Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent part of Wednesday’s debate apologizing for his past policies, but it wasn’t long ago that he was mocking Democrats for being overly apologetic.
Bloomberg said he was “embarrassed” during the debate for how his so-called stop-and-frisk policies turned out. The billionaire’s apology came months after he explained at a forum in 2019 why he would not run for president, namely because it would require him to be effusively apologetic.
Bloomberg eventually changed his mind and announced his intention to run for president in November 2019.
“I’ve sat, I’ve apologized, I’ve asked for forgiveness. But the bottom line that is we stopped too many people, but the policy — we stopped too many people, and we’ve got to make sure that we do something about criminal justice in this country,” Bloomberg said at Wednesday’s debate in Nevada.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a business leader breakfast at the The St. Regis Beijing hotel on December 5, 2013 in Beijing, China. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is on an official visit to China from December 4 to 5. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
He was singing a different tune in March 2019 while speaking at a Bermuda Executive Forum in New York. One of the prerequisites for running in 2020 is the need to go on an apology tour, he said at the time.
Bloomberg cited former Vice President Joe Biden and former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke as examples of politicians willing to prostrate themselves.
“Joe Biden went out and apologized for being male, over 50, white, and he apologized for the one good piece of legislation that is an anti-crime bill,” the former mayor said at the time, referring to a crime bill Biden helped pass in the 1990s.
WATCH:
Competition + age. Among other things.
Michael Bloomberg explains why he’s not running for President in one of his first public speaking engagements since making the announcement. #TheBreakdown #Bermuda #Bermudaisdifferent #MichaelBloomberg #ExecutiveForum @ZBMNews9 #NYC pic.twitter.com/1v3o0slbrQ
— Toni Waterman (@ToniWaterman_) March 21, 2019
He then turned his fire on O’Rourke, who the former mayor described as too wet behind the ears. (RELATED: ‘He’s Apologized For Being Born’: Bloomberg Takes On Beto’s Unusual Campaign Approach)
“Beto, whatever his name is. He’s apologized for being born,” Bloomberg said to laughs from the audience.
WATCH:
He also suggested that his age, 77 at the time of the forum, was the main reason for not announcing a White House bid despite running the idea for months. Biden’s recent slip in the polls and Bloomberg’s ability to canvass the airwaves with ads has helped him.
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