Free Republic

Mayor Ed KochÂ’s practical progressivism saved GothamÂ’s finances and restored its spirit.This past summer, Edward I. Koch, a Democrat, made headlines by noisily endorsing Republican Bob Turner in a special election to fill the congressional seat of disgraced Tweeter Anthony Weiner. The former mayor explained that heÂ’d decided to rally Jewish voters in Brooklyn and Queens to chastise President Obama for his Israel policy. KochÂ’s outsize role in TurnerÂ’s surprise victory made for big political news and led to speculation that Obama could be facing trouble in his reelection bid. The episode was unusual, but unusual has always been de...

Almost everyone who lives in New York City knows that I am Jewish. Most know that I am a secular Jew who believes in God, the afterlife, reward and punishment, and that I hope to be rewarded. I have spent much of my professional life stressing how important it is for Jews to strengthen the Jewish-Catholic relationship. Jews should also convey their deep appreciation for the support that evangelical Protestants give to both Israel and the American Jewish community. Regrettably, a number of mainstream Protestant churches have been supportive of the Palestinians and Arab causes for years, and hostile to...

Absolutely amazing, 9 days after Ed Koch said in an Op-Ed in the NYDN "If he [Obama] doesn't read the tea leaves and change his position, you can be certain I will continue to bang my drum. I will campaign against him not only in New York, but in other parts of the country next year." Well today, Ed Koch endorsed Obama for president in 2012. I'd love to know what went on behind the scenes abcnews It turns out that failed New York congressional candidate David Weprin and former NYC Mayor Ed Koch have more in common than many...

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch recently endorsed Republican Bob Turner in the special election for Anthony Weiner's old congressional seat, helping him pull off the upset against Democrat Dave Weprin. Koch, who supported Obama in 2008, wanted to punish the Democratic party over "President Obama's open hostility to the State of Israel." But that was all a few weeks ago! He's now changed his mind and endorsed Obama, after being invited to a fancy party. Koch released a statement today that, for the most part, is a party report with several off-topic detours along the way: I attended...

Democratic senior statesman Ed Koch says Israel is facing its “most dangerous and critical period” and he is ready to break with his party in the next presidential election over President Obama’s policies on the Middle East. In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, the former New York City mayor said, “Mitt Romney correctly summed it up when he said that President Obama has once again thrown Israel under the bus. “I believe this is the most dangerous and critical period that Israel has ever faced and regrettably it does not have the support of the President of the United States,...

As I see it, in the current battle for public opinion Sarah Palin has defeated her harsh and unfair critics. After the January 8 shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the murder of six others in Tucson, Arizona, some television talking heads and members of the blogosphere denounced her and held her in part responsible for creating a climate of hatred that resulted in the mass attacks. An example is Joe Scarborough and his crew on the "Morning Joe" show, which I watch and generally enjoy every morning at 6:30 a.m. when I rise to start the day. Because...

As I see it, in the current battle for public opinion Sarah Palin has defeated her harsh and unfair critics. (snip) Why do I defend Palin in this case? I don’t agree with her political philosophy: She is an arch conservative. I am a liberal with sanity. I know that I am setting myself up for attack when I ask, why did Emile Zola defend Dreyfus? Palin is no Dreyfus and I am certainly no Zola. But all of us have an obligation, particularly those in politics and public office, to denounce, when we can, the perpetrators of horrendous libels...

Yesterday, Maurice Hinchey had to get Bill Clinton out to Binghamton to try to rescue his re-election bid and save his House seat. Today, Republican challenger George Phillips trumps Hinchey with a surprise endorsement from former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat who has a track record of backing common-sense Republicans. Hot Air reports exclusively this morning that Koch will deliver a speech tomorrow afternoon in Kingston announcing his endorsement of Phillips. Why is Koch opposing the Democratic incumbent? Koch is apparently unhappy with Hinchey over the nine-term Congressman’s hostility towards Israel. In his speech, Koch will hit...

No, the three NY1 Wiseguys have no problem with the idea of Republican Carl Paladino becoming governor of New York -- other than the fact that in an open letter released today, the trio calls Paladino every name in the book. They write that in the GOP primary between Paladino and vanquished Rick Lazio, "anger overcame reason and enabled a fringe element to choose the Republican nominee.The end result was the selection of Mr. Paladino, a divisive figure simply not fit to lead this great state." Other thoughts from the letter, which you can peruse for yourself below: "Mr. Paladino...

