Whether Colin Powell endorses Obama on Meet the Press tomorrow morning or not, it sounds like he will be denouncing McCain and Palin’s tactics.
The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell’s former chief of staff, said his ex-boss was “upset” by the “vitriol, bile and prejudice” aimed at Obama on the campaign trail.
“We’ve talked about this and I know it really bothers him and I’d expect him to talk about it,” he said.
Wilkerson said Powell would likely make an endorsement now that the third and final presidential debate behind the candidates.
I hope he follows through.
And to think he vouched for Ted Stevens just recently.
At this point, I’d rather not have Powell on board, whatever positives he is said to bring. But that’s me.
The weight of his endorsement is not aimed at us, but at those who value his opinion and thus might be swayed. I personally was done with Colin Powell after his dog and pony show at the UN.
Agreed. You said it much more concisely than I did!
Is there really anyone left who would be swayed by his opinion?
Unfortunately, I think there are still quite a few people who hold him in at least some esteem. Even quite a few who should know better by now will make all kinds of excuses for him in order to avoid seeing him for what he is. Very disappointing.
25% of the population still like GWB.
Robert, I feel the same way. Lying-opportunistic-war-monger-turned-sniveling whiner Colin “but I was deceeeeeeeived!” Powell is to me one of the most despicable members of either Bush administration. Bush and the neocons, were driven to their actions by their ideology, and by a conviction that the ends were positive, and justified the means. There is some adherence to principle in that – a sort of integrity. Colin Powell, who does not share their ideology, was driven by self interest to support and heavily promote an agenda he did not believe in, and when it all turned into a catastrophe the despicable toad whined and sniveled and tried to play the victim. Therefore, in my view he is the most contemptible of the group, has far less integrity than any of them, and deserves even less respect than they do.
I am not a Democrat nor an Obama supporter, but as a realist I understand that McCain must lose the election, and Obama is the only viable alternative. Therefore, I can accept whatever will increase the probability that Obama will defeat McCain. On principle I would prefer to see Powell simply refuse to endorse McCain without actually endorsing Obama. However, if an endorsement by Powell would make it more likely that Obama can defeat McCain, then I will be happy for it.
I understand. For me, however, my opinion is that if he can go and defend swine like Stevens, he had damned well better endorse Obama. It doesn’t make up for the mendacious song and dance at the UN; he merely stops making the bad even worse.
But that’s just me…YMMV.
getting back at the troika–Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld– that ousted him from State after he lied for them at the UN, putting the swooning Condi in the driver’s seat.
I’m sure he’s been well paid for his efforts despite his squirming about increasingly being seen as culpable for Mess-o-potamia. But anything other than an endorsement is mere grandstanding for his now-ended chances at becoming POTUS himself.
All I want from Powell is a vow of silence until the shame he brought on himself and his country can be forgiven. Which is likely to be a long, long, time. I hope the rumors are wrong — Obama doesn’t need the endorsement of such a one as Powell, and his endorsement carries no weight or credibility. This is just another case of grandstanding for the sake of himself, not Obama or anybody else.
Still, as amazing as it is, the man does seem to have a lot of admirers, and if that helps Obama……….
Instead, why don’t you vote for Obama?
Because he does not come close to meeting my standards in the areas that are most important to me, and I do not feel obligated to give my vote to someone whose policies I find appalling simply because the other guy is more appalling.
You’re not voting for Obama and yet you worry about him losing? Sorry, that seems really strange. Kind of like worrying that a train will hit you, but refusing to get off the tracks. Indifference I can understand; this I don’t get.
It’s very simple. To continue your metaphor, the state I live in is not in any way in contention, so my vote will not make an iota of difference to the outcome. Therefore the train will either hit me or not hit me no matter what I do. In that case, I am not obligated to move one way or the other to avoid the train, but am free to move in whatever way my conscience and standards tell me to move.
That does not stop me from recognizing the reality that in January either McCain will be inaugurated, or Obama will be. It also does not stop me from recognizing the reality that if McCain becomes president it would likely be a worse catastrophe than Bush has been, and the idea of Palin anywhere near a position of national power is beyond unthinkable. And it does not stop me from recognizing that the only way to avoid that is if Obama wins.
