Elizabeth Warren wasted little time going after Mike Bloomberg during Wednesday’s night’s Nevada Democratic Debate.
Only seconds in, the Massachusetts senator launched an attack from which some pundits said the former New York City mayor never really recovered.
Accusing Bloomberg, who was making his first debate appearance, of once referring to women as “fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians,” Warren warned American voters against substituting “one arrogant billionaire for another.”
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’” Warren began. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about mayor Bloomberg.
“Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk,” she added. “Look, I’ll support whoever the Democratic nominee is, but understand this: Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another. This country has worked for the rich for a long time, and left everyone else in the dirt. It is time to have a president who will be on the side of working families and be willing to get out there and fight for them. That is why I am in this race. And that is how I will beat Donald Trump.”
The “horse-faced lesbians” comment was a reference to a booklet of alleged Bloomberg quotes compiled by employees and colleagues for his birthday in 1990.
“The royal family. What a bunch of misfits. A gay, an architect, that horse-faced lesbian, and a kid who gave up Koo Stark for some fat broad,” Bloomberg said, according to the booklet.
Bloomberg’s campaign has denied he said the quotes in the booklet.
But Warren wasn’t done. She later scorched Bloomberg over allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, demanding that he release the alleged victims from non-disclosure agreements so they can tell their stories.
“This not just a question of the mayor’s character. This is also a question about electability,” Warren said. “We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who-knows-how-many nondisclosure agreements and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against. That’s not what we do as Democrats.”
