Powell Follows Up
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_c5bbvmqc[/youtube]
This is just remarkable. He reminds everyone that there really is an American middle and the Republicans have quite forgotten what that group expects. (I would also say that this reminds the media that they, too have forgotten what the great American middle looks like, too.) You can see right here why it is that this guy has the widespread popularity and trust that he still maintains.
There is no doubt that I would have genuine policy differences with Powell, and I think that he should have never let BushCo unilaterally trash his credibility in the way they did. But this:
“We have got to stop this kind of nonsense, pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity.”
in addition to the rest of his critique of the current state of McCain’s campaign and his party is well worth thinking seriously about.
If I were a fairly moderate Republican concerned that my party has left me ( Christie Whitman, Chris Buckley and all of the rest of the names you know), Powell is an interesting choice to organize an effort to take back your party around.
Tags: 2008 Presidential
Has McCain pulled his Ayers ads yet? This is great stuff. Every right wing Republican and media enabler needs to hear this and retire in shame.
No idea about the Ayers ads, but there is plenty of crap going out in the Snail Mail and in robo-calls that certainly won’t stop. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of MN have specifically called out McCain on the robo-calling.
Adding: this great article published prior to today’s endorsement. Specifically interesting is Powell holding out for McCain to pretty much demonstrate some of that moderate cred he touts and that Obama worked for Powell’s endorsement. That looks like pretty high-profile working across the aisle to me.
Christie Whitman? Are you kidding? You don’t remember her cheerleading for the 2000 election theft? How about the fiscal mess she left as governor of New Jersey? And remember the “air is safe to breath?” in NYC after 9/11?
She is another right wing, lying, profits-over-people repub.
And Powell is another lying war criminal. He had a chance to really serve his country, but failed miserably. He was the Secretary of State when the country went to war on his and Bushco’s lies. Don’t fall for all these liars crawling out of the cracks now as Bush and the repubs leave office. Powell should be in a jail cell, not on meet the press.
And I hope Obama knows he doesn’t owe Powell anything except a grand jury investigation.
Christie Whitman (and many of the high-profile my party left me types) definitely were in lockstep with the far right turn of their party, doing their good soldier thing — talking the talking points, putting the policies in place, and letting the world know that all was AOK with these radical shifts. When they leave, they bemoan the shift to the right, as if they weren’t among the greatest enablers of that shift. Whitman and others have made new careers for themselves in documenting how the party no longer has a place for them.
None of them are especially good spokesmen for their cause, but they do have an essential point about how far their party has gone off the deep end. Some of them certainly may just be making the right noises until they find a new order that is more congenial to them; but that does not take away from the fact that there are a fair number of (non high-profile) Republicans who are feeling quite embarrassed by and distressed over the state of their party these days.
McCain’s campaign was over before Powell said any of this.
It is not over until it is over.
These people are blanketing the voters they still think they can sway with piles of sleazy mailers and robocalls — all of them quite fact-free. And this is likely to ratchet up until Election Day. The sleazy crap is all they have left now, and if it doesn’t get them past the finish line, it does set up the new narrative of de-legitimizing an Obama win.
Ever since Powell was treated like crap for constructively and effectively arguing his point and belief against President Cheney, you could see the dissention building from him (Powell). Coming from someone who has admired Powell’s career, my opinion is that this is really no shocker, except to the autobots that are part of the lock-step party. That ought to be an interesting smear campaign in the next few days (one that I am expecting in an effort to mute the importance of this endorsement). FWIW – I consider myself totally divorced from the National GOP and have been for some time.
To me, the more surprising, but possibly less affective, endorsement this weekend came from Smerconish. That one dropped my jaw.
I think those few repubs that say things like the party has “been hijacked” by the far right are trying to drive a narrative that the repub party somehow still fits into their more moderate world view or that there is a place for them.
They are simply delusional.
The fact is that the policies of Bush and Cheney have been supported by huge majorities (greater than 80-90%) of the repub party for most of the last 8 years as poll after poll has shown. Even now, Bush and Cheney are supported by a majority of the members. (These repubs also make up the vast majority of the 25-30% of the general public that still supports Bush.)
The repub party is the party of Bush/Cheny and McCain/Palin. If they lose this election, they will move even farther to right thinking that they lost because Mcinsane wasn’t socially conservative enough. Those repubs that want to think otherwise are only fooling themselves.
The repub party is the party of Bush/Cheny and McCain/Palin. If they lose this election, they will move even farther to right thinking that they lost because Mcinsane wasn’t socially conservative enough.
That is definitely a concern of mine.
Those repubs that want to think otherwise are only fooling themselves.
The patient isn’t dead yet and I won’t abandon it while it lives.Second thought – I said I divorced myself from the National GOP and I stand by that, so putting it in that context, you are right.
Anonone does not know what he is talking about in regards to Whitman and Powell.
His premise is wrong here, and that makes his argument wobbly…
I can understand where he comes from… as I too once felt as he did and only through detailed investigation did I come to the conclusion otherwise… ie, the Republican Party has some great people in it too…
It is in my history if you wish to find it.
Both of these two people were used…. Both are quality individuals
One wavered before becoming a Republican. The other was a “good” governor. Yes.. one can blame them for not noticing the malice behind Bush/Cheney, but then again, as mentioned above, neither did 80% of Republicans notice, until the Democratic majority in Congress edged the Republican’s aside and were finally able to begin hearings on all the escapades previously whitewashed by both Republican houses…
What came out of those hearings… SHOCKED America.
