Reply #46: Ed Koch

[H2O Man]

had a lot of strong points. I respected his "How am I doing?" approach. But, sadly, he was part of the split in the party in the late '70s and early '80s, and he is one of the best examples of those politicians who have become the neoconservative/neoliberal group, with one foot in the democratic party, and the other in the republican party. I think that is why many traditional democrats are uncomfortable with some of the democrats who are in congress and running for president.

The obvious example that best illustrates this is, of course, Joe Lieberman. When I read some people demanding that the grass roots must take some type of purity pledge, and always support every democrat in office without question, I think they are making a gross error. Being a good democrat means voting your conscience, not supporting candidates who betray what we value the most.