Democrat presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg received a gag gift from his financial services company in 1990 that contained what were portrayed as quotes from him, many of which contained offensive and sexist language.
The Washington Post published the short book that's titled "The Portable Bloomberg: The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg."
The book claims to be "an unauthorized collection of unauthorized sayings," while an editor's note says that the quotes are all real.
"Yes, these are all actual quotes," reads the note written by Elisabeth DeMarse, the former chief marketing officer of Bloomberg L.P. "No, nothing has been embellished or exaggerated."
Many of the quotes contain expletives, suggestive language, or both. The first two, for example, are profanity-laced comments about sex. There are various sexual references throughout the book, which was a 34-page pamphlet-style publication.
One quote labeled "Characterization of a Competitor" reads, "Cokehead, womanizing, [expletive]." The expletive is a term used to describe gays.
A sampling of other quotes in the book:
"As Chuck Colson put it: if you have them by their [expletive], their hearts and minds will follow." (Colson was White House special counsel for President Richard Nixon.)
"Keep your legs closed."
After making a sex joke about the Bloomberg computer terminal, another quote reads, "I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business."
"Are you installing anything, or just [expletive] around?"
"The three biggest lies are: the check's in the mail, I'll respect you in the morning, and I'm glad I'm Jewish."
"If Jesus was a jew, why does he have a Puerto Rican first name?"
"If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they'd go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale's."
The Bloomberg campaign told the Post the book was a joke, nothing more, and that the quotes were not from Bloomberg.
"Mike simply did not say the things somebody wrote in this gag gift, which has been circulating for 30 years and has been quoted in every previous election Mike has been in," spokesman Stu Loeser said.
He added, "Mike openly admits that his words have not always aligned with his values and the way he has led his life and some of what he has said is disrespectful and wrong."
Bloomberg served as the mayor of New York City from 2002-2013.
In 2001, according to the Post, Bloomberg's spokesman admitted that "he might have said" some of the quotes in the book and apologized for them.
Bloomberg joined the presidential race in November and is third in the RealClear Politics polling average.
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