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Edward I. Koch: Dems, media are making an unforgivable mistake
Jewish World Review ^ | July 16, 2003 | Edward I. Koch

Posted on 07/16/2003 5:43:32 AM PDT by SJackson

The Democratic candidates for President -- and many in the media -- are trying to make President Bush seem like a liar. In so doing, they are making an unforgivable mistake. In his State of the Union Address to Congress on January 28, 2003, President Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, defending himself before the House of Commons for making a similar representation, said last week that the representation was true and comes from a different source than the one that was recently discredited by the CIA.

For me, it comes down to this: If Bush actually did lie to the American public -- intentionally stating as the truth that which he knew to be false -- then he should be impeached and removed as President. However, if Bush did not lie, and I do not believe that he did, then Americans of all political persuasions should defend our country's reputation for fair play by displaying their indignation at those who bear false witness.

They can do this by rejecting those candidates and political leaders who have perpetuated that charge and by turning to other TV and radio channels when the unfair and venomous attacks against the President are being aired.

I am a proud Democrat who generally supports Democratic candidates for office. I have never voted for anyone other than a Democrat for President.

Although I am a Democrat, I am no ideologue. In some local and state elections, 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 reelection. I do not agree with him on many domestic issues, ranging from privatizing Social Security to tax reductions favoring the wealthy. However, because of his leadership and successes in the war against international terrorism, he is my current choice in 2004.

Whether intelligence reports about Iraq were accurate or not, the President had a right to rely on information from Blair, America's most steadfast ally, and his government. If either Bush or Blair knew the reports were false and either is now engaging in a cover-up, that individual should be removed from office.

I believe Democrats and their media allies will fail to bring Bush down because taking on Saddam Hussein was the right course of action for America. National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, on Face the Nation over the weekend cleaned the clocks of her two media interrogators and critics, CBS' Bob Schieffer and Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau Chief, Doyle McManus with her brilliant responses to their questions. I quote her in part:

Bob Schieffer: The question I have for you this morning, who put it into the speech?
Dr. Rice: Well, let's start at the very beginning, as they say. And the president of the United States -- the notion that the president of the United States took the country to war because he was concerned with one sentence about whether Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa is purely ludicrous. And this has gotten to that proportion, that people are saying this statement is why the president took the nation to war.

The president took the nation to war to depose a bloody tyrant who had defied the world for 12 years, who was building a weapons of mass destruction program and had weapons of mass destruction, which he had used in the past, who was a threat to American interest in the Middle East and who, now that he is removed, is giving us an opportunity for Middle East that might finally be at peace and that will not create an atmosphere in which you have ideologies of hatred spawning people who slam airplanes into the World Trade Center. So we do have to put this in perspective.

The president's State of the Union said something that was accurate: This is what the British government said in its reporting. The British, I might note, still stand by that statement. It was not based, they say, on a single source, but on other sources."

Continued....

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; edkoch; wmd
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To: NYC Republican
I don't think he is completely irrelevant. He still has influence over a bunch of New York liberals and if we can begin to deprogram them I can smell victory.
101 posted on 07/17/2003 7:59:28 AM PDT by Temple Owl
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To: Temple Owl
He still has influence over a bunch of New York liberals

That's just it, he'll never get them to change their mind, nor will anything else... IMHO, Bush hasn't a prayer in NY. I didn't think he did at the height of the war, I certainly don't now. We're foolish enough to vote for Hillary, that should tell you something, right? Pretty pathetic.

102 posted on 07/17/2003 9:23:08 AM PDT by NYC Republican
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To: ought-six
I am VERY concerned that N. Korea may sell a nuke to an anti-American group).

That would be my concern too, but we seem to be ignoring that threat and instead chasing after will o’ the wisps.
103 posted on 07/17/2003 6:22:14 PM PDT by R. Scott
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To: Question_Assumptions
Koch is more honest than most Democrat politicians in saying what he really things.

In a way he's rather like Moynihan was, in that he can identify the problems, but is incapable of bringing himself to the logical conclusions for how to solve them. ...Less of the shoulder-shrugging, and references to unknowable solutions, though.

104 posted on 07/25/2003 9:50:22 PM PDT by lepton
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
I'd vote for Democrat Koch over "Republican" Bloomberg in a nano-second.

Bloomburg was a long-time Democrat that ran on the Republican ticket as an alternative to Mark Green. Bloomburg is no Republican, but the alternative was Green.

105 posted on 07/25/2003 9:52:11 PM PDT by lepton
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To: lepton
Bloomburg is no Republican, but the alternative was Green.

Hence the quotes around "Republican". I'm no longer sure that Green would've been any worse than this clown.

106 posted on 07/28/2003 7:40:42 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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