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Ed Koch: I'm Backing Independent Lieberman
New York's "mayor for life," and one of the country's most prominent Democrats, says he's backing Joe Lieberman's independent run for U.S. Senate.
"There's no blood oath binding him not to run as an independent," Edward Koch told NewsMax.
Koch predicts that Lieberman, running as an independent, would win the general election handily. He also noted that Lieberman would continue to caucus with Democrats when he takes his seat in the Senate.
Even though he's in trouble with the extreme left wing of his party, Lieberman, like most Democrats, was right to support President Bush on the War in Iraq, says Koch.
"The issue of terrorism is the only issue on which I agree with the president, but it goes to the issue of the survival of this country, to its very existence," he explained.
Story Continues Below Like President Bush, Joe Lieberman understands that we are involved in "a war between civilizations" in which the enemy, Islamic fascists, wants to kill us, Koch said.
Koch is no stranger to bolting from his party's choices. In 2004 Koch backed George Bush over his party nominee, John Kerry.
At the time Koch told NewsMax: "I am a proud Democrat who generally supports Democratic candidates for office. I have never voted for anyone other than a Democrat for president. I believe that the Democratic Party's philosophy is over all far better for our country than the Republican Party's . . . Although I am a Democrat, I am no ideologue . . . I have proudly crossed party lines for candidates I thought were appreciably better. "I believe that the most important issue facing the world is international terrorism, and it is my current intention to vote for George W. Bush for re-election."
But Koch expects to be fully backing a Democrat come 2008.
So who is hizzoner supporting for the presidency in 2008?
"I'm for Hillary Clinton's re-election to the Senate and her election to the presidency," says Koch. Despite a reputation as a dyed-in-the-wool liberal," Koch says, "Hillary has moved to the center." He added that, like Joe Lieberman, "she was right to support the Iraq war, too." Sen. Clinton has become increasingly critical of Bush's handling of the Iraq occupation. Koch said he agrees with the New York senator that the Bush administration has mishandled the war effort.
"They screwed it up," says Koch who, like Clinton, blames the bungled war effort on Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
"His not providing a sufficient number of troops to get the job done is an outrage," Koch declared. As for Bush, he has shown that he can be too loyal to the men and women who work for him in the executive branch.
Meanwhile, Koch has a warning for his fellow Democrats: "We will not win either the House or the Senate in this fall, or the White House in 2008 if we follow Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, and John Kerry and run only on the Iraq War issue."
Instead, Democrats should run on traditional Democratic issues: health care, strengthening Social Security, and fair taxation - the bread and butter issues on which Democrats have always run.
Asked if the Lieberman loss in the primary would send a signal to moderate Democrats that they are in danger, too, Koch said moderates in the party are more likely to be angry and upset should radical left-wing succeed in dominating the agenda.
"That's what happened in 1972 when [George] McGovern took over the party," Koch recalled. Besides, he's convinced that Lieberman's political woes will not spread to other states where Democrats are up for re-election.
Editor's note:
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