In TV Appearance, Powell Plans To Answer Right-Wing Critics

[cal04]

Source: Washington Post

Under intense fire from the right, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is preparing to answer his Republican critics this weekend in a television appearance that is likely to add fuel to his long-standing feud with top conservatives in his party.

The appearance will come just days after Powell, one of the country's leading black political figures, told an audience in Boston that a new Republican Party is "waiting to emerge." Earlier this month, he said the party is in "deep trouble" because "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

Powell's current battle with the right flank of the GOP is a continuation of a war that began in November 1995, when he announced that he would not be a candidate in the 1996 presidential race. With an apparent eye on 2000, he said he would change his lifelong political registration from independent to Republican and begin a quest to move the party toward what he considered its natural home in the center.

(snip)
Powell's turn will come this weekend. He is scheduled to appear on CBS's "Face the Nation" tomorrow and has told associates that he plans to answer his critics. Whether he will make an announcement about his party affiliation is unclear.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052203555.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[goclark]

1. Powell will slap them down

Wish he had done a little slapping down when he was in power.

Oh well, this should be interesting.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Interesting ...........

Powell's a fascinating character. How he could be a Republican has always eluded me. I'd like to think he'll announce that he's become a Democrat, but that's not gonna happen.

But, he just might be the one to start leading the GOPigs out of the wilderness, damn him ...........................

[Johnyawl]

3. Damn him?

Why is it a bad thing to "lead the GOP out of the wilderness"? A healthy democracy needs an effective opposition party, and a Republican party that has moved back into the center allows the Democrats to move left. That drags the entire political discourse in this country back toward the left, and away from this meme of the US being a "center-right" country.

Not that I think Powell will succeed at this time. The rank and file republicans are utterly convinced they lost the last two elections because they weren't conservative enough. They need to drive the moderates out altogether, run hard to the right and get their asses handed to them in 2010 & 2012. THEN they'll be ready to listen to Powell.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. That was a joke -

Do I need a "joke" emoticon for a comment as blatantly silly as that one?

Come on ................

[Norrin Radd]

14. Better to have a new left as the opposition.

[dflprincess]

8. Helping to cover up My Lai, lying to the U.N. about Bush's war

Putting ambition ahead of doing what's right, I have no trouble understanding why he's a Republican. If he becomes a Democrat then I'll know it's time to leave the party to the "moderate" Repukes and join the actual Socialists.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. He claims he was misled

on the biowar claims to the U.N. I wonder.

He's certainly opportunistic, and always has been. I wonder if he's positioning himself to become the head of a new kind of GOP?

[dflprincess]

10. Sure he was

:sarcasm:

He knew who he was dealing with and he knew what they were capable of. He just went along with it.

[No Elephants]

17. He also knew that he was polling as more credible than the rest of Bushco and that is why they made

him the face and voice of "evidence of WMD." And he cooperated with them in that.

[jaysunb]

11. "Real Republicans" (landed gentry) love Powell

and will use him to rally the party back to parity. They just need to find a new vehicle to get them to power. The southern fundie/racist middle are shot.
nobody wants to be associated w/ them.
The center of the country will be their next transport & Powell will be their counter balance to Obama.

The only problem for the REAL republicans now is: how do they unload the current "base."

:shrug:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. He's their lawn jockey -

who doesn't love them old lawn jockeys?

Seriously, do you think the Republicans can jettison the southern racist fundies and survive? If The Powers That Be can maneuver Powell into a recruitment poster, they'll do it - he's their Obama.

Man, did you ever think you'd see the GOPigs being headed up by two black men?

They certainly have maneuvered themselves into a corner. And, I have to admit, it's a startlingly enjoyable pasttime, watching them these days. I never in my long life have seen a political party go so thoroughly to hell.

I like it.................

[No Elephants]

19. Has the DNC chair ever been a person of color? I mean, I used to be proud of Ferraro and I am proud

that both the first female and the first African American "contendahs" are Democrats. However, to be fair, the top spots in the Democratic Party haven't exactly been filled by females or people of color (ANY color) until very recently, Reconstruction and rumors of "mixed blood" in some white-looking deceased Presidents aside.

(And a bow to the biggest, bravest mind opener of then all, Shirley Chisholm.)

[HelenWheels]

26. The best DNC chair was

a white guy with the soul of a minority: Howard Dean.

[No Elephants]

22. He was probably misinformed, but he was not actually misled.

[EFerrari]

13. Powell is a political coward. He's never going to lead anyone anywhere. n/t

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. I wish that solving problems were as important as the recent pissing matches!

[No Elephants]

20. I wonder: Does the media drive the banality, or is there nothing but banality to cover? I think

the former. I remember having my jaw drop a few years ago. It was the Friday morning of Memorial Day weekend. The Iraq War was at its height, but being largely ignored by the media. I thought surely it would be the top story on the Today Show that morning, though, given the context of Memorial Day.

To my shock and chagrin, the opener for the Today Show that morning was Matt Lauer in a helicopter---over Manhattan. With great drama, he was giving the traffic report for the holiday weekend.

So, it wasn't as though important stuff wasn't going on. And it wasn't as though reporting on important stuff would not have been timely and appropriate. It was, however, as though the media thinks we're shallow, self-centered morans. And maybe, as to most people, they are correct. There's more coverage for Bale's outburst on a movie set than there is for a war--and few notice or complain, let alone actually do something to try to effect actual change.

[NRaleighLiberal]

25. The "people" have a responsibility as well. Since TV is about selling products,

they need people to watch. If the news got serious and did their job, I think a majority of Americans (in their current comatose state) would turn it off and watch informercials instead.

I wish I felt better about the public, their desire to improve, learn, pay attention and do important things, but these days, I do not.

[Stargleamer]

6. Yes, but when will he ever address left-wing critics?

like me?

[No Elephants]

23. Haven't you noticed? No one in either Party feels that s/he has to worry about left wing critics.

[troubledamerican]

7. Will he call them Chickenhawks? Nope. Colin's a coward. Proof? His UN dog & pony show.

Only a coward sends out Wilkerson to be his bulldog while he himself stands before the UN and lies about WMD.

No, NOT "faulty intelligence". He knew exactly what he was doing.

[No Elephants]

21. Correct. But bc the coward wanted to blame it on faulty intelligence--though he KNEW it was

faulty--he insisted that George Tenet sit behind him, and in the camera shot, while he (Powell) addressed the UN (and all of America). And, today, he proudly tells that story, not realizing that, as he does so, he gives himeself away.

Colon is well-named, if he spells it wrong.

[ThirdWorldJohn]

15. He should expand on the video of Wilkerson Interview on TYT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpbag-KSoYI

[No Elephants]

24. Wilkerson calls Cheney a coward. Fine by me, but what did Wilkerson or Powell do about Bushco that

was so brave? They both thought the intel was crap. Powell sold it and said nothing about his reservations until relatively recently. Wilkerson said nothing about his or Powell's reservations. So, as best I can tell, all of them were cowards.

[AlinPA]

16. The media will go berserk for two weeks trying to build him as the "leader" of the Rpigs,

further solidifying their fundamentalist/evangelical-bigoted-racist-intolerant base led by Limbaugh,Savage,Coulter,Hannity,O'Reilly,Ingraham,Boortz and the GOP "leadership" in DC. He is no match against them.

[madrchsod]

18. he should have stood up to rush limpballs in 96 but he did`t

he signed on with the bush crew knowing is bitter enemy cheney was going to run the show. he`ll be remember by his failures.