President Obama was right to express his views on constructing a mosque near Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 catastrophe: "As a citizen and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan in accordance with local laws and ordinances." Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was first to take up the fight to protect the legitimate rights of American Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero, was...

All during the 2008 Presidential campaign, we told the liberal-Democrat Koch mentality what Obama was all about. They refused to listen. Now, they’re waking up to the nightmare they’ve helped to create…

A Dangerous Silence By Ed Koch I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being orchestrated by President Obama. For me, the situation today recalls what occurred in 70 AD when the Roman emperor Vespasian launched a military campaign against the Jewish nation and its ancient capital of Jerusalem. Ultimately, Masada, a rock plateau in the Judean desert became the last refuge of the Jewish people against the Roman onslaught. I have been to Jerusalem and Masada. From the top of Masada, you...

Here is video of former New York Mayor Ed Koch - a Democrat who campaigned for Obama - saying that he now believes President Obama is willing to "throw Israel under the bus in order to please Muslim nations." Koch said he believes Obama has accepted that Iran will have Nuclear Weapons, and is ready to live with it. Koch said he feels we are approaching "appeasement and Munich."

Appearing as a guest on Thursday’s Your World with Neil Cavuto on FNC, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch – known for being a relatively centrist Democrat – chided President Obama for being reluctant to use terms like "war on terrorism" or "Islamic extremists," and, when host Cavuto pointed out that Obama had managed to improve attitudes toward America in the Muslim world, Koch sarcastically shot back: "Isn`t that nice? Did they stop trying to kill us?" Even while declaring himself to be a supporter of the Obama administration, the former New York mayor still voiced his frustrations about...

Here is video of former New York Mayor Ed Koch - a Democrat - on with Neil Cavuto today where he blasted the attitude of the Obama Administration toward the "War on Terror," saying Obama is afraid to call our enemy "Muslim Islamist Terrorists." Koch said while the vast majority of the world's Muslims are not in agreement with Al-Qaeda, the fact is that "hundreds of millions are." Koch said the Muslim Islamists want to "kill every Christian, every Jew, every Hindu who won't covert - and we ought to put it on the table." Koch said he is in...

I continue to be a supporter of President Barack Obama. He has had several outstanding successes. The major one has been a positive change in the economy due primarily, I believe, to his hand-picked team of economic advisers who, from all indications, have fashioned an effective economic recovery plan. The recovery still has a long way to go, but using the language of my doctors at the hospital in which I recently spent six critical weeks recovering from open-heart surgery, “All the numbers are going in the right direction.” I also believe his reaching out to our allies and those...

“Outrage” is the talk of the Tribeca film festival. The documentary by filmmaker Kirby Dick claims that several politicians who vote “anti-gay” on political issues are actually gay themselves, and have had verifiable trysts with men. The documentary contains interviews with men who claim to have had sex with these “anti-gay” politicians. Of course, many liberal media outlets are trying to keep the identities of the politicians “outed” by Outrage a secret. Some claim that sexuality (even for politicians) is a personal issue that should not be made public without consent under any circumstances. That is sheer nonsense. In the...

California GOP Rep. David Dreier and a number of other politicians are the unwilling stars of a controversial new documentary with an explosive premise - it's time to blow open the closet door on prominent politicians who have hidden their homosexuality while actively working against gay causes. The film "Outrage," which opens today at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco, presents interviews and documentation charging that a number of prominent legislators - including Dreier, the U.S. representative from San Dimas (Los Angeles County), Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat - have remained...

Those in power under former president George W. Bush contributed to the economic rape of the country by declining to regulate Wall Street, allowing the economic debacle now unfolding which has devastated the country, bringing middle-class Americans to their knees economically with their jobs and savings vanishing with each passing day. In the last days of the Bush tenure, his economic team tried to stem the economic tidal wave overwhelming the country with a team led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who failed miserably. Bush’s team told us that the major problem was liquidity and that a bailout of the...

There are those who object to the war in Iraq, but who continue to support our military efforts in Afghanistan. There is now an ongoing effort to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. We and NATO currently have 62,000 troops in Afghanistan, 32,000 American and 30,000 coalition. The Afghan war, which was approved by the United Nations, is going badly. The Taliban is using Pakistan as its base from which to attack American and NATO troops in Afghanistan. When our troops strike back with airpower, either in Afghanistan or Pakistan, they often kill innocent civilians living with the Taliban and...

