I hate to say it, but this seems to be the most interesting thing about Michael Bloomberg right now
Bloomberg has already claimed that his charitable foundations have removed thier support for anything to do with fred newman and the newmanite psychotherapy-sex-politico personality cult.
oh, yeah and fred newman thinks the Jews in weimar germany deserved to be killed by hitler because they were the tools of the capitalists.
uh, what would that make bloomberg and all his customers and supporters?
yeah, screwing the guru is always claimed to be the way to enlightenment. newman and the maharishi mahesh both have that in common.
when will anyone ever learn?
What does that make Bloomberg? An opportunist. His clearest road to the election was as a Republican, so he switched parties from Democrat to Republican — and thus was borne — Republican Mike Bloomberg. Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a large margin, he needed to get onto another line of New York’s ballot, thus he needed the ballot spot for the “Independence Party”, a faction of which concerns Fred Newman and his… um… psychotherapy-sex-politico personality cult.
This item of government patronage is (was?) simply the most bizarre part of Bloomberg’s political machine. I imagine Bloomberg granting the Newmanites their “All Stars Program” their charity, and then wishing to be done with it. Further, I don’t see this affecting his presidential bid much, for the sheer audacity of Newman’s pugnance sort of tossed into the realm of disbelief, and because Bloomberg himself has a step or two of removal.
But the gift the Newmanites receive is the waving around of Michael Bloomberg’s name within their cult. Hold on a minute! Name the person referred to with this sentence!
In a loft in downtown Manhattan scattered with mementos of Che Guevara, Dr. Fred Newman paid tribute to a new revolutionary hero, a man he would like to see in the White House next January.
This is 1996, and the answer is Ross Perot.
As for the Weimer Republic references: I realize that Hitler was dismissed as a crank, but I have a difficult time imagining Newman’s cult doing much of anything in Greater America, beyond their immediate fantasy realm, beyond their immediate reality realm.
Incidentally, a muse of mine — the very odd 2000 Reform Party Presidential nomination campaign — at wikipedia. I think it only scratches the surface of the worms floating around that strange brew. Pat Buchanan, Lenora Feluna representing Fred Newman, John Hagelin representing Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Question: which one of those is the parasitic organization?