“It’s comparable to me pointing out I’m Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote,” the New York City mayor said during an interview with New York magazine . Update: Bill de Blasio responds to Bloomberg’s remarks.
John Minchillo / AP
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called mayoral candidate Billde Blasio's campaign "racist" in a New York magazine interview published Saturday.
Then there's Bill de Blasio, who's become the Democratic front-runner. He has in some ways been running a class-warfare campaign—
Class-warfare and racist.
Racist?
I mean he's making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he's been doing. I do not think he himself is racist. It's comparable to me pointing out I'm Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote. You tailor messages to your audiences and address issues you think your audience cares about.
De Blasio responded to the comments at a campaign event Saturday afternoon, saying, "I'm exceedingly proud of my family ... We all have proceeded as a family together." He called Bloomberg's remarks "very unfortunate and inappropriate" and said he hoped Bloomberg would "reconsider" what he said.
