HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL:  I’m not watching the Democratic debates.  I know it’s fun for the Chuck Todds of this word to make Democrats fight amongst themselves instead of keeping the focus on Donald Trump, where it belongs.  But I’m going to have to vote for one of these folks, so I’ll pass on the spectacle of candidates squabbling – even if a lot of the criticism is valid.

By all accounts, though, the new guy had a pretty rough go of it.  My social media timelines were full of people dunking on Mike Bloomberg.  Someone dug up his high school picture, and the mockery began to flow.

That’s OK, I guess.  High school photos are usually good for a laugh.  But as I scrolled through the insulting comment threads, I was a little surprised to find that no one mentioned the comparison that struck me immediately.

To my eyes, teenage Bloomberg looked a whole lot like another Jewish kid born in 1942.  The fellow on the right in this photo is Lewis Allan Reed, much admired by hipsters (and cool people everywhere). 

I’m not impressed by opposition research (professional or amateur) that probes obsessively for decades-old dirt.  Four years ago, there was a rumor that Hillary Clinton had voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964.  That’s demonstrably false – she was 17 on election day, 1964, and the legal voting age back then was 21.  But even if it were true, it had nothing to do with her views 52 years later.  It was just fuel for the next day’s two minutes of hate.    

There are plenty of reasons to criticize Mike Bloomberg.  His high school yearbook photo isn’t one of them.

(And yes, I will vote for Mike Bloomberg if he’s the Democratic nominee.  I’d rather vote for Lou Reed, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be on the ballot.  Lou Reed would make a better president than Donald Trump, even in his present condition.)