Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch: 'Santorum is Nuts

Former New York City Democratic Mayor Ed Koch has a reputation for occasional independent opinions from his party, endorsing successful Republican candidates like Rudy Giuliani for Mayor, Peter T. King for the House, George Patacki for Governor, George W. Bush for President in 2004, and most recently, Bob Turner to for Anthony Weiner's seat in Congress. Koch was extremely critical of President Obama's relationship with Israel during his first three years in the White House but after a personal meeting with the President at New York City's 42nd street library, Koch changed his mind and is now "back on the bus" with Obama, endorsing his reelection. In a recent interview on local WABC radio, the former Mayor said that the President is more equipped to handle the nation's domestic issues and work with the state of Israel than anyone in the current field of Republican primary candidates. Koch slammed Rick Santorum specifically, making the allegation that if President, the former Pennsylvania senator would impose his religious beliefs on others.

"Santorum is nuts," Koch told host Aaron Klein. "And I say that in a loving way. He is someone who is of the belief that religious obligations that he has can be imposed on other people. Now I don’t mind his imposing on himself the business of no pre-natal care, no abortion. That’s okay from his point of view. But in my judgement it’s nuts to try to impose that on other people of other religions who don’t agree with you."

Koch added, "I admire him as someone who is a true believer from his point of view, but when he takes it to the point where he wants to impose it on other people, like eliminate contraception, if that ain’t crazy. You know, it used to be we did eliminate the right to sell condoms in Connecticut. The Supreme Court said that was wrong. Now what Santorum has said in affect is he would like to see states go back to criminalizing the sale of contraception. I think that’s crazy."

POLITICO  notes that Santorum has said on the campaign trail that he is not interested in banning contraception.