‘TAKEN ABACK’

Michael Bloomberg: I Shouldn’t Have Called Cory Booker ‘Well-Spoken’

“I probably shouldn't have used the word,” Bloomberg said.

Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor and current 2020 Democratic candidate, said Friday that he shouldn't have called fellow candidate Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) “well-spoken” during a TV interview that aired Friday. “I probably shouldn't have used the word,” Bloomberg told reporters at a Georgia campaign event, according to Politico “But I can just tell you he is a friend of mine, and he is a Rhodes Scholar, which is much more impressive than my academic background. I envy him, and he can certainly speak for himself.” On a CBS This Morning segment, Bloomberg said he thought Booker was “well-spoken” and had “some good ideas”—language which some saw as condescending and racially loaded. In reaction, Booker said he was “taken aback” by Bloomberg's comments because they echoed “tired” tropes that showed a lack of understanding. “The fact that they don't understand is problematic,” Booker said on a radio show Friday.