Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama on this morning’s Meet the Press and said that Sarah Palin is not qualified to become president. John McCain told FOX News he was not surprised. Whatever. I am not one of those people that retains a high regard for Colin Powell. He failed his biggest test and he has to live with the consequences. I would not be able to live with the consequences.
But, it doesn’t matter what I think. An endorsement from Powell is useful. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Powell joins a growing list of lifelong Republicans and Republican-supporting organizations, like the Houston Chronicle and the Orlando Sentinel, who have crossed-over to endorse Obama. A common theme in these endorsements is the lack of qualifications of Sarah Palin. Another is the tone of McCain’s campaign.
Personally, I wouldn’t even want Colin Powell’s endorsement, but it will help Obama govern to have the support of the broadest possible spectrum of America and elite opinion. So, it’s a welcome endorsement.
He’s been rehabilitated. He’s now Colin the rapper.
He made his debut in London’s Royal Albert Hall.
It’s sad Colin placed loyalty to others over his own honor.
Without revealing too much, I know for a fact that Colin’s family remains deeply disappointed he put loyalty to the Bushies above truth.
But seriously, the fact Colin has rebuffed the McCain sleaze raises him a little..goes a long way to his rehab.
After all, Nixon was rehabilitated.
Nixon was modestly rehabilitated. People recognized that he was a very shrewd and knowledgeable man on international affairs. But no one sought his endorsement.
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BooMan, this is a general comment not directed at you.
I know of Colin’s hurt.
Colin’s problem was he had the thinking of a Don (don’s as in the place of his birth) “above all else “duty, loyalty to the gang….you never, ever snitch”
Let’s never forget the Bush gang and that Colin was a member,
but
even lepers are granted mercy – to be healed and made whole.
what has become of America? It’s once again becoming a KKK society segregated on all levels – we now see things as all black over there – not one of us, all white over here – good Americans.
“parts of America are real Americans, the other parts are anti-American”
“tax cuts for the middle class, health care is socialism welfare; tax cuts and subsidies for the rich and bailout for bankrupt banks and companies are just free market”
Time to put away our anger.
Keep this up and we’re heading to a place we do not want to go…racial and class wars. A trip wire that doesn’t require much. ‘A contrast diary’ you posted shows – a sneeze will do
the good that we do is often interred with our bones, the bad that we do becomes our epitaph.
“even lepers are granted mercy – to be healed and made whole.“
Stop! Powell is not a leper. Leprosy is a communicable bacterial disease that people contract through no fault of their own and over which they have no control. Leprosy is not a character flaw.
Colin Powell is not an unfortunate leper, Colin Powell is a piece of human scum who willingly and knowingly sold his honour for a few pieces of copper. He deserves the exact same mercy he showed for the victims of My Lai, and for the people of Iraq.
Let him burn in hell.
What’s become of America? Scum like Powell, Bush, and Cheney are what’s become of America. You write as if Powell were being tortured in one of the facilities he helped create. Stop already with the violins for one of the very worst people in America. What mercy is it that he deserves? Having a free platform from which to spew his self-serving posturing? Even Buddha and Jesus, I believe, taught that repentance and confession precede forgiveness. We’ve had none of that from Powell. Instead we get ongoing arrogance and the assumption that his toxic thoughts have value. From Powell, the only thing of value he has to offer is his shame and his silence, but he is apparently capable of neither.
Obama didn’t need this “endorsement” any more than he needed the approval of Charlie Manson or Bin Laden. His acceptance of it is crushing, no matter what petty tactical advantage it may bring. I guess it was too much to imagine that, sometime before I die, I’ll be able to vote for a Democrat without holding my nose.
…I know for a fact that Colin’s family remains deeply disappointed he put loyalty to the Bushies above truth.
I’m sure they do, and I mean that. I’m not being sarcastic or dismissive and I want to be clear about that. Powell took orders from, and lied on behalf of a spoiled dolt who would soon discard him once his objectives were met.
And he’s still lying for him. For now, go on ahead–the damage has been done, and politically speaking, acknowledging the truth would blow everything off message when he’s trying to get the wishy-washy to pull the lever for Obama. Fine.
But at some point soon, he needs to man up and come clean. Not that I expect him to do so. But after My Lai, he’s added starting a war on false pretenses and torture–he needs to do the right thing, not for himself, but for us. All of us, worldwide.
