Palin 'Scary,' Koch Says in Endorsing Obama

Ed Koch, the former Democratic New York mayor who has skipped among political parties for 15 years, today endorsed Barack Obama for president. Why, Ben Smith asked him for Politico? “The designation of (Sarah) Palin to be vice president. She's scary.” Koch says foreign attacks aren’t all the US should be worried about, and Obama is better suited to protect civil liberties.

Koch’s quarrel with Palin has a specific foundation: a report that the Alaska governor, while mayor of Wasilla, inquired about banning books at a local library. “Any time someone goes to the library and says, 'I want to ban books,' and the librarian says 'no,' and she threatens to fire them,” Koch said, “that's scary.” (More Election 2008 stories.)