Michael Bloomberg gets pretty creative trying to talk his way out of responsibility for his 2015 stop-and-frisk comments

Michael Bloomberg’s hanging out in Tennessee today, trying to court Democratic voters with his small-town ways:

Bloomberg just took questions in Tennessee. Not pictured: another huge flag off to the side pic.twitter.com/4DRoXS6UZD

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) February 12, 2020

Naturally, the topic of Bloomberg’s highly problematic comments regarding stop-and-frisk came up.

Bloomberg was asked more than once about his 2015 Aspen Institute remarks on stop-and-frisk in "minority neighborhoods." He said "I don’t think those words reflect how I led the most diverse city in the nation and I apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused."

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) February 12, 2020

MB was asked why he said the Aspen comments, and said "It was 5 yrs ago…it’s just not the way that I think and it doesn’t reflect what I do every day. I led the most populous largest city in the United States and got re-elected 3 times, the public seemed to like what I do"

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) February 12, 2020

That stuff I said doesn’t reflect the way I think. It was five years ago, man! Lay off!

Bloomberg also said he didn't think the comments would hurt him with black voters: "I think people look at it and they say those words don’t reflect Michael Bloomberg, the way he governed in New York City, the way he runs his company, the way his philanthropy works."

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) February 12, 2020

Oh, OK.

yikes mike

— beefish_queefish (@BQueefish) February 12, 2020

Lol https://t.co/X9zkp2ExsR

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) February 12, 2020

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Grateful Calvin

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It’s cute that Bloomberg thinks he’s fooling people.

He was describing how he governed New York City… https://t.co/mY2e7PTyiE

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) February 12, 2020

He was. But we’re supposed to believe that “those words don’t reflect Michael Bloomberg, the way he governed New York City.” Uh-huh.

Actually, dodging responsibility sounds a lot like Michael Bloomberg. Anything to avoid holding himself accountable for what he says and does.

What Bloomberg did not do: apologize directly for the comments themselves.

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) February 12, 2020

Bloomberg gonna Bloomberg.

Hi! New Yorker here. The words 100% accurately reflect how @MikeBloomberg ran NYC, and as a loyal democrat I’d like to invite him to get the f*uck out of our primary.

— Brooklyn Cybele (@brooklyncybele) February 12, 2020

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Related:

Michael Bloomberg tries to dig himself out of his stop-and-frisk hole by grabbing a few more shovels (and blaming … Rudy Giuliani?)