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and the respect Powell had in February 2003, I figured Colin Powell would step down instead of following orders of lunacy from P Bush and VP Cheney. I’m more than very disappointed at his decision to sell the Iraq invasion before the world stage at the United Nations and the Security Council gathering in New York.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."“the fact Colin has rebuffed the McCain sleaze raises him a little..goes a long way to his rehab.“
No it doesn’t. It doesn’t raise him a bit, and contributes nothing to his rehabilitation. He is the most contemptible member of the Bush regime, and he is bathed in the blood of every Iraqi who has and will suffer and die as a result of his actions.
How could he take steps to redeem himself? How about going to Iraq and dedicating the rest of his miserable life to living in Iraq as an ordinary Iraqi, and working twelve hours a day for an Iraqi NGO supervised by Iraqis, earning an Iraqi wage doing manual labour reconstructing Iraqi homes and infrastructure.
even from the left and with conservatives too, this endorsement – even if you hate what Powell did – will suck blood from McCain. It’ll bring out moderates to the polls. But then again you may not have a horse in this race. Set aside your well held beliefs and listen up:
You need to listen to Powell’s endorsement, all the way through.
All the way through to the end.
Here’s a commentary with the MSNBC video
Got it yet? The most important question to be asked: What if Obama is a Muslim..what does it matter?
It’s the Muslim thingy and how the McCain campaign is dividing Americans and by extension the World.
If not for our friends in the Middle East who give us a helping hand with funds to pay our daily needs — the Abdullahs, Mohammeds, Kalils, Saids, Husseins as in the King of Jordan.
Muslims and blacks are the new bogey men and women.
What’s America without prejudice and hate?
Now we need a few more like Eisenhowers and Hagels to step up join with Powell.
Newt Gingrich, you can’t be proud of your standard bearer!
The question was not whether Powell’s endorsement will help Obama win – hopefully it will. The question was not whether Powell said all the right things in the right way – he did, or at least he said a lot of the right things. The question was whether Powell has redeemed himself by endorsing Obama and by saying these things. You are welcome to believe he did. I have every right in the world to believe that he cannot redeem himself even partially in this way.
How could he redeem himself a little bit? Start by begging his tens of millions of victims for forgiveness for the evil he has taken part in. Start by acknowledging his own reprehensible, immoral, unethical behaviour, particularly in Viet Nam and Iraq. Start by acknowledging his personal responsibility for the suffering and death of millions of people, most of them brown people on the other side of the earth. Acknowledge that when he had the ability to possibly put a stop to Bush’s crimes against humanity in Iraq, he consciously chose instead to shamelessly promote it without regard to the lives that would be lost and ruined as a result.
Then vow to devote the rest of his remaining days to taking practical action to compensate as many of his victims as possible. Start a fund for Iraqis who have been widowed and orphaned as a direct result of his actions. Go to Iraq, live there as an ordinary Iraqi and spend his days working side by side with Iraqis building homes for the millions of families whose homes were flattened by American bombs. Work side by side with Iraqis rebuilding Falluja. Devote four hours each day going house to house begging the forgiveness in person of families who were harmed by his actions. Devote the rest of his life to his victims.
Endorsing Obama, whether it helps Obama win or not, is not an act of redemption for his crimes. It is, in fact not connected to his crimes, it costs him nothing, and it does nothing for his victims, including that poor, deluded Muslim-American who died fighting against his fellow Muslims.
“this endorsement – even if you hate what Powell did – will suck blood from McCain.”
Principle be damned. All in the name of expedience for the political game. Eyes wide shut. All I need to reinforce my decision to discard the political system of this broken and compromised crumbling empire. I choose to live with myself and my decisions when I wake up every morning. Honor, as Powell might wish to pretend to agree is non negotiable. Right and wrong still guides me me even though I sometimes fail at it. The difference is that my failures have not covered crimes against humanity or presipitated the mass killings of innocents.
Priniciple. What principle?
look in the mirror. we’re all failing human beings.
we still go to war even though we can’t afford it.
There’s a lot going on with Powell, he’s clearly alarmed with the neocons.
