’d do her.” In making the concession, however, he insisted that he had believed that to “do” someone meant merely “to have a personal relationship” with them.

yeah, right...

[SteveH]

Bloomberg seems like an ultimate alpha male.

Apparently this is a criminal offense in the USA nowadays.

And do not tell me that some women do not make nasty sexual comments at mens’ expense. I have heard otherwise, from women (although mostly when the men are not around to hear).

[rbg81]

Exactly. He is guilty of being a straight Alpha male. He’d probably be an improvement over everyone running on the Dem side now. My big problem with him is that he loves the Nanny state.

[SteveH]

The reason alpha males make blatant sexual remarks at women’s expense is because they work so often.

There is therefore an incentive for alpha males to make such allegedly offensive remarks.

The incentive is that hott women dig alpha males and want to **** them.

So the proximate cause of alpha male behavior is women who encourage such behavior by ****ing alpha males who exhibit the behavior.

One would think one would not need to explain all of this to a woman, but after all, this woman is a journalist, and journalism is the major of choice for really stupid college students who would not be able to graduate with a real major. (Sorry if there are any journalism majors out there, but i am getting too lazy to sugarcoat my comments nowadays.) I guess the other possibility is that the author is not oblivious to all this, but that would mean she is a hypocrite and a ********. Oh well, I suppose stupid is the more charitable choice in this case.

[alstewartfan]

Absolutely false. More FAKE NEWS. Shame on you for spreading lies, Dogbert.

The hottie was Betty Friedan.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It’s sure a good thing that women never talk about men that way. Us men would get really upset if they looked at us as chunks of hot meat.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Most likely authoress Garber would love to get diddled by a billionaire, but is probably so ugly the billionaire wouldn’t give her a second glance.

[UCANSEE2]

Seems like a man who cares not about party, or principles, but only cares about power. Absolute power preferred.

[SteveH]

> Most likely authoress Garber would love to get diddled by a billionaire, but is probably so ugly the billionaire wouldn’t give her a second glance.

She certainly fits the profile. (...Although you did not actually read that comment coming from me, lol...)

[ChildOfThe60s]

I’ll bet if Bloomie had to spend the day at Walmart he’d be cured of saying “I’d do her” for good.

I would never say that because I’m a classier dude than Mikey. Me: “I wouldn’t kick her out of bed”