Ed Koch: Giving me respect again for professional politicos

A lot of folks who are much more active into the howtos and whyfors of American political process tell me the Democrats have a shot at taking majority in congress. I tell them that they don't. And while he may not agree with me entirely Ed Koch see's much of what I see.

The expectation that Democrats would take back the House, Senate or both in this year's general election diminishes with each passing day, and it is not difficult to understand why. The American public does not want to see the president demeaned or humbled before the world. They expect and demand that simple courtesy be afforded that office. In philosophy, the country is much closer to George W. Bush than it is to Ted Kennedy. A sane and wise voice is that of liberal Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)who in response to the recent Alito confirmation hearings said, "George Bush won the election. If you don't like it, you better win elections." In his simple and direct statement, he is absolutely right. In a commercial for brokerage firm Smith Barney, John Houseman once said, "They make money the old fashioned way…they earn it." George W. Bush was reelected the old fashioned way…he earned it through hard work and on the merits.
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The failure of John Kerry early on in his presidential campaign to denounce Whoopi Goldberg for her use of vile and obscene attacks on President Bush at Kerry's Radio City Music Hall fundraiser presaged his ultimate defeat. Why? Because it showed he was unable to stand up and denounce those who engage in conduct unacceptable to the American public, for fear of losing a single vote.


In the words of Pete Seeger, "Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?"

If you won't play to win, if you play to make the other guy lose and be fearful of losing yourself... you aren't going to get the voters behind you. It just doesn't get clearer then that.