Ed Koch: I'm Backing Independent Lieberman

NewsMax ^

[MJY1288]

Koch is a liberal, nothing conservative about him.

Don't you mean "JEW" ?

[Greg Weston]

No I mean Neo-CON. Just like Bush, Cheney, Lieberman,and the rest of the "America is the Cop of the World" crowd.

[MJY1288]

Pat Buchanan is that you?

[gondramB]

>>I don't even know who the Republican is...does he have a chance?

No.<<

The Leiberman is probably the best we are gonna do. The senate is too important to hope a anti-war liberal wins just to provoke a Guiliani style backlash.

[gondramB]

>>Alan Schlesinger, former mayor of Derby, CT. Here's some recent news about him:<<

>>Word of his gambling debts will renew calls for Schlesinger to abandon his tattered candidacy...<<

Well, looks like Joe is the best viable choice.

Not to mention I looked up Darby Ct.

The City of Derby, the smallest city in the state of Connecticut, covers 5.3 sq. miles and has 12,080 residents.

[notigar]

Not really. Lieberman's support went up in the last few days after he called for Rummy's resignation and told the people he "got their message." I think there is serious support for bringing troops back on a timetable.

[nutmeg]

>>Alan Schlesinger, former mayor of Derby, CT. Here's some recent news about him:<<

>>Word of his gambling debts will renew calls for Schlesinger to abandon his tattered candidacy...<<

Well, looks like Joe is the best viable choice.

It looks that way to me, too. Schlesinger has been on all the local radio programs this morning, vowing that he won't drop out of the race, and he thinks he has a great chance to win. In his dreams, maybe.

I'm worried that the Republican and Independent voters will split over Schlesinger and Lieberman, and we will end up with Lamont as our moonbat senator. I'll take Senator Lesser Evil (Lieberman) over Lamont any day.

Then there's the question whether popular Republican governor Jodi Rell will side with Schlesinger (many CT Pubbies are begging him to drop out of the race) or Lieberman... or will she support neither? It will be an interesting fall here in Connecticut, although I'm not looking forward to the barrage of negative ads that will soon blanket the radio and TV airwaves...

[durasell]

Rudy was a prosecuter, so he's gonna be the law and order mayor. Koch was pretty much the anti-machine, machine mayor.

Most of the deals involving Times Square were cut under Koch. The fashion industry stuff, like fashion week, etc. which brings in a couple hundred million to the city, was under Koch. A lot of development downtown. Closing the SROs, etc. were all under Koch.

So, all this stuff is in place when Rudy comes in, but the city is in a recession. Property values falling, crack running wild. Murder rate above 2,000. And Rudy hires/promotes a bunch of genius cops -- Bratton, Timmony (sp?), Jack Maple, Kelly, etc. They start enforcing quality of life laws, put computers in cars, put computers in 1PP. etc. etc.

To some degree crack is a "self cleaning oven" and crime drops, but to a larger degree, all the new programs work as the deals that Koch cut come to fruition.

[HitmanLV]

Describing Koch as the 'anti-machine, machine mayor' is 100% accurate. Koch could usually be counted on to see things clearly.

I recall Koch during the Bernie Goetz situation, while prominent black leaders in town were quick to play the race issue, Koch clearly said that you can't jump to a conclusion of racism every time a black is the victim of a crime.

Koch lost a lot of his steam when he criticized Jewish NYers who consider supporting Jesse Jackson in his 1988 bid for the Presidency. This cost him with blacks and with Jewish NYCers, and he lost the party primary for Mayor to Dinkins a year or so later.

The thing is, while Koch to an extent set the stage for the NYC resurgence, the Dinkins admin was sandwiched between Koch and Rudy. If anyone would have been the beneficiary of that foundation, it would have been Dinkins. The problem was he was just a terrible mayor with rotten judgment. His tenure certainly set things backwards, while to be fair to Rudy, his tenure set things forward, on a fairly fast track.

Best thing with Mayor Ed is there was seldom any doubt as to where he stood on an issue. Even if I disagreed with him, he was clear and unambiguous. He wouldn't cart out 1/2-assed arguments for his positions, he would (usually) make a rational case for it, even if I thought he was wrong.

I'd vote for him. I think 21st century politicians on both sides of the aisle can take some lessons from that.

The one thing Koch did consistently obfuscate about was various legal problems or indictments all over NYC politics during his (long) watch. Some of them clearly traced back to City Hall, so he had to circle the wagons a bit. Most of it was off the beaten path - there is no way that any Mayors Office can prepare for the questions following the freaky Donald Manes story, for example. Koch did well.

Speaking of the Fashion industry, remember when you couldn't walk down 7th Ave in the 30s because of all the guys with the carts of dresses, suits, coats, etc? Haha! Back when NYC actually manufactured something! I miss that - I think that scene petered out as the 80s ended!

John Timoney was a bona-fide, tough Irish NYC cop (I think he was born in the old country). Good guy. His contributions went a long way to cleaning up NYC, which under the Dinkins watch was considered fairly unfixable.

[durasell]

Donny Manes! Blast from the past!

I guess we're in agreement.

The guys with the carts -- Seventh Avenue Flyers -- are gone. All the old Jewish guys cutting material by hand up in those lofts on B'way and 38th are gone...Chinese and South American sweatshops are mostly gone.

However, what isn't apparent is that the fashion industry in NYC is bigger than it ever was...25 years ago a bunch of guys told me that NYC would be like Milan and I thought they were out of their minds. Turns out they were exactly right. It now brings in billions to the city. Who knew?

[MaineVoter2002]

It will be an interesting race. Now if only we can get Cynthia the "moonbat" to run as an independent. LOL

[durasell]

Oh yeah, on Dinkins. I always felt halfway sorry for the guy. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. History mugged him.

[HitmanLV]

We're in wide agreement on this stuff: Koch, Dinkins, Rudy.

Dinkins wasn't up for the job. His worst gaffes make the Koch or Rudy big mistakes look tame. A riot in Crown Heights for a few days and 'The kids are just letting off some steam.' That's not what I look for in City Hall/Police Plaza.

Thing is, despite how sucky the Dinkins run was, he almost beat Rudy again in 1993.

Fashion is big in nyc, you are 100% correct. The stuff isn't actually made around 7th Ave/30s anymore. I do miss that.

I've been racking my brain - do you remember the name of the nyc woman politician/beauty contest winner that they tried to create a sexual innuendo with Koch? Part of his 'cover' when his sexual preference would ever get too much attention. I forget her name, but I think part of the irony of that story was that her own sexual preference was a bit of an 'issue' too. Go figure, huh?

I will always like Mayor Ed.

[durasell]

That would have been Miss American 1945 and Bronx native, Bess Myserson.

[HitmanLV]

That's it. Whenever I try to think of women nyc politicians, I always first think of Bella Abzug (I know it wasn't her), and Ruth Messinger (and I knew it wasn't her). Bess Myerson - tall woman, and quite the looker in her day!

[Sprite518]

Yes he did. Kock and Liberman are a few of the honest Libs that know what is at stake.

[durasell]

Yeah, Koch was "dating" a chick from the Bronx! And you know what they say about those Bronx chicks...

[HitmanLV]

Yea, right! In 1977 Star Wars came out, and in 1978 we believed a man could fly, and in 1979 the human adventure continued, but all of those events were a lot more believable than Ed 'dating' Bess Myerson, huh? :-)

[durasell]

Yeah, Koch would never date a chick from the Bronx...

[HitmanLV]

No kidding!!!!