Sarah Palin is a phenomenon. She is plucky and, in a winsome way, in your face. Referring to middle class America as Joe-Six-Pack and to herself as a hockey mom, she debated last week with veteran Senator Joe Biden, who has served in the Senate for 36 years and knows his way around Washington. I admire Sarah Pain's spunkiness and feel she has not been treated fairly by the media which has tried to make her look foolish and provincial. When she was interviewed by Charles Gibson and asked the question, "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" I thought...

The time has come to declare whom I will be voting for. When I made my decision four years ago and supported the re-election of George W. Bush, I said at the time the overwhelming issue for me was international Islamic terrorism, including al-Qaida. The goal of Islamic terrorists was, and still is, to re-establish the caliphate encompassing most of the Muslims living in a host of nations from Spain to Indonesia and placing them under a single religious leader with full authority over the civil affairs of the countries, in the style of Iran. That goal includes the deaths...

Throughout his political career, whenever anyone called him a liberal, Ed Koch would always respond: “Yes, I’m a liberal, but with sanity.” The eventual mayor of New York City first demonstrated that sanity in the Democratic Party reform movement of the early 1960s, when a group of prestigious New Yorkers led by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Senator Herbert Lehman booted the party regulars—the so-called “machine politicians” who had dominated the Democratic Party for decades—from power. As a young soldier in that movement, Koch ousted the head of Tammany Hall, Carmine DeSapio, from his position as Democratic district leader...

Sen. John McCain was wrong to reject the endorsement of Texas evangelist Rev. John Hagee. Several years ago the Rev. Hagee delivered a sermon that was caught on tape in which he preached, "Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun, and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said, 'My top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel." Anyone hearing the tape would conclude that Hagee is hostile to...

Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch, one of the country’s most prominent Democrats, says he may cross over and back Republican Sen. John McCain for president. In an exclusive Newsmax interview, Koch says McCain “has no equal” when it comes to opposing Islamic terrorism. Though Koch says he disagrees with most of McCain’s positions on domestic issues, he could support him because of his strong national security credentials. Koch carries significant weight with many Jewish Democrats in New York and across the country. He also has a history of playing the maverick and crossing party lines. He has backed...

Health Update From Mayor Koch I will be hospitalized on May 18 to have an operation on my spine on May 21. Hopefully, I will be discharged from the hospital at the end of that week to begin two weeks of recuperation. My medical condition, which I have had for about a year and a half, is diagnosed as stenosis of the spine, which involves arthritis, a narrowing of the spine and the impingement on nerves, causing discomfort and some pain when I walk. The prognosis, I am told, is excellent with a 92 percent recovery rate and a very...

Sen. Barack Obama won the North Carolina primary by 14 percentage points. Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Indiana primary by a narrower margin of 2 percent. Neither candidate scored a knockout punch, but Obama came out ahead. Clearly Obama who had the most to lose — it would have been considered a huge loss if Indiana went big for Hillary — also had the most to gain. The race goes on and will go on until a decision is made at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The fat lady here is Hillary, and she won’t sing. I’m part of...

Tomorrow evening we will know the outcome of the Democratic primaries in two important states that could decide the political fates of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In Indiana, a primarily white state, we will know whether white voters, who are close to 75 percent of the population of the U.S., accept Senator Obama's explanation of why, after first stating, "I can no more disown him [Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother," he now rejects Wright after Wright's appearance before the NAACP and the...

There is an old saying, "Youth is wasted on the young." When we are young and energetic, few of us take stock of our lives. Instead, we use our energy to take on new challenges and enjoy life to the fullest. And that's the way it should be.

Barack Obama's speech last week addressing his 20-year relationship with his radical pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was very well done, yet unconvincing. Obama sought to explain that relationship and why he could not end this close association, despite the minister's hate-filled rhetoric. He said, "There will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?" Yes, those are the questions that people are asking. Many of Rev. Wright's incendiary statements are on videos sold by his church. Minister...

Published: March 25, 2008 Obama’s Big Speech: Too Little, Too LateEd Koch Barack Obama’s speech last week addressing his 20-year relationship with his radical pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was very well done, yet unconvincing. Obama sought to explain that relationship and why he could not end this close association, despite the minister's hate-filled rhetoric. He said, “There will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask?  Why not join another church?” Yes, those are the questions that people are asking. Many of Rev. Wright’s incendiary statements...

