Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) blasted Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg in a new ad mocking the New York billionaireās strategy of paying social media influencers to make memes for his campaign.
The Biden campaign released a video on Wednesday mocking direct messages Bloomberg has sent influencers on Instagram.
āIām spending a lot of money this year. And Iād like to use it to make you think Iām a fan of Barack Obama,ā the ad begins. It continues to show a series of clips of Bloomberg attacking Obamaās record.
The ad starts with a video of Bloomberg in 2010, claiming that the Affordable Care Act does āabsolutely nothing to fix the big healthcare problems,ā and calling it a ādisgrace.ā
Then a video from 2016 shows Bloomberg suggesting that Obama was responsible for making America āmore segregated in America certainly than we were, in terms of race, than we were a dozen years ago.ā
Bloomberg continued to ask, āWhy during the Obama administration didnāt we pull together? Ask the president, thatās his job, really.ā
The ad ends with a 2011 clip of Bloomberg calling himself a friend of President Donald Trump and shows several pictures of the two together.
Watch the ad below:
Bloombergās campaign fired back with an ad that sounded like an endorsement by Biden. It featured a clip of Biden praising Bloombergās record as mayor.
āJoe Biden has dedicated his life to this country. As a senator, and as a vice president, he has always stood by the side of great men. We are honored to have Joeās support,ā the Bloomberg campaign said in a tweet.
In the video, Biden praised Bloombergās record on environmental issues as well as his āpassion,ā āprinciples,ā and āleadership.ā
Watch the ad below:
https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1230185349571383296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1230185349571383296&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fbiden-parodies-bloomberg-memes-in-video-featuring-obama-criticism
When asked about the Bloomberg ad, Biden quipped, āI donāt endorse Republicans,ā he told the Washington Examiner ā a shot at Bloombergās record as running for mayor of New York City as a Republican then switching back to a Democrat after he left office.
The two ads come as Bloomberg has been surging in the polls following disappointing performances by Biden in the first two primary contests. A RealClearPoliticsĀ averageĀ of national polls shows Sen.Ā Bernie SandersĀ (Vt.) with a sizable lead in first place, and Biden and Bloomberg in a close race for second.
Both Biden and Bloomberg cast themselves as moderate candidates. But an internal Bloomberg campaign memo warned that Biden and other candidates could split the moderate vote and allow Sanders to cruise to the nomination.
Additionally, Bloomberg campaign officials claimed the former mayor is the only Democratic candidate who can stop Sanders from winning the nomination. Despite his early stumbles, Biden sounded optimistic about his chances of winning the nomination and gave no indication that he plans to drop out soon.