Just as all German’s weren’t bad, as all Soviets weren’t bad, as all Koreans weren’t bad, and as all Vietnamese weren’t bad, as all Lebanese weren’t bad, as all Grenadians weren’t bad, as all Panamanians weren’t bad, as all Iraqis weren’t bad…twice, and as all Afghanistans aren’t bad…. just as they….also are not all republicans that bad either…
As after Goldwater’s catastrophic, humiliating, devastating, disastrous, jaw dropping, dumbfounding, dismal, dilapidated, defeat, the Republican Party underwent a rebirth and regeneration, coming back with a Nixon, Rockefeller, Ford and eventually Reagan… so will the Republicans retool without their embarrassments….
Our whole world will be better.
Kavips,
Your premises regarding the repubs and Whitman and Powell,in particular are wrong:
“Yes.. one can blame them for not noticing the malice behind Bush/Cheney, but then again, as mentioned above, neither did 80% of Republicans notice, until the Democratic majority in Congress edged the Republican’s aside and were finally able to begin hearings on all the escapades previously whitewashed by both Republican houses…”
1) This statement is so preposterously wrong as to make me wonder if you really wrote it. The repubs KNEW what Bush/Cheney were up to in 2000 and 2004. To write that they didn’t “notice” until the Dems began hearings is laughable, and blindly ignores the fact that they STILL supported Bush/Cheney in droves (>80%) EVEN after the Dems took over the House and Senate. And they mostly still support him today.
2) Everything I wrote about Powell and Whitman are facts. You can judge them as “good” if you want. I think causing or failing to even try to prevent the deaths of thousands of people when you’re in charge is never “good”. But put your happy face on, if you want.
3) Being a Soviet, German, Korean, or other citizen is usually not a choice. I never slam anybody because of their nationality. NEVER. Political party membership is a choice in America. You should learn the difference.
4) Nixon: Watergate
Ford: Pardon of the criminal Nixon
Reagan: Deficits and Iran Contra
Bush I: Deficits, recession, Gulf War 1, Savings and Loans Crisis, and Iran-Contra pardons
Bush II: If you can’t see…
What is your point here? That repubs are an on-going criminal enterprise? You want that rebuilt?
The world is only worse under repubs. ALWAYS.
So, anonone, is it safe to assume that if you have a friend whose political affiliation is unknown to you, but you later find out it’s “R,” that person will suddenly be beneath you and not worthy of your presence? R=bad, right?
Both of these two people were used…. Both are quality individuals
One wavered before becoming a Republican. The other was a “good” governor.
Let’s not go overboard in lionizing these folks. These people were used with their permission. They certainly knew it as they went along. Whitman borrowed so much money that the state is still working its way free of those shackles. And Whitman still — to this day — defends the EPA telling folks that the air in Lower Manhattan was safe to breathe while all of that pulverized concrete, asbestos and metal was floating around.
But for these folks who have some complicity in the current mess — even though they knew better — there are lots of Rs without the voices or platforms of the Powells or Whitmans or Buckleys who have felt increasingly distanced from their party. I know a few of these people and they aren’t evil or bad people.
Rsmitty,
No, of course not – I have lots of friends and associates who are repubs for a variety of reasons. And we have some pretty heated discussions. R does NOT equal bad person. R does equal bad political and governance judgement.
R does equal bad political and governance judgement.
Well, the national GOP certainly makes that hard for me to argue against (not all parts, but generally speaking). I do not believe that to be so locally, though. Again, we could pick away at the parts, but I’m speaking generally.
To destroy the viability of the repub party at the national level, we must crush its viability at the local level.
Until a new honest conservative party emerges that actually cares about good government and government for the common good, competition among individuals for political office will take place in the Democratic primaries.
Personally, I’d like to see the emergence of a multi-party system.
Yet, the opposite appears to be emerging, the rising of a singular-political-power.
Which I think folks were saying 8 years ago — and was supposed to be Karl Rove’s claim to history.
To destroy the viability of the repub party at the national level, we must crush its viability at the local level.
Go Anonone! I love not having to be being the wild eyed Democrat anymore.
RSmitty,
`Tis true, but like nature, politics abhors a vacuum. We’ll need to wait and see what fills it.
Jason,
Nobody could ever take your place! And keep your wild eyes on those repubs!
Dear Wild Eye Democrat,
“crush its viability at the local level”…you can’t mean that. Not when we do have some up-and-coming public servants, who really do serve, or have served well, on all sides. The local side should be the gatekeeper, to see the adulterated versions of public service rise no further in the food chain to create a private interest or prostituted gain. On that local side can be the varying parties, demonstrating their finest, committed to the common good, that becomes our necessary government. To only watch, weed, and turnover one side, does nothing for what may be growing wild, and noxious on the other. It’s better to survey the whole field, weed,and enjoy the harvest–then burn the crop fields and be without. Split the ticket, and bring forward the best. Ticket it straight, then we did fail on a local level, to only promote the best. And those cracks are larger at the top-because we didn’t take care of it at home-where we had the greatest impact of gatekeeping our government. Wild eyes don’t gatekeep well, but wide eyes do. Hope yours are open.
Don’t count on too many open eyes or open minds around here, Joanne. Open mouths and open hands, however, abound.
Joanne, knows that’s not true, Dom. Are you on a personal crusade against DL?
No, Joanne – I mean it, exactly. Anybody who has stayed in or joined the repub party during the last 8 years has no political moral fiber or any demonstrated ability to stand up for the principles of freedom and human rights that have made our country great. Regardless of whatever agenda they are pushing at a local level, their repubism is a fatal flaw in judgement.
There ain’t nothing a repub can do that a progressive Democrat can’t do better. If you want choice, vote in Democratic primaries.