Is Bloomberg the New Nader?

I fear that Michael Bloomberg has the potential to become a Ralph Nader with $500 million to waste. Think about it: Who is going to vote for a liberal, divorced Jewish billionaire except people who would have voted Democratic anyway? Bloomberg is a good mayor but bad, overall, for the country. He's been funding the Republican Party since he became mayor despite the fact that its leaders have all but declared war on the city. His record regarding the civil liberties of protesters at the 2004 Republican convention is absolutely abominable. If he goes on this ego trip -- currently being promoted by the very consultants who stand to get rich over it -- he will become the enemy of everything he professes to believe. And he certainly won't be the president. So he'll just be throwing away money that could, say, cure vitamin A deficiency in Africa or any number of far more worthwhile things. If the mayor has any friends who care about restoring some sanity to our government following the incalculable debacle of this administration, they need to talk him out of this folly.

This story, by the way, is pretty silly. Since when does Al Sharpton speak for anyone but Al Sharpton? This guy calls Bloomberg a "compelling candidate" in the first set of quotes, and we're supposed to take that seriously? Compelling to whom? The folks who helped pull off the Tawana Brawley hoax?

Read the whole Altercation here.