Bloomberg releases edited video following debate

Following a night of attacks from his fellow Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to regain ground with the release of a deceptive video cut from footage of Wednesday night’s debate.

At the debate, Bloomberg said: “I’m the only one here, I think, that has ever started a business. Is that fair?”

In reality, Bloomberg waited approximately 2 seconds for a response before moving on, but the edited video from the Bloomberg campaign inserted a 21-second pause and spliced in images of the other candidates shuffling papers and looking down, complete with the sounds of crickets.

CNN’s Daniel Dale, who usually fact-checks Donald Trump, called out Bloomberg for the misleading video, writing on social media that as the debate was aired, the other candidates were “shown smiling or being impassive, not sniffling/shuffling papers/raising and lowering their hands.”

After the edited video racked up more than a half-million views, a Bloomberg campaign spokesperson told Politico the video was “tongue in cheek,” adding, “There were obviously no crickets on the debate stage.”

DEBATE VIDEO:

EDITED VIDEO:

Media reports following the debate almost universally agreed that Bloomberg had a rough debate night.

NPR described his performance as “spotty” and noted he “was off balance now and again.”

NBC News compared Bloomberg to a pinata for all the attacks he faced and said he “seemed unprepared for an entirely predictable series of attacks.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) attacked Bloomberg on several occasions for his past comments and New York City policies.

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” Warren said in the first few moments of the night. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”

Later, Warren criticized both Bloomberg’s controversial and racist stop and frisk policy and Bloomberg’s apology about the policy.

“When the mayor says that he apologized, listen very closely to the apology,” Warren said. “The language he used about stop and frisk is about how it turned out. No, this isn’t about how it turned out. This is about what it was designed to do to begin with. It targeted communities of color. It targeted black and brown men from the beginning.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.