In 2004, Ed Koch spoke at the Republican National Convention, saying that he’d vote for George Bush that year while encouraging other national security Democrats join him. Now he’s written a column titled History Will Redeem Bush that’s sure to upset people like Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Herer’s what he says about President Bush and his support of him:

Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a proud American and a proud Jew who, while not religiously observant, fiercely loves and defends his faith. It has become fashionable for Americans in general, Jew and gentile, to hold President George W. Bush up to derision. As I believe many readers and listeners of my commentaries know, I crossed party lines in 2004 to support the President’s reelection, saying at the time that I did not agree with him on a single domestic issue, but I did believe he was the only one running who appreciated the threat of Islamic terrorism to American values and Western civilization and was prepared to wage a war to defend those values.

I have no regrets for having made that decision and helping the President to win a second term. Today, according to the most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, “71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as President, an all-time high in polling.” His position can be compared with that of Harry Truman who left Washington unpopular and alone in 1953. Today, with the passage of time, most historians and certainly the American people, see Truman in a different light, primarily for his willingness to stand firm against Soviet aggression, whether against Greece or South Korea, and proclaim the Truman Doctrine, effectively defending the free world from Soviet efforts to expand their hegemony. Like Truman, George W. Bush, in my view, will be seen as one of the few world leaders who recognized the danger of Islamic terrorism and was willing with Tony Blair to stand up to it and not capitulate.

Mayor Koch is right in saying that historians will notice all that he’s accomplished. Historians should note the mistakes made in the Iraq War just like they should note his policies that liberated 50 million people. President Bush’s policy of liberation, along with his working with Tony Blair, have had a powerful impact on the history of the Middle East.

History will also look kindly on the fact that President Bush established policies that’ve prevented another terrorist attack following 9/11. When history is recorded, they will record the unity with which our nation rallied to his leadership in the days immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. History will record the fact that he tore down the Gorelick Wall, which prevented law enforcement from talking with the CIA.

If the Gorelick Wall hadn’t existed, we might’ve connected the dots prior to 9/11. Instead of following Bill Clinton’s policies of prosecuting terrorists in an American court, President Bush took the war to the jihadists. That’s why we haven’t been attacked since 9/11. It isn’t fashionable to admit that but it’s fact.

Here’s the portion of Mayor Koch’s column that likely upsets liberals the most:

Recently, President Bush went to Israel to celebrate its 60th birthday as a nation and addressed its parliament, the Knesset. He said, “Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Bush’s remarks were heavily criticized by leading Democrats, particularly Barack Obama, who said, “Now that’s exactly the kind of appalling attack that’s divided our country and that alienates us from the world.”

Really? Is it wrong to call the philosophy supporting negotiating at the highest levels, President to President without pre-conditions, with the terrorists and radicals by its rightful name, appeasement?

That last paragraph will stick in the craw of BDS-afflicted liberals everywhere. They can’t like having their savior being exposed as having a spineless foreign policy. They can’t like it that President Bush is right in talking about appeasement.

Mayor Koch, Thanks for speaking truth to the lunatics in your party.

Technorati Tags: Ed Koch, President Bush, Legacy, Foreign Policy, 9/11, Tony Blair, Obama, Appeasement, Knesset

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. I love it when Conservatives predict the future. Like how we’ll be greeted as liberators. Or how we’ll only be in Iraq for a few months, at most. Or how in 2013, when McCain is president, all the world’s problems are solved with magic.

   I get it now, magic is how history will redeem Bush. The future is amazing.

   Comment by Liem — May 21, 2008 @ 12:10 pm

2. I did believe he was the only one running who appreciated the threat of Islamic terrorism to American values and Western civilization and was prepared to wage a war to defend those values.

   Now, if we can all wave our liberal magic wands, we can live in the utopian land of sunshine and happiness where we all hold hands and sing bright songs and live in peace and brotherhood alongside pristine green forests filled with white unicorns.

   Unfortunately, the liberal magic wand can’t make Islamic terrorism go way, nor can it minimize the threat to Western culture, civilization and lives that radical Islamism presents.

   Comment by Kalifornia Kafir — May 21, 2008 @ 2:00 pm