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`Righteous Democrat'

Vote for Bush and a Democratic Congress, says Mayor Koch.

HARRY KIRS BAUM
Staff Writer

A

s the mayor of the Big Apple from 1978 to
1989, Ed Koch said he led the Democratic
Party in New York City to the moderate
center, and President Bill Clinton took the party in
the same direction on the national level.
"Now it's back in the hands of the McGovernites,
and it's shameful that the party has deteriorated," he
said.
Koch has recently been stumping before Jewish
voters for President George W. Bush's re-election
campaign. He has visited Detroit three times in the
past two weeks, including a speech that drew nearly
600 people at a rented venue at Congregation Beth
Ahm in West Bloomfield.
Linda Stulberg of Farmington Hills introduced
Koch and also provided some personal perspective.
"Like many of my liberal peers, I have pulled the .
lever for a Democrat in every presidential election
since I've been eligible to vote," she told the crowd.
‘ "I'm crossing the line because the line has been
crossed," she said.
She went on to explain that in the fires caused by
the downed airplanes that had been turned into
missiles by terrorist hijackers on 9-11, she also saw
blazing hatred and evil, such as generated currently
by suicide bombers in Israel and during World War
II by the Nazis.
"George Bush understands that evil cannot- be
appeased," she said. "He is committed to securing
America by waging a direct assault against the terror-
ists and the countries that harbor and sponsor them."
She said that Bush "also appreci-
ates that Israel is fighting much the
same war that we are."
She called Koch a "righteous
Democrat," a man who "dug deep
into his American heart and his
Jewish soul" to publicly campaign
for the re-election of President Bush
even though he "has never before
voted for a Republican president."
Koch's message was the same at all
three local events: Vote for President
Bush, then•vote for a Democratic
C ongress.
"John Kerry is a decent man, but he made a deci-
sion that, to be president, he has to accept the posi-
tion of Howard Dean because those are the people
who are running the party," he told the Jewish News
after a luncheon sponsored by the Republican Jewish
Coalition in Southfield on Oct. 11. "It's nothing to
do with [Kerry's] courage; of course, he deserves
every medal he got. It has to do with his philosophy,
his philosophy is that of Howard Dean and the
Deaniacs.'"
Koch called it a lack of appreciation of American

Linda Stulberg of Farmington Hills and Marc Weinbaum of Bloomfield Twp. listen as Ed Koch addresses the crowd

values. "How can they be so protective of Saddam
Hussein?" he asked. "It was right to invade Iraq on
the grounds that they had weapons of mass destruc-
tion, that they were a center of terrorism and that
there was danger in the foreseeable future that they
could give those weapons of mass
destruction to terrorist groups like Al
Qaida. They want to kill us.
While the Democrats are dominat-
ed by the radical left, Koch said the
Republican Party is controlled by the
radical right in domestic policy.
"I'm hopeful on domestic issues that
Democrats will prevail," he said.
"Congress determines the outcome of
domestic issues, so with a Democratic
Congress, you can get what you want
done there. Under our Constitution,
foreign policy is determined by the president."

"George Bush
understands that
evil cannot be
,,
appeased..
Linda Stulb erg

10/29

2004
24

33

Terrorism Trumps Other Issues

Koch said he does not agree with the president on
a single srocial issue, but those issues all are
trumped by the legitimate concern of international
terrorism.
Citing withdrawal of Iraq War coalition troops or
civilian employees from Spain, the Philippines and
Turkey, Koch said, "the Islamic fanatics have •
already caused a change in foreign policy."

He also said Jews should support Bush because,
"every night there's a Jewish community that's in
danger, and only Israel is willing to take them."
Katie Jacob of Birmingham stood outside Beth
Ahm holding Kerry for President signs with other
John Kerry supporters, but made-it inside to hear
the end of Koch's speech.
She fervently disagrees with Koch's support of
the president. ,
"President Bush has not made us safer, he's made
us less safe," she said. "He made the case Eor the
war in Iraq based on false and trumped-up infor-
mation. Now we're stuck in a quagmire, in spite of
his own national intelligence estimate that came
out this summer saying that it's more likely Iraq is
headed into civil war than to democracy in Iraq.
But he continues to claim. Iraq is a success.
"About 250 innocent Iraqis are being killed every
day, and the war on terrorism wasn't about them,"
she said. "Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, but he
wasn't involved in 9-11."
Marc Weinbaum, chair of the Michigan Jewish
Coalition for the Bush Campaign, called Ed Koch's
Beth Ahm speech compelling.
"This is a man who has nothing to gain by sup-
porting the president. In fact, he probably has
much to lose," said Weinbaum of Bloomfield
Township. "He summed it up .pretty clearly, the -
issues that we face in the world trump some of the
domestic concerns that we rightly have." ❑