OK. Powell lied on behalf of Bush, people on both sides died. We invaded and killed Saddam for revenge. We knew Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 but as in a lynching, he’d do fine at the end of our rope. The wrong man – our blood thirst satisfied for now.
The media cheered along asked no questions. Our CONgress critters cheered along, gave the blank check…failed to impeach Bush when they knew the truth. So they too are complicit with Powell.
And wars, lying wars preceded Powell. LBJ in Vietnam. Roosevelt World War II. And beyond Roosevelt, ask the military people about the SS Liberty. Who sank the Liberty that killed American boys? Who helped the cover up.
So let’s look in the mirror. We have a long history of lies and of war crimes. It’s a human condition.
Here’s the real crime we can do something about but don’t.
we still neglect, step over the hungry poor, the homeless, the sick, those without healthcare insurance as we tell ourselves we can’t afford it yet we print trillions of dollars to give the banksters, corporate fat cats, and tax shelters for the most profitable companies. This past week the Feds injected $437.5 billion per day into the bank and money dealers.
In the last eight years what did do with $600 trillion dollars? That’s the half of it. What did we do with the other $548 trillion dollars? Over a quadrillion dollars created in eight years!!!.
The poor, the middle class and senior citizens will pay for these trillions in hyper-inflation as the fat cats remain fat. Let’s get worked up over that. Iraq like Vietnam is history.
we do all the wrong things including looking for one person to shoulder all the blame and our shame.
Hey, the real weapons of mass destruction exploded on Bush’s watch. How ironic. it was financial weapons of mass destruction all along!.
What I take from this comment is that you have settled. Settled in this instance at least because Colin war criminal Powell will help your candidate defeat those you have singled out for blame for our condition here and the conditions we have inflicted across the globe. Sorry idredit, I don’t settle. Not for either side who, at this point are nearly equally complicit in our crimes.
I look in the goddamned mirror every day, dude. Every day.
The point is, idredit, that Powell is a lying war criminal scum who valued his career above all else, He will swim for all eternity in Iraqi blood. The fact that he has plenty of company does not mitigate his crimes or his sins.
The point is that endorsing Obama does not raise him one nanometer, or redeem him one iota, and do not pretend that it does.
As for that “we all have flaws” crap, save it. Colin Powell knew exactly what he was doing when he stood there in front of the entire world and pretended that cartoon drawings of nonexistent germ laboratory trucks and empty glass vials were proof of anything at all. He knew what he was doing was a massive lie that would result in massive death and destruction, and he did it.
As for Saddam Hussein, don’t you DARE try to make this about Saddam Hussein. This is not about Saddam Hussein. This is about my close friend’s four year old nephew who was blown away in front of his parents’ eyes by your courageous troops as they rampaged suddenly down his street in a tank and blasted him to bits while he played in the front garden of his family’s house. It’s about the eight year old little girl who was carefully picked off by courageous, American sniper while she stood on the balcony of her apartment trying to figure out what was going on. It’s about the confused, half-blind 84 year old grandfather at whom your wonderful, humane soldiers took careful aim and blasted into nothingness because he couldn’t hobble out of their way on his cane fast enough to suit them. It’s about an entire generation of Iraqi children who will never lead normal lives, never have the education they are entitled to, and be psychologically scarred for the rest of their lives – speaking of PTSD – thanks to Colin Powell’s willingness to lie in front of the world. It’s about all the thousands of previously respectable Iraqi widows and young girls who have been forced to turn to prostitution in order to survive after their homes and businesses were blasted to rubble, their husbands, fathers, and brothers killed or dragged away in the night, and every possible other way to support themselves and their families has been snatched away from them.
And it’s about my 85 year old former neighbor, a very respected retired physician with advanced Parkinson’s disease who was snatched out of his house by your noble, courageous troops, who refused to allow him to take his medication with him, and lied to the neighbors when they asked where they were taking him. Your noble and brave troops, who detained him in unacceptable conditions for no known reason, and who finally in the end only EVER asked him one question: Are you a Sunni or a Shi’ite? – and refused to let him go when he insisted upon answering only, in the manner of a true Iraqi, that he was a Muslim.
And it is about Falluja. And Samarra. And Tel A`far. And Sadr City. And all the destroyed cities, and the destroyed lives that are piled as high as the sky and as wide as all the oceans on the head of Colin Powell who not only did not attempt to stop it, but sold it like a used care salesman in a cheap polyester suit.
