Colin Powell: Tea Party Will Not 'Produce A Presidential Candidate Who Will Win'

Probably because he is too smart to want the job.

Good Point.

Actually McCain tried to get him as VP and Colin said no, he was retired and that was it.

Here is why he didn't support McCain

Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama is huge.

This wasn’t just an endorsement of Barack Obama. This was a rejection of John McCain, President George W. Bush, and the party they represent.

People close to Powell and Obama tell ABC News that Powell met with both McCain and Obama early in the summer and he told them both that his endorsement would depend on the conduct of the campaign, the conventions, the debates, and their choice of vice president.

Powell didn’t speak to McCain again after that meeting. Obama followed up several times with phone calls to Powell and they spoke about foreign policy, national security, and domestic issues like education.

Obama courted Powell, but what helped to push Obama over the edge was the conduct of McCain’s campaign and McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running-mate.

Powell, a four-star general, was also a bit rankled that McCain’s team leaked the idea that the GOP candidate was perhaps considering Powell for vice-president, sources tell ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/10/stephanopoulos-2/

Colin Powell does not like money in politics, it's as indignities as body-part health insurance reducing human beings to a merchandise to be bought and sold.

-----Erratum: undignified... Watch iPad spelling brain.

I would also suggest that Colin Powell is not running for public office because his qualities of personal integrity are viewed as liabilities in the contemporary culture of Washington, D.C.: his sense of conscience, his high regard for the standards of ethical behavior and his predilection for vigorous intellectual inquiry are regarded with deep disdain and open hostility, particularly among the hostile tribes of neocons and paleoconservatives, those who obsessively make a show of their 'patriotic fervor' and who brook no dissent. He questions, and that does not go down well with ideologues.

Because he personifies patriotism—because he has always lived it, simply and with complete conviction—Colin Powell does not have to prove his credentials. He has no compulsion to wrap himself in the American flag.

In short, he will not prostitute himself for an unworthy cause.

Why isn't this man running? The nation needs a realistic candidate from the right.

Probably because he is too smart to want the job.

and because the right, broadly speaking, isn't interested in reality.

Adler....OmG, OMG, OMG. You must not know Colin Powell!

@ Roy Batty

Why isn't this man running? The nation needs a realistic candidate from the right.

The problem isn't with what the GOP needs out of a Presidential candidate, the problem is what they want.

And the fact that Powell would never stand a chance in today's rabid GOP is a direct indication that his general point is spot on accurate.

On a sidenote: It's quite amusing that a crowd which generally labels the President as the most 'radical, divisive' President ever prides itself on it's unrelenting adherence to a "never compromise" attitude.

Perhaps the reason the GOP's having trouble seeing the President's willingness to compromise is because they're so far out in right field that they can't see the game. That in and of itself would be as big a problem if the GOP was willing to move down a few seats ;)

My main problem with Colin Powell.

During the run up to the Iraq War II, Powell testified in front of Congress about biological weapons. He knew he was lying. He testified anyway. Had he told the truth then, exposing the CHENEY-bush frauds and lies, hundreds of thousands of lives would not be lost and trillions in national treasure would not have been squandered.

Powell had an opportunity few people ever have, to put himself and his future at great risk for the betterment of his country. That, he chose not to do. Very unfortunate.

magnoliaave:

Personal integrity>>>>>>>>>>again, OmG. He has none. He sold his soul to Bush! Don't you get it?

Adler....OmG, OMG, OMG. You must not know Colin Powell!

I would very respectfully suggest that before arriving at a conclusive judgment about the man, you and barry-barry-libcon read up a bit on Colin Powell and examine his very frank public statements of deep personal regret concerning his efforts in support of the 2003 Iraq invasion as the Bush administration's first Secretary of State.

From the article "Colin Powell slams Bush" in The Vancouver Sun on canada.com (June 13, 2008):

The former secretary of state discussed the controversy that drew a small but loud protest outside the convention centre -- Powell's use of flawed intelligence during his 2003 presentation at the United Nations to sell the world on the invasion of Iraq.

Powell told the audience that he wouldn't have agreed with the decision to go to war had he known that the data about Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction was exaggerated.

Powell said that every word of what he called his "infamous" presentation about WMD had been vetted by the intelligence community -- "and I had no reason to disbelieve it."

The former secretary of state has previously described his prewar UN speech as a "blot" on his record.

Powell went on to say that the Bush administration fell into "disarray" over how to govern Iraq after it overthrew Hussein.

"If we had handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad differently then we wouldn't be where we are today," said Powell.

He said the new president should "draw down" the number of American troops in Iraq and hand more responsibility to Iraqi forces.

Powell said the use of torture and denial of habeas corpus at the prison for suspected terrorists at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo has diminished America's standing in the world. "It [Guantanamo] is not a seen as a place that is consistent with what America says justice will be."

Powell said the harshness of Guantanamo has also given "cover to a lot of really bad people around the world who say: 'Hey, don't lecture me, look at what you're doing.' "

Powell said that torture, including water-boarding, should stop at Guantanamo and that terrorism suspects should be given lawyers and afforded all the rights of the American criminal justice system.

Powell also said that the American war on terrorism has gone too far in deterring foreigners from entering the U.S., and rules governing entry to the U.S. must be relaxed.

Many well-qualified people from around the world are deciding not to study at American universities or work at medical clinics because of their fear of being hassled by U.S. authorities, he added.

I would submit that Colin Powell, along with many other highly influential people in the corridors of American power, among them the majority of members of the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate who passed the Iraq war powers resolution by a wide margin in October of 2002—many of whom did so enthusiastically and without qualification—along with millions of American citizens, members of the United Nations Security Council and untold millions in the international community, were deliberately duped by those members of the Bush Administration inner circle who were itching for war against Saddam Hussein and who manipulated intelligence in order to achieve that goal. Once Powell began to voice his doubts and his concerns to the members of that clique, he was OUT.

