Third Term Meltdown Leading Indicators: Unsurly Mayor

Perhaps he’s trying to soften his image somewhat to secure place-in-history considerations:

Mr. Bloomberg was testifying in a Manhattan courtroom as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of a political consultant, John F. Haggerty Jr., who is accused of stealing much of the $1.2 million the mayor donated to the Independence Party in 2009.

There was no sign of the sarcastic attitude Mr. Bloomberg sometimes displays when questioned or challenged. And gone was the detail-oriented take-charge executive most recently seen during Tropical Storm Irene.

He was so uncharacteristically soft-spoken and concise that many in the courtroom had to strain to hear him, and some of his answers could have been contained in 140-character posts on Twitter.

Markedly different than what took place back in 2009:

But the mayor displayed his testy and sarcastic side, as evidenced when Ms. Wong read a passage from his 1997 memoir, “Bloomberg by Bloomberg”:

“‘And God forbid one of our people go to work for a competitor, then we all heartily and cordially really do hope they fail. In their new job, they have an avowed purpose to hurt their old co-workers. They’ve become bad people. Period. We have a loyalty to us. Leave, and you’re them.’ Did I read that accurately?”

“Your reading is good,” the mayor replied.

“Thank you,” Ms. Wong said. “Do you continue to believe that statement today?”

“More so than ever before.”