So DON’T try to make this about Saddam Hussein.
And let Colin Powell and Saddam Hussein rot together in hell for the rest of eternity. They are both criminals against humanity.
Colin Powell did something good today. So what? Let him now crawl back under his rock.
it will make McCain, lose three days tops discrediting Powell.
If Powell and Obama have a joint appearance this week, say in VA, McCain loses the whole week.
Next week, bits and pieces will be leaked about Obama’s big national media buy to tie up the talking heads. Obama is suffocating the Republicans with money, message, and efficiency – game, set,….see you on Nov 4.
I got the obama e-mail this moring 600,000 new donors in September. 3.1 million donors in total can finally match Republican “Fat cats”.
I’ve had mixed feelings about Powell going back to his time as Chair of Joint Chiefs during the Clinton administration. He roadblocked the Clintons with gays in the military and really pushed the Big Dog around.
Of course, his legacy is cemented with his assurances that Iraq was a clear and present danger. He used his reputation to back a bankrupt administration and then never spoke out, leaving that up to his chief of staff.
Nevertheless, Powell’s endorsement is big. Many Americans still think highly of Powell, and his endorsement sends a message about Obama’s readiness to be Commander in Chief.
The timing is superb, another sign of a well-run campaign. If Obama runs the country as well as this campaign, we will be celebrating his presidency for many years.
Course the first question that jumps out at me is where will Powell come down on Obama’s draw down/pull out plan from Iraq. If he’s in support and can make an argument middle of the road Rep’s can accept, he’ll not just help Obama’s campaign but help an Obama presidency adjust to the work ahead.
Once again: Obama does not have a plan to pull out from Iraq. His plan is to reconfigure the occupation with a smaller profile (about 1/3-1/2 of The Surge(TM) numbers), and continue it indefinitely.
that’s why I put DRAW down
I understand that, but why did you also put “pull out”. There is no such plan.
Because beyond the self serving rhetoric every politician is and must throw at the electorate about success, timelines, horizons whatever, the reality of our economy, the world’s and the state of our union and the voice of the Iraqi’s themselves that is finally being heard will become the elephant in the room. We do not have the means to stay plain and simple.
I hope you are right, but I do not expect Obama to abandon all those lovely, beautifully appointed small American towns they have built there as permanent military bases, and for sure he will not abandon the Imperial Citadel. He will continue to pursue the neocon dream of a permanent military presence, and a controlling political and economic presence in the region via the Baghdad Citadel. In other words, he will continue the pursuit of empire, though he may have to scale it down a bit from the original goal.
You know, I cannot stop thinking about all the centuries-old imperial citadels I have walked through in the Middle East, particularly in Syria where they are very abundant and at times amazingly well-preserved. They really were well-appointed, completely self-contained, walled-off cities with their own water, sewage, recreation, and even manufacturing and food-production facilities. Everything the inhabitants needed to live was there. And, of course, they had their own defense systems – whatever the contemporary equivalent was of a missile defense system. I wish you could all see them for yourselves and stand and walk around inside them as I have done because it brings home the reality in an epiphanic way that little else can.
These photos of the spectacularly-situated Citadel of Salah Al Din (Saladdin is what he is called in the west, I think) do not really bring it home at all, but it might give you a small idea. The Citadel of Halab (Aleppo) might be a better example, as no doubt would Kraq de Chevalier, but I have not yet visited the latter, and have not yet uploaded any photos of the former. I also have only put captions on a few of the photos because I do not really like Flickr much and one of these days will move everything from there, either to Picasa or even better to my own website, which is under development now.
Anyway, the point is that what the U.S. has been trying to do in Iraq for the last eight years is just history repeating itself. When Bush used the term crusade it really was quite appropriate.
Simply beautiful.
Keep your eyes on the prize. The endorsement helps. I have lifelong Republican friends who greatly respect Powell, whose endorsement will impress them.
Powell worked to hide My Lai. His life has been dedicated to covering up for war criminals.
It tells you everything about what is wrong about our political culture that Obama had to separate himself from Jeramiah Wright, but an endorsement from a war criminal like Powell is welcome.
In a politically healthy society Powell would be shipped to The Hague.
