Word: koch
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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MAYOR by Edward I. Koch; Simon & Schuster; 364 pages...
Most elected officials maintain an image. New York City's Mayor Ed Koch flaunts a style: confident, snappish, moralistic and salty as a delicatessen waiter's banter. For better or worse, he has come to symbolize the world's one-dimensional view of a New Yorker: an abrasive pavement-pounder who is allergic to trees. Koch obliged this perception after taking over Gracie Mansion in 1977; he kept his small apartment in Greenwich Village as a weekend retreat. He was not being cute; those who have followed the mayor's career should now realize that...
...diminishes one's enemies. Or, better yet, enhances one's self by diminishing one's enemies. Mayor: An Autobiography reads like the morning after a night of the long knives - smart, ebullient, witty, vengeful and damaging. Who can ever again think of Bella Abzug without remembering Koch's cruel wisecrack? Asked why Abzug lost her home district in a 1972 congressional primary, he replied, "Her neighbors know...
Eight years ago, when he was an anonymous young man of 20, who after racing could chip the ice out of his eyebrows without being bothered, Koch happened to win an Olympic silver medal at Innsbruck. No American had ever won a Nordic medal before, and none has done it since, though only Koch has been blamed for that. When during the 30-km in 1980 he quit and walked off the course, he said he was conserving his energy for the 15-km and 50-km races ahead. But public reaction was harsh. This time, though 21st, he reached...
...Koch also rejoiced for the winner, Soviet Nikolay Zimiatov, who preceded him by five minutes. "A real nice guy," he said of his old friend, who has now collected five gold medals in his life. How do the two communicate? "Mostly with our eyes. In a lot of ways, it's more forceful." The news of Yuri Andropov's death arrived about the same time as Zimiatov. But no one suggested that the team withdraw. With both Soviet and Yugoslav flags at half-staff, fun and Games continued...