Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a strong start at the Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday, but it couldn't possibly make up for his unbearably cringeworthy moments where he nearly slithered around the stage in order to avoid saying what he truly believed.

Bloomberg's rivals at one point tag-teamed him on his stop-and-frisk policy as mayor, which involved minority-dense neighborhoods being stacked with police to crack down on violent crimes (a policy that strong evidence shows was, in fact, effective).

Democrats know no card more powerful than the "racist" card, and they threw it at Bloomberg in spades, given that he's not a real Democrat. (He has switched parties multiple times.)

And like any Democrat who doesn't know the party's terrain, Bloomberg reacted as though he had been hit with tear gas, nearly appearing to vomit on stage.

He reiterated that he had recently apologized for the policy (a mistake) and said that stop and frisk had gotten "out of control" while he was mayor. But it didn't sell among an audience that knows Bloomberg had aggressively sold the stop-and-frisk policy for a decade — right up until he wanted to run for president.

Later in the debate, Bloomberg got another round of spankings when confronted with a series of reports that he had throughout his career in business made dismissive and even derogatory remarks toward female colleagues. Most devastating was Sen. Elizabeth Warren asking him to release women who worked for Bloomberg from nondisclosure agreements so that they might share their claims publicly.

Bloomberg looked like he had soiled himself. Rather than say, "Hey, if I release them from their disclosure agreements, they can say anything they want about my multibillion-dollar company," he answered with a shrug, acknowledging nothing more than the cold reality that the deal was legal and it can't be breached.

This debate wasn't the end for Bloomberg, who has only just started. But this was an undeniably weak start.