The World’s second most discredited man.
John McCain has now grabbed the “most discredited” honor in the opinion of a lot of independent voters.
Judge Dan Haywood character
My dad is a retired military officer. He says this endorsement is HUGE for those in the military. There is a culture in the military that you don’t question why and just always vote Republican because they’re somehow better for the military of some such bullshit that isn’t true. This endorsement sort of gives them the permission to question the norm, follow their instincts and vote Obama.
I’ve been really impressed watching my dad’s transformation from died in the wool Republican to proud Obama-supporting Democrat over the last year. Now he’s not even sure why he ever supported any Republicans.
I don’t doubt it for a moment…not at all.
My FIL was in the military, and while I don’t know if he voted for Reagan, I know that when Mr. AP criticized Reagan sharply, his Dad would say,
You can’t say that about the president.
That’s just the first insight that comes to mind, but it revealing.
This endorsement is very real and it is very significant. They can’t say that he’s not a “real Republican” or any of the other BS they’ll try to come up with for cover. They simply can’t. I know how I feel about Powell, but we know military folks, and this will help. That’s what matters at this point.
I believe this is the week that Colin Powell will become a (n-word)…
Oh, no doubt.
All those wingnuts who waxed on and on about how great a leader he is, how they’d vote for him, don’t see color and, my personal favorite:
Instead of poverty pimps like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Blacks ought to look to people like Colin Powell.
With his endorsement this morning, Powell just became Black in an eye-blink.
And of course as Oscar and AP call it, El Rushbo delivers the verdict.
Colin Powell has got to be one lonely mofo right about now.
More from Powell as he was leaving the studio this morning…
Love him or hate him, this is a very big deal for those who have so much respect for him. The guy is a military legend. Republicans from coast to coast are questioning their very identity right now. What he says matters alot to some people. And he mentions Michele Bachman’s comments from a couple days ago, without naming her, as part of his reasoning.
FWIW I know a lot of far right types who are saying that a McCain Powell ticket would have been a lock. They are having trouble with this.
IMO Powell’s single mistake was to not quite publicly and vocally in the face of the Bush lunacy.
Instead he chose to try to solve the problem from the inside and worked earnestly and honestly to examine the evidence available to make the case to the UN. The case he presented to the UN was surprisingly weak but it was the best he could do.
I think he hoped the nation and America would want more before voting for war, but I would have been more impressed if he had said I looked and I can’t make the case.
Perhaps that is too much to ask
You are being far too kind to Colin Powell. Even Sarah Palin would not be stupid enough to believe that cartoon drawings of trailors no one has ever see do not constitute evidence that someone has mobile bio weapons labs.
Powell knew damned well the quality of what he was putting in front of the world that night, and he did it anyway. Whether it was out of “loyalty”, or out of self-interest, he knew.
The case he presented to the UN was “surprisingly” weak? Then why did he agree to present it? It was “the best he could do”?! For heaven’s sake! You make it sound as if he was required to present a case no matter what?
Why didn’t he just say no? THAT would have been the right thing to do. Or better yet, just stand up in front of the UN and say “this is bullshit folks. There IS no case here. Move along, folks, there’s nothing to see here.”
Boo,
I feel pretty much the same way you do about Colin Powell. Nevertheless I’m not going to deny that it was a powerful statement in favor of Obama and against McCain.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/10/19/powell_endorses_obama/index.html
This morning at our local farmer’s market I stopped by the Obama voter registration table to chat for a moment (and pick up some No on 8 materials). As I told the two people there, despite the fact that I find Powell an irredeemably contemptible character, and would not give him the time of day if I were in the same room with him, I found his statement to be nearly perfect. He said all the right things in very much the right way. I particularly appreciate what he had to say about the “he is a Muslim” nonsense. Of COURSE the correct response, as he said, is to say “so what if he WERE a Muslim”.
The only part of that I did not appreciate was the sweet little story of the badly misguided 20 year old Muslim-American soldier who was killed when he went over there to help kill his fellow Muslims. It is not willingness to kill your own for your country that makes you a good American (despite being Muslim). However, from a purely practical point of view, I appreciate that the impact that story has on me is not typical of how it will affect the majority of Americans, so I do not object to the fact that he told the story. I just don’t care for the mind set that makes that story effective.