I confess that John Podhoretz is one of my favorite Cornerites, and not in the ironic did-he-really-just-say-something-that-insane way that one usually can appreciate John Derbyshire. He has a sense of humor, he’s not entirely doctrinaire, he is a fellow pop culture enthusiast. But then he writes something like this:
The Silly Story of the Day… [John Podhoretz]
…is that Michael Bloomberg is supposedly ready to spend $1 billion to get himself some presidential votes. It’s silly because there’s really no reason to believe it’s true. And it’s silly because the whole idea of a presidential run for him makes no sense….Look, there’s a reason Michael Bloomberg is the richest man in New York. It’s because he’s not the type to blow a billion dollars on a fantasy. When he spent $76 million to win the mayoralty and another comparable amount to get reelected, he did so with a very specific and workable game plan for the money. Here he would just be lighting a match to the cash.
Leaving aside that Michael Bloomberg seems like exactly the type to “blow a billion* dollars on a fantasy,” let’s focus on why Podhoretz thinks the story isn’t true: because it “makes no sense.” Would that such logic ruled the campaign season! I, personally, still don’t believe Giuliani is running.
For their part, Bloomberg’s people are issuing careful non-denial denials about a race, as reported by our own Jay Carney here. Hey, if he’s got the money to burn…
*Fixed, thanks!