Today, Michael Bloomberg joins a long line of smart people who are abandoning the Republican Party. Pete McClosky has been among the most articulate of those who has abandoned the rotting elephant corpse.

Problem with Bloomberg is he has spent too much time kissing ass with some of the absolute worst Republicans out there.

When Bush came to town, most of NYC was repulsed. HUGE protest swept the city for the entire time the Republican Convention was in NYC. The delegates couldn't go anywhere without being hounded by New Yorkers scolding them for using our tragedy for their political gain and for being barking crazy right wingers. Bloomberg did NOT side with New Yorkers. He initiated a vengeful campaign against protesters that broke the law, violated our civil liberties (THANKS TO NORMAN SIEGEL FOR DEFENDING US!), and helped NOBODY except Bush and his extremist wing of the Republican Party. Bloomberg went so far as to call us protesters terrorists...that included my then-8-month's pregnant wife. I am not sure I can ever forgive him calling us terrorists for standing up to Bush.

Then there are his donations. He loves to tout his donations to NARAL. Great. But that pales in significance compared with the massive amounts of money he donated to Tom DeLay's PAC. Bloomberg was one of the LARGEST individual donors to Tom DeLay's PAC...the PAC that supports anti-Choice, anti-environment, anti-labor candidates from the most corrupt and extremist faction of the Republican Party. Bloomberg sided not with moderates within the Republican Party, but with extremists. And corrupt extremists at that! I can never forgive his enabling the worst that the Republican Party had to offer: Tom DeLay and his parade of corrupt extremists.

Then there is his demand that all NYC taxpayers pay to support the profits of a Pataki crony. Bruce Ratner offers the city NOTHING. He has NO record of providing jobs or affordable housing. He is out for nothing but profit and has lied through his teeth to get his way. Pataki (a full fledged member of the crony capitalism wing of the Republican Party) was a law school buddy of Ratner's. So when Ratner spoke, Pataki jumped. And Bloomberg followed like a tame lap dog eager to please his master. Bloomberg has bought in to the local end of crony capitalism which has proven so bad for American.

Corrpution, violation of civil liberties, and support of extremist Republicans. THAT is part of Bloomberg's legacy that should never be forgotten.

I applaud his establishment of 311. I applaud his green plan for NYC (though some tell me there are massive flaws therein and I hope they blog about them here!). And I applaud his decision to abandon the party that once was a genuine American party but has since become the most corrupt and unAmerican party in our history. But he has acquired some pretty heavy baggage from his years as a Republican. And I, for one, don't intend to forget his support of corruption and extremism.

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