1999: Bloomberg Bragged About Scoring 16-Year-Old Daughter Dates in China
Democrat presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg once bragged about scoring his 16-year-old daughter dates in multiple Chinese cities while visiting the country on business.
The former New York City mayor, who is under fire for helping suppress news reports critical of China’s communist regime, made the awkward comments while hobnobbing with young “Wall Street traders” at a Boston College alumni dinner in 1999, according to Wired magazine profile.
“My daughter is tall and busty and blonde,” Michael Bloomberg is telling a table of Boston College graduates. “We went to China together. And what’s a 16-year-old going to do on a business trip?” He pops another carefully buttered piece of bread in his mouth. “So I got her dates in every city in China.” Remembering that I’m also at the table, he glares in my direction. “That’s off the record!” he barks. It’s typical Mike Bloomberg, wanting to have it both ways: imperious man of the people, coarse billionaire, earthy business leader, accessible control freak.
At the time of the dinner, Bloomberg was first emerging on the political stage as a contender to replace then-term limited New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Even though Bloomberg would succeed in his quest for the mayoralty, eventually serving three terms in city hall, his 1999 comments foreshadowed a businesslike approach to the U.S.-China relationship.
As mayor, Bloomberg often championed policies that seemed copied right out of Beijing’s playbook. For instance, the Bloomberg administration in 2012 sought to ban the use of baby formula in hospitals across New York City, arguing breast feeding was a better alternative. The policy, like many of Bloomberg’s other health initiatives, was modeled off steps the Chinese regime took to promote breast feeding after its food safety protocols were called into question by a 2008 scandal involving infant formula being adulterated with melamine—a compound used when manufacturing plastic. (Read more from “1999: Bloomberg Bragged About Scoring 16-Year-Old Daughter Dates in China” HERE)
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