Although Ed Koch has not held elected office for nearly two decades, the feisty former mayor of New York City remains a powerful force in American politics and in the American Jewish community. Reporters still ask for his comments on the latest news developments, and candidates for office still seek his endorsement. Now Koch has a new book out – and it contains a stunning revelation that may ignite a second round of his now-famous clash with James Baker. Round One of Koch vs. Baker exploded across headlines around the world in March 1992, when Koch revealed, in his New...

DAVID Petraeus is a highly decorated four-star general. He has been designated by the commander-in- chief to lead the young men and women who comprise the great U.S. force of 160,000 soldiers and Marines serving on the battlefields of Iraq, at great danger to themselves and to the officers who lead them. Most soldiers, in pointing out their military honors, will cite the Combat Infantry Badge - which the general wears, as he does those medals awarded to him for personal bravery in combat. Gen. Petraeus has sworn, as do all our military officers, to defend the Constitution of the...

Let me now -- and not for the first time -- rush in where angels fear to tread. I support President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence. I have never met Mr. Libby. I have not been asked by any of his friends or family to assist him. So why am I taking this step, which is sure to be criticized by many of my friends and supporters? It is because I believe in fairness. To remain silent because speaking out would not be popular is to invite punishment in the world to come. What are the facts in...

Ed Koch is willing to travel the country denouncing Rudy Giuliani if "America's mayor" wins the Republican presidential nomination . "If I had to sum it up in a few minutes I would say he's a control freak - and the control is over your life," said Koch, 82, of his former political ally. "The personality issue is very key." Koch said the "most opportune time" for him to hit the campaign trail would be after Giuliani were to become the nominee, but "if organizations asked me to come, I certainly would try in advance of that." Koch's anti-Rudy rhetoric...

Rudolph W. Giuliani's first inauguration as mayor here was a family affair. His 7-year-old son, Andrew, mugged for the cameras as Papa Rudy toasted his television hostess wife, Donna, as "my partner, my inspiration and my lover." Then daughter Caroline, 4, hid behind her hat as the couple kissed that Jan. 2, 1994. Thirteen years later, that familial unit is nowhere to be seen in the Giuliani presidential campaign. The once rambunctious Andrew, now a burly Duke sophomore, has indicated that he has no plans to stump for his father — he's too busy working on his golf game. Neither...

I support the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the landmark case of Roe v. Wade (1973). The Supreme Court found a constitutional right empowering women, in consultation with their physicians, to abort the fetus they were carrying if they so desired. Until the most recent case of Gonzales v. Carhart decided last week, Roe v. Wade was basically upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in abortion cases. Last week, the court took the opposite view. The 5 to 4 decision for the first time limited in a major way the right of a woman to have a particular type of...

President George W. Bush, vilified by many, supported by some, is a hero to me. Why do I say that? It’s not because I agree with the president’s domestic agenda. It’s not because I think he’s done a perfect job in the White House. George Bush is a hero to me because he has courage. The president does what he believes to be in the best interest of the United States. He sticks with his beliefs, no matter how intense the criticism and invective that are directed against him every day. The enormous defeat President Bush suffered with the loss...

President George W. Bush, vilified by many, supported by some, is a hero to me. Why do I say that? It's not because I agree with the President's domestic agenda. It's not because I think he's done a perfect job in the White House. George Bush is a hero to me because he has courage. The President does what he believes to be in the best interest of the United States. He sticks with his beliefs, no matter how intense the criticism and invective that are directed against him every day. The enormous defeat President Bush suffered with the loss...

I should seriously write a book called, The Idiots Guide To Not Thinking Seriously About Islam. It’s hard to find a subject where mushy thinking is more in vogue – where political correctness conquers reality more thoroughly. People actually are afraid to think seriously on the subject, because the logical conclusions are too frightening for many to contemplate. And so, there’s no place where comfortable clichés are more readily deployed. Probably the most glaring illustration of inanity here were recent comments by his Holiness, the Dalai Lama. On leaving a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of Tibetan Buddhists...

In the wake of the scandal surrounding former Congressman Mark Foley, what will Republican voters do? I believe they will hold their noses and go to the polls to re-elect a Republican Senate and Republican House of Representatives. They will comfort themselves with the thought that between now and 2008, they can cleanse their party. We will soon know. Tempus fugit. An article in The New York Times last week made this same point, stating, “As word of Representative Mark Foley’s sexually explicit e-mail messages to former pages spread last week, Republican strategists worried—and Democrats hoped—that the sordid nature of...

