One Billionaire Who HAS Sold Us Out....

...is Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City.  Just a few days ago, he was condemning the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that were filthifying Zuccotti Park and, as he himself claimed, costing the city jobs and millions of dollars.  Monday, he changed his mind:

“The bottom line is, people want to express themselves, and as long as they obey the laws, we’ll allow them to,” the mayor told reporters at the start of the city’s 67th annual Columbus Day parade. “If they break the laws, then we’re going to do what we’re supposed to do — enforce the laws.”

"Obey the laws"? Has he seen what goes on down there?  No doubt he has, because very little in escapes Mayor Nanny's prying eyes.  Seems like he made a conscious decision to let this ugliness go on indefinitely, and turn his back on the city he is sworn to protect.  What would cause Michael Bloomberg to abdicate his responsibilities to the city of New York?  Michael Goodwin has two possible rationales:

A favorite choice is that his political team, always on the lookout for a sign of life in his presidential fantasy, decided he should stay neutral just in case.

From this view, the protesters are a free-floating national constituency that could be for sale and the mayor is always a willing buyer. Voting, after all, is just a transaction and he was ready to spend $1 billion in 2008.

There are hints he may be calculating again. Suddenly, numerous reports credit the mayor with being a supporter of First Amendment rights who backed a mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero. Bloomberg’s pollster is also floating talk that 2012 could be ripe for a third-party candidate as Ralph Nader urges the mayor to run.



So the first theory is Michael Bloomberg sold out New York to help his own job prospects. Bad enough. But this one is somehow worse:



But we must be open to another mayoral motive in coddling the protesters. He invited them to stay about the time they hatched their plans for yesterday’s march on the homes of millionaires and billionaires.

The mayor, one of the richest people in New York and certainly the most powerful, was spared yesterday but could still be a target. Maybe, just maybe, he’s hoping his embrace of the protesters will win him an exemption, especially since he’s willing to let the hooligans camp outside other people’s houses.

His Upper East Side townhouse alone is worth the GDP of a small country. Recently described as befitting a 19th-century robber baron, it contains tables worth as much as $90,000 each, a collection of old master paintings and a Chippendale couch valued at $1 million.

It’s on East 79th, a lovely block that’s perfect for a tent city. Campers could even name their liberated spot in his honor: Bloomville.

He so richly deserves it.

I think it's a little from column A, a little from column B. But Bloomberg - like Obama and Democrats who support this ragtag bunch of college students and perpetual protesters - seem to forget history, and how many folks who thought they controlled the mob wound up being among the first to feel the sting of the guillotine...

I hate to sound like an anti-capitalist thug, but protesting in front of Bloomberg's house is something I can get down with. Try to sell my life out to the mob so you can eat Doritos on a million-dollar couch? Think again, pal....