CNN and MSNBC Air Bloomberg Ad with 9/11 Lie, Don't Bother Calling It Fake News
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, brought New York City and the whole country to its knees.
Fortunately for the people of New York, their mayor was decisive, competent and brave at the helm.
Unfortunately for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, that mayor was not him.
Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign joins other liars in the Democratic race as he claims credit for his handling of the 9/11 attacks in his “It Won’t Work” campaign ad.
“I led a complex, diverse city through 9/11, and I have common-sense plans to move America away from chaos to progress,” he says in the ad with a straight face.
Apparently you’re supposed to ignore the fact that it was actually Rudy Giuliani who was mayor at the time of the attacks and it was Giuliani who was widely praised for his resolute leadership through that dark period. Bloomberg didn’t take office until 2002.
Despite the fact that the ad contains a false claim by Bloomberg, it has aired numerous times — 72, to be exact, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Chuck Ross:
72
That’s the number of times since Wednesday that TV networks, led by CNN (30) and MSNBC (22), have aired a Bloomberg ad in which he falsely claims he led NYC through 9/11. https://t.co/sEGenz3Q0D
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) February 22, 2020
With all the talk about rooting out “fake news” this election cycle, it appears that misleading ads by Democrats once again get a pass.
Although the campaign is using the attacks of 9/11 as a feather in Bloomberg’s cap, Democrats have long sought to minimize the severity and impact of the events that day. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota described it as “some people did something” while speaking at a fundraising event.
Like other tragedies, Democrats love to use 9/11 as their ace in the hole regardless of the human cost involved.
Bloomberg’s political windfall from the attacks actually began on that very morning as Sept. 11, 2001, was also the day of the city primaries. Although Bloomberg was expected to be the Republican nominee, even his own mother didn’t think he’d have a chance at winning the mayoral race that November.
Then, as now, New York City was heavily weighted Democratic. However, Bloomberg, no doubt aware of Giuliani’s popularity as a very successful two-term GOP mayor, switched parties to run as a Republican prior to the election.
His calculation proved correct as Bloomberg rode Giuliani’s coattails to victory in the mayoral race.
During his term as mayor, however, Bloomberg didn’t follow his predecessor’s strong lead and dashed hope for justice for those involved in 9/11:
There once was a chance to bring 5 accused 9/11 conspirators to justice. It would have brought a closure, if only emotionally, to a war without any. And it would have forced a reckoning on torture.
It never happened. Largely because of Mike Bloomberg. https://t.co/qQLvF3xwID
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) February 24, 2020
There is a sharp contrast between the empty political grandstanding by Democrats like Bloomberg and the approach of President Donald Trump.
Trump is strong on 9/11 and terrorism, going so far as to threaten the Taliban with the use of “power the likes of which the United States has never used before” in his remarks on the anniversary of 9/11 in September.
It is not surprising that a man Trump calls “Mini Mike” would seek to stand a little taller among his competitors. It’s just shameful that he chooses to use the bodies of the 9/11 victims as his booster.
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