What the hell happened to ED KOCH?

I thought he was a liberal NYC mayor and congressman! Yet, from all I've heard, he's been bashing the left, has called Dean "McGovern II" and has endorsed Bush. What happened? Or am I just uninformed and he was always a conservative? Has he made a sharp turn right?

ON EDIT: I found this article on him, it sort of explains some of the transformation of Ed Koch.

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_22/whatshedoin.html

On Sept. 12 on Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes,” on a segment on 9/11, Koch said, “I think been terrific. And I have never voted in the past for a Republican president…. But I am voting for George Bush this time around. And I will tell you why. He has created what is now known as the Bush Doctrine, equal to the Monroe Doctrine. And what is the Bush Doctrine? That we will go after the terrorists and the countries that harbor them. And he’s kept his commitment, unlike anybody else in the world. And certainly unlike any of the nine or so Democratic candidates for president. And the worst one is Howard Dean. I mean, that’s McGovern II.”

snip

Gold said Koch was himself an “ultra-liberal” when he ran for district leader and then challenged Bill Passannante for Assembly; then became more moderate when he was in Congress from 1968-’77; then decided he had to be more centrist when he became mayor; then there’s post-9/11 Koch.


“Since 9/11, Koch has become a neo-con, really right-wing, xenophobic,” Gold said. “He feels Bush has been a strong commander in chief and he supports his whole entourage, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Rice. The other thing that concerns me is in addition to supporting Bush, he’s become a supporter of John Ashcroft. He supports the Patriot Act. National security is his main concern.

snip

Keen Berger, the Village’s new female Democratic district leader: “Koch’s endorsement makes me sad, but not surprised,” Berger said. “Koch endorsed D’Amato. He’s endorsed Republicans and people who are conservative for a decade. I knew Koch when he was a liberal, a leader of progressives.... I think Koch got too enamored of his own views and his own opinions and strayed from the bedrock integrity that should be true for every political leader, strayed from the base from which he came.”

A gradual transformation, cause unknown.

Wonder how much was Koch's initiative, and how much GOP blackmail.

He's long since been out of public life, he'd have no reason to be blackmailed.

I think he's just a weird guy. Period. Always struck me as somewhat of a flake.

Zell Miller Jr.

Another irrelavant, has-been trying to glom onto the right-wing bandwagon in order to revive a dead career.

Can you say Dennis Miller?

.......house rep Jim Marshall, D-Ga, returned from a trip to Iraq and actually blasted the media, saying they werent giving the whole story about all the good going on in Iraq being accomplished by our troops! And earlier in the yr he was very critical, so who knows?

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

In other words, nothing happened to him...he is who he is.

Read Larry Kramer's "Normal Heart" and you'll know everything you'll ever, ever need to know about this loudmouthed coward and jerk.

Don't understand or care much for your comment: "Ed is Jewish first".

By the way, Larry Kramer = Jewish and Great American.

And I don't like it one bit. The anti-Israel, anti-Semitic aspect of the party threatends to alienate oneof the the Democratic party's most loyal bases.

This post made be finally register and join DU.

What does him being Jewish have to do with anything?

And to think I used to like him. Next time he asks, "How am I doing?" someone should tell him.

Whatever the party label, Ed Koch was a very right-wing mayor, beginning the surveillance policies and crackdown on every petty behavior that Giuliani later took to radical heights. This had a lot to do with his ultimate defeat against Dinkins (who didn't really change things but got the blame for being too liberal anyway and later fell to Giuliani). Koch was only a liberal when it paid off for him, back in his Village Democrats days in the Congress.

Just consider that the SCOTUS overturned the New York Charter back in the late 80s and there was no public debate or constitutional anything but a revised text simply submarined in for a vote...

WTF? Koch must have gone to the Dark Side if he thinks he can spin that one.

I thought the Monroe Doctrine said keep your hands out of the affairs of the New World, while the Bush Doctrine is we'll put our hands in your affairs whenever we want to because we can.

to make way for Mr. Judge Judy (Jerry Sheindlin, literally Mr. Judge Judy), who was in turn canned to make way for Señora Judge Judy (Marilyn Milian).

Zell or Dennis, take your pick. Like Dylan said, "You just wanna be on the side that's winnin'."

...happened to Christopher Hitchens following 9/11. And to a few others ("anarchist" open-source advocate Eric S. Raymond, for example.) I would also say that Zell Miller went down the same path for the same reason, as he used to be a fairly reliable Democrat in the Senate.

9/11 separated the wheat from the chaff, the real liberals and progressives from those who ran scurrying under the protective arms of Daddy Bush and his Homeland Security Gestapo. So we lost a few. We're better off without them in the long run since they won't stand up for peace or civil liberties when it really matters. We also gained a few - watch in fact for disgruntled ex-Republicans who are strong on civil liberties to start switching to our side. On balance it's a wash.

Bye bye Ed Koch. Don't let the door hit ya....

Kicking out everyone who disagrees with what YOU think defines a Democrat guarantees the Dems will be a permanant minority party.

I'm not advocating kicking anyone out. They're kicking themselves out.

Zel Miller is "Mr. DINO"