Most newspapers have published leaked conclusions from a classified National Intelligence Estimate that said the war in Iraq is fueling a rise in global Islamic terrorism. But only one, at least in New York City, has balanced these conclusions against the contents of a letter "found in the headquarters of Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after he was killed on June 7. The letter was sent to Zarqawi by a senior Al Qaeda leader who signs his name simply 'Atiyah.' He complains that Al Qaeda is weak both in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and in Iraq." In the...

On September 23, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, I attended services at the Park East Synagogue as I have for the last forty years. Since I left the mayoralty seventeen years ago, Rabbi Arthur Schneier has called on me during that morning service to address the congregation observing the start of the Jewish New Year, in this case 5767. I never prepare formal remarks for this occasion, preferring to listen carefully to the Rabbi's sermon and to amplify his themes. When he introduced me he said, "We normally blow the shofar (a ram's horn) on Rosh Hashanah but not...

In a recent commentary, former New York Mayor Ed Koch - a Democrat with at least half a brain (which makes him the leading intellectual light of his party) - asked rhetorically, "Why do so many Americans refuse to face the fact that our country is at war with international terrorism?" Because they're liberals? During the Spanish Civil War, as the climactic battle for Madrid approached, Nationalist leader Francisco Franco told a reporter: "I have four columns marching on Madrid and a fifth within the city ready to rise at my call." Franco's comment gave rise to the World War...

Undermining the War on Terrorism Edward I. Koch Sept. 1, 2006 Why do so many Americans refuse to face the fact that our country is at war with international terrorism? The leading terrorist group, al-Qaida, is fighting us on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Iran and North Korea are threatening nuclear war. And yet many Americans, including some congressional Democrats, denounce President Bush, and in so doing, weaken our country's ability to resist Islamic fascism. One congressional Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan, announced his intention to impeach the president when Republicans lose control of both houses of...

Why do so many Americans refuse to face the fact that our country is at war with international terrorism? The leading terrorist group, Al Qaida, is fighting us on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Iran and North Korea are threatening nuclear war. And yet many Americans, including some Congressional Democrats, denounce President Bush, and in so doing, weaken our country’s ability to resist Islamic fascism. One Congressional Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan, announced his intention to impeach the President when Republicans lose control of both Houses of Congress. There is something terribly wrong with people seeking to...

Why do so many Americans refuse to face the fact that our country is at war with international terrorism? The leading terrorist group, al-Qaeda, is fighting us on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Iran and North Korea are threatening nuclear war. And yet many Americans, including some Congressional Democrats, denounce President Bush, and in so doing, weaken our country's ability to resist Islamic fascism. One Congressional Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan, announced his intention to impeach the President when Republicans lose control of both Houses of Congress. There is something terribly wrong with people seeking to demean...

“HOW’M I DOIN’?” was the question the quixotic Ed Koch used to ask New York’s voters during Hizzoner’s eleven turbulent years as the city’s mayor. For a man who governed the globe’s most neurotic metropolis in the style of a rolling public psychiatric consultation, it was a fitting question. But as the world contemplates the nervous breakdown of American policy in the Middle East, it is something President George Bush should surely be asking himself, or at least his fellow Americans. How’m I doin’? Let’s see. You invaded Iraq because you argued you would be able to bring about a...

The war now raging in Lebanon should not surprise anyone. For many years, Hezbollah, which is funded, equipped and ideologically supported by Iran and Syria, has made it crystal clear that its goal is to conquer Israel, expel its Jewish inhabitants, and place the entire land under Islamic rule. Hezbollah engages in terrorism – the deliberate targeting of Jewish civilians and others – to achieve its goals. For the past month, Hezbollah has rained down thousands of rockets on Israel, deliberately maiming and killing innocent Israeli civilians. Hezbollah uses Lebanese civilians as human shields when it places its rockets in...

AUGUST 2, 2006 ED KOCH NEWS & COLUMNS Israel’s response to Hezbollah has demonstrated to the enemies of the Jewish state that Israel will stand up and fight. This is in marked contrast to Spain, France and Germany under Schroeder, who have blinked and withdrawn responding to Islamic terror or threatened terror. Thankfully, our country’s leaders appreciate that we are at war with international terrorism. The West confronts a war of civilizations that is not for the fainthearted. There are those who believe that negotiations without the will to engage in military action will suffice. They are wrong. For 58...