Friends, I wanted to be sure you saw Ed Koch’s column of two days ago. The mayor is supporting the Democratic ticket this year — but he hasn’t lost his honesty, that’s for sure. This column begins, “Sarah Palin is a phenomenon. She is plucky and, in a winsome way, in your face.” And I thought you might be interested in this, in particular:
I admire Palin’s spunkiness and feel she has not been treated fairly by the media, which has tried to make her look foolish and provincial. When she was interviewed by Charles Gibson and asked the question, “Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?” I thought it unfair. Why?
I consider myself to be knowledgeable on foreign affairs [is he ever] and I did not know what the Bush doctrine referred to until later when it was described as support for pre-emptive military action. However, that term — Bush doctrine — has also been applied to other policies of the administration.
I certainly do believe in the right to take pre-emptive action to thwart an enemy’s attack upon us. Palin later explained, when she learned what the Bush doctrine stood for, that she did too.
Yup. And consider these next paragraphs — from a lifelong politician, lawyer, writer, debater, and general Bigtime Public Figure:
When Katie Couric in a later interview asked Palin if she disagreed with any United States Supreme Court decisions other than Roe v. Wade, a case deciding that abortion was a privacy right protected under the Constitution, Palin, having no Supreme Court decision in mind, again obfuscated and again looked bad.
Interestingly, I am a lawyer — not a constitutional expert — and had I been asked the same question, no particular decision would have come to mind. This recalls President Eisenhower, who when asked at a press conference to describe Nixon’s contributions to his administration’s policies, replied: “If you give me a week, I might think of one.”
I, too, thought of the Eisenhower-Nixon thing when I read about the Couric-Palin exchange.
Anyway, I was sorry that Koch endorsed Obama, and I think he will be sorry, too: I think Obama will disappoint him in foreign affairs, maybe even appall him – especially in the War on Terror. I have a feeling that Koch will write a “mea culpa” column (if Obama is elected, that is). But at least he’s one Democrat whose support for Obama is not accompanied by lunacy on Palin.
He has always called himself “a liberal with sanity” — and he confirms it.