The DNC’s NY-9 spin today doesn’t pass the laugh test. It’s a “tough district for Democrats” now? Seriously? That press release needs to go back to re-write.
In the hours leading up to the vote, Democrats came out on both sides of the race for the seat once held by Chuck Schumer. Former President Bill Clinton and current NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo made robo calls to help the Democratic candidate, David Weprin. Former NY Mayor Ed Koch came out strongly for the Republican, Bob Turner. That the Democrats were this divided on what should have been a fairly safe seat says quite a lot about where President Obama has taken that party. That the Republican won says a bit about the lingering power of Ed Koch, who in the manner of Yoda, is far more powerful than he appears. I’m not saying that his role in NY-9 was decisive, but it probably did help make up more than a few undecided minds in Turner’s favor. NY voters are comfortable with Koch; if he is comfortable with a Republican, then many voters conclude that they can be comfortable with that same Republican. Koch made the case that electing Turner would send a message to Obama regarding his hostility to Israel. And the race became a referendum on the entire Obama agenda and its manifold failures. Koch was on the right side of all this.
It’s not the first time Koch has come out to support a Republican, and for similar reasons. He vocally supported President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. Now Koch has helped defeat the DNC again, plus the Clinton and Cuomo machines. Not bad. Maybe 2012 really will be the year that the Jewish vote aligns with the party that actually consistently supports Israel. That re-alignment is long overdue.
Question: What if Ed Koch primaried Barack Obama? I think a lot of Democrats could get behind that.
“Maybe 2012 really will be the year that the Jewish vote aligns with the party that actually consistently supports Israel. That re-alignment is long overdue.”
I agree with you, but don’t hold your breath.
That realignment is indeed long overdue. But it has yet to affect many of the “true believers”. According to one poll, “only” some 64% of Jewish donors to Obama’s 2008 campaign have given or intend to give to his reelection campaign. Yes, the Dems are worried about losing the other 36%, but I have to wonder about the good sense of the 64%. (Again, we’re only looking at contributors, not voters.)
But we all know that it was really the Koch brothers, who really defeated Soros…
Koch is one of those centrist Democrats who are almost extinct. He and I wouldn’t agree of many social issues, but he’s played the adult in a kindergarten full of far-leftists who dominate his party. He showed it with NY-9 and she showed it with supporting Bush in the “war on terror.” Koch actually knows how to put country over party, unlike Obama and his ilk who only pay lip service to that concept.
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The Jewish Republican’s Web Sanctuary
“That the Republican won says a bit about the lingering power of Ed Koch, who in the manner of Yoda, is far more powerful than he appears.”
…Which, in and of itself, is a scary thought for those of us who remember the NYC of the late 70s-80s; the graffiti-laced subway, the insufferable dereliction on the streets, Times Square when it was, er, “Times Square”, etc. If there is any living relic of politics past who needs to be put to pasture immediately it is Ed Koch!
The decline really started under John Lindsey and decelerated under Abe Beame to the 1976 bankruptcy crisis. Koch’s win in 1977 over a field of unrepentant liberal Democrats (including media sweetheart Bella Abzug) was actually a step up from those years, and he was a decent mayor from 1978-82. Where he fell apart was when he ran and lost the Democratic primary for governor in ’82 against Mario Cuomo, and for his final seven years in office really seemed to lose heart in fighting the unions and the special interest Dems and party bosses he had gone against to win in 1977 and ’81.
Can’t anyone see that 800-pound gorilla in the room? The real reason David Weprin lost the election was because of his support for building the Ground Zero Cordova Victory Mosque and Jihadist Training Center. That’s what really ticked off NY’s Jewish community (and everybody else, for that matter). It had little or nothing to do with his support of gay marriage. If that had been such a big issue, he would have lost the Catholic, Hispanic and Black votes as well. But then again, maybe he did.
Any other sitting man (sic) in the Oval Office, with a litany of violations to the constitutional laws sworn to uphold, would have been indicted and/or the processes of impeachment long since begun!
#6 Bud
Yes. The elephant no longer symbolizes the mindset of Republicans. Case in point, it is verboten to know the history of American Foreign Policy, let alone consider the motivations of all involved in determining our best means to national defense, a strong economy respecting US Constitutional Governance and the essence of “American Exceptionalism” being productive citizens.
Where’s the connection between equality under the law given Constitutional Rights and “Empowerment” that requires the imposition of limitations on some in order to enhance others? Democrats don’t own the monopoly on “social justice”.
Ed Morrissey headed a thread yesterday at HotAir, “Why Perry is likely to be the GOP potus candidate?” Because Republican neoconservatives want another president who over-extends his constitutional authority to the extent that he actually rescinds the constitutional rights of American citizens.
Don’t fool yourselves, Koch is pretty far to the left. He is right on Israel at least, but still pretty far left.
Having said that I’ve always believed George W. Bush missed an opportunity. He should have tried to get
Koch to run Homeland Security. As a NY Mayor he knew full well what the enemy was capable of but would
also be someone the left could trust when it came to important and sometimes scary decisions.
Koch may seem appealing to the Democrats. Why not poll them and find out? It’s worth asking Koch if he’d consider a potus run. He’s pretty old for the ageist Pepsi generation to embrace. I’d be surprised if Hillary isn’t still holding her own political aspirations. Would Koch assent to campaigning against Hillary with enough “fire in the belly” required of senior citizens?
#7. As to GWB packaging DHS with Koch’s smiling face, that might well have finished Koch’s basic popularity. At the time of 9/11, Bush was criticized by Republicans for having kept so many “untrustworthy” Clinton appointed Democrats in carry over positions within his own new administration and intelligence community.