Syndicated Column 8-16-04
The Capitol Connection by Alan S. Chartock

Nasty Koch

ALBANY, NY -- (08/16/2004; 1200)(EIS) -- Some people think that eighty
year old Ed Koch is in his dotage and losing it. Between you and me,
I've always thought the guy was a jerk. I am not alone. The people of
New York threw him out years ago for being a divisive, mean spirited,
self-serving politician of the worst kind. Some people think that his
not-so-recent conversion to Republicanism (he says that he's a
Democrat) is newly found. Nope, despite his early and fiery rhetoric,
he's always had these tendencies. The fact that he is an unabashed
supporter of President Bush; that he is the face on the recruitment of
volunteers for the Republican Convention; that he is calling the
Democratic convention "Dullsville"; that he has endorsed Bush but says
that he disagrees with virtually every domestic position the President
has; herein, just a few of my reason for saying the man is a hypocrite
and a jerk. Period.
Ed Koch is an opportunist. Some people believe that calling someone an
opportunist is equivalent to calling them a political prostitute. So
be it. Let's remember that as a young reformer, Mr. Koch took on the
forces of evil in the form of the recently passed Carmine DeSapio,
late of Tammany Hall. Koch the Mouth said that he was a "reformer"
and the people bought it. He loved to be seen as Mr. Outspoken, a guy
who would say what was on his mind. But when he became mayor of New
York, his innate and self-serving conservatism became more and more
pronounced. He was called a racist by many people of color in New
York. He made new friends, the kind with lots of money who could do
him and his aspirations some good.
I'll never forget when he came to Albany and ticked everyone off with
one insult after another. If he believes that the Democrats in Boston
were "Dullsville," he certainly must have thought that Albany was
"Smallsville" as he publically spoke and sneeringly joked about women
wearing gingham dresses and no Chinese restaurants and everyone
driving pick-up trucks with rifles mounted in their rear windows.
My antipathy goes back much further to the early 1970's when I took a
college class to Washington D.C. and one of my students insisted that
we set up a meeting with Koch. To my great revulsion, the meeting was
set and we walked in. Koch's eyes took in the crowd from the State
University at New Paltz and he clearly didn't like what he saw. He
uttered, "Sorry, gotta' go," or some similar inanity and the guy was
out of there.
"Told you," I reminded my crestfallen student who, up to then, had
always considered the guy a hero.
Koch says he is a Democrat and that he supports Bush for a single
reason, his commitment to fighting terrorists. Who does he think that
the Democrats are? Does he think Mao is the head Democrat? Does Koch
really think that it doesn't make a difference that George Bush
opposes abortion and most of stem cell research? Does this alleged
reform Democrat really think that it's okay that Bush does everything
to help those who have and screw those who have not?
Koch, of course, is not alone among turncoats who, once out of office,
shed their Democratic suits to show who they really are. Just take
ex-Governor Hugh Carey, famous for offering to drink a glass of PCBs
because they were so safe, the same Hugh Carey who is proudly
introduced every year at the State of the State Message by his pal
George Pataki, the conservative governor of New York.
Some day both men will be admitted into the Benedict Arnold Hall of
Fame For Famous Traitors and Hypocrites. I think that Ed Koch, just
for being who he is, should be named honorary President. No wonder the
people of New York threw him out on his fanny. You can't fool all the
people all the time.
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- posted by Alan @ 8/16/2004 03:47:00 PM