No. There is some help you just don’t accept. Obama gets smeared for “associations” by the McCain crazies. This is the one association that would truly be anti-American.
“A lot of admirers”? Where? Who?
I don’t know, but that’s what I keep hearing.
Unfortunately, he still has quite a few admirers–and I’m sure I know quite a few. I think we forget that even those folks who blame Shrub for the war and want to get out don’t realize how many people helped push this sham along the way. How many people realized that his appearance before the UN was to give cover to this crap?
That is, if they remembered that speech at all.
Personally, I think he’s full of shit. Politically, however, he can be helpful that is what I care about at this point.
Also, I’m just interested in seeing if he has any integrity and courage left. Morbid interest, maybe, but if he can run to Alaska to help the venal, arrogant Ted Stevens but not help–again–when his country needs him to step up, then it will be telling. It won’t make up for anything; it just won’t make things worse in my book.
I want him to do it, just because I know it’ll send shockwaves through the political scene and dominate the news cycle. Probably flip some Indies too.
I hate Powell, personally. There were two people who could’ve stopped Junior from going into this damned war: Colin Powell and Tony Blair. There’s, I hope, a special place in Hell for both.
But Indies trust Powell more than almost any other figure for some reason. So I’ll take it.
…at My Lai.
some of us have long memories.
Liar and coverup artist and water carrier.
:pfffffft:
He is a shill for whatever enterprise he thinks will be top dog. He is not a leader, not a hero, not somebody who reasons through a position and argues from strength, but a coward who goes with the flow, even if it is raw sewage.
Endorsements can be embarrassments. I wouldn’t want some radical hatemonger, or religious bigot, or felon tagging on to my ascension into power, and I’d certainly not want someone like Colin Powell anywhere near my campaign!
After Vietnam, with all its horrors, HE OUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN BETTER ABOUT BASING A WAR ON LIES. Twice is too much.
Powell is now a Rapper. Earlier this week, he made his debut on stage, the Royal Albert Hall, London.
I was upset about his tone at the U.N. Does he care?
It wasn’t so much his tone as the content!
And the fact that he knew it was BS but went along anyway, and then had the nerve to be surprised when he was tossed and Dumrum was kept. Idiot.
Yup! But the best part was his sniveling, whining about how he was deceived into it all.
What a scum!
Yes, the tone was the content.
So, we have the typical Powellian tactic of having one of his mouthpieces put it about that something Bush, McCain, other Repubs have done/are doing that he, Powell, finds “disturbing”…but, try to get the good General to go public and BE QUOTED DIRECTLY is quite another story. The man is a palpable fraud, and why he still rates face-time on the telly I find simply astonishing.
Steve Clemons got an email from Wilkerson. Clemons opines if Powell speaks up about the tone of the campaign that would rate higher than an endorsement.
and his entire family…! What a waste of bandwidth. Grandstanding!
We’ll see. Wilkerson apparently was slated for an Obama event in Fairfax with an emphasis on veterans/military families. I found that telling.
We’ll see if he finally does the right thing when it counts or if he punks out.
Wilkerson doesn’t still work for Powell, does he? So, I’m not sure what his appearances necessarily say about Powell.
Doesn’t have to, necessarily. The fact that he was his top aide and is still in contact with him can be enough.
Like folks have said already, I was done with Powell after the UN fiasco.
But what I just realized is that Powell has already endorsed Obama in one respect: Obama’s planned pursuit of diplomacy rather than the cowboy garbage Bush and McCain are pushing. Is he going to go on MTP and say that he likes McCain on domestic issues and Obama on foreign policy?
Sheesh. Take a hike, Mr. Secretary.
I really don’t give a flying spaghetti monster what Colon Powell thinks about anything anymore (and no, that wasn’t a typo).
It’s not too late for Powell to join the human race.
Oh wait…after his “Saddam’s mobile WMD labs” bullshit helped Dubya kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and THAT didn’t disturb him enough to speak the truth, I don’t give a damn about what he has to say unless it starts with “I believe my actions constituted being an accessory to one of the greatest war crimes in world history” and that is just a starting place.
He must then go from there. Then we can talk about what he has to say about the GOP as America’s mainstream hate crime party.
Otherwise, fuck Colin Powell.
The Endorsement cometh.