Powell's words strike me as a public admission of severe errors in judgment that were made on the basis of a campaign of lies that was conducted by men like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and many others—thoroughgoing war criminals who remain resolutely unapologetic and utterly unrepentant to this day.

Colin Powell doesn't sound to me like a man who "sold his soul to Bush"—rather, he sounds like a man who had a soul and a heart to begin with, who looked into both in the midst of a colossal tragedy that he helped orchestrate, and who is genuinely seeking redemption.

IMHO, he has a unique sense of moral responsibility, and he is one of a rare breed.

He was misled with the rest of us about the alleged official intel reports that sounded like Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, was connected with Al Qaeda, etc... Then the actual intel professionals that wrote those reports came out and set us straight:

http://www.truthuncovered.com/

LIARS!!! They should have been impeached out of office.

Bush and Cheney were lying their butts off to get war powers to invade Iraq primarily for access to oil. When Powell had to finally admit that the intel professionals were right, that there was no valid reason to invade Iraq and he knew it would create a quagmire, he did the honorable thing (in contrast to the slobs involved in this decision and resigned.

What do you do when you give your administration your best advice and they are dead set on creating a quagmire?

Powell is a Vietnam War veteran with direct experience in house to house battles. He knew what was involved in invading Iraq, and Bush/Cheney ignored him. That's more than can be said for all of the Bush Republican desk warriors, non of whom had real combat experience or anyone in their extended families actually deployed to Iraq. Others had to pay the price for his quagmire.

Go to the Iraq War Veterans Against the War website. Many of my Iraq War buddies are on the streets homeless with Post Traumatic Street Syndrome from combat. And now Republicans want to cut their benefits.

Powell is an honorable man.

If I were an American, I would not only vote for Colin Powell to be POTUS, I would voluteer to work on his campaign. He is the best person for the job, but unfortunately he won't do it BECAUSE he has integrity.

A man of integrity such as Colin Powell was used by men such as Bush, who had little, and Cheney, who had none.

Powell was given information cooked by the bush administration strictly to get their foot in the door of Iraq. If they didn't make him get up and say it they would have gotten someone else. But make no mistake: we were going into Iraq from the first day of shrub's presidency.

You should read this article.

ESPECIALLY Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp (dba Fox News).

I started to write a comment here but it turned into an article:

Maybe It Is Time To Put Journalism Back Into News

Not at all, another point in his favor.

So you stand with him when he lied but you won't when he tells the truth?

Eeyup you're a Conservative...

Colin Powell is a liar....stood up in front of the world acknowledging that there were WMD!

No, he was a faithful allegiant to his President and following orders, saying what he was told to say.

I'd much rather Colin Powell run for POTUS than all the clowns we have now!!

You know, I am an Obama supporter but also admired Powell's presence in the military and political arena. I won't say I couldn't be convinced, but it would be one interesting race.

Colin Powell resigned in disgust with the Cheney/bush puppet show.

It's amazing that all of the Bush/Cheney apologists will never admit that they lied, but by golly that black man did.

Powell worked for George HW Bush under much different conditions, and expected the same treatment under George W Bush. How was he to expect a different situation under his son? Cheney and Rumsfeld had advocated invasion of Iraq at the end of the Persian GulfWar.George H W Bush listened to Mideast experts and avoided a quagmire. In the mean time, Cheney and Rumsfeld joined PNAC, a neo con think tank that advocated the invasion of Iraq in 1998.

No one in any of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove extended families were deployed to their Mideast quagmires. What does that tell you?

magnoliaave: With Colin Powell's exemplary military record, and having to answer directly to the commander and Chief, the POTUS... I seriously doubt you'd be able to walk a single mile in his shoes and have accomplished so much.

Any politician whose lips move are lying, so I feel having been ordered to tell a "lie" would exonerate him especially with his record!

"No, he was a faithful allegiant to his President and following orders, saying what he was told to say"

So he's a spineless liar and can't be trusted with telling the truth to the American people. I don't want a "faithful allegiant" who can't be trusted to tell the truth.

Good grief! HE RESIGNED! And he knew that was political suicide. Up to that point he did exactly what they do in the military chain of command - followed orders. How was he to know ahead of time that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld would be lying their butts off?

Maybe you don't remember this or don't want to remember this, but when the first accounts of the intel reports came out, everyone bought into the White House lies. Then the military professionals that wrote the reports came out and debunked all of the lies. And that was when Colin Powell resigned, as he saw that his military credibility was being used by the Bush administration to sell those lies to the UN and congress.

I don't want to give the Bush/Cheney apologists room to move here to blame the black guy. That's ridiculous.

Mountainmike: Thank you... someone who recogizes what the real truth was and why Powell Resigned... Any decent Commanding Officer WOULD!

From Adler above: "I would also suggest that Colin Powell is not running for public office because his qualities of personal integrity", etc., etc. - the Tea Party has no need for anyone with integrity, morals, a sense of shame, a conscience, a sense of decency.

Again, wait until they run something on Faux news about Colin Powell (as they're ripping him to shreds) they'll make sure to put a (D) next to his name.

Yeah, he can join Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Cain and Ms. Palin and probably Mr. Perry and Mr. Mitt. Oh, forgot, Ms. Michelle. Please don't make it 2000 pages. Its way to long and we don't like to read anyway.

Those are mental midgets compared to Powell.

Mountainmike: Again 100% correct!

Skip Murray today's GOP will lose nothing with Colin Powell (they have no idea what they are for or against - except what Rush Limpballs, the morons in the GOP presidential race, all the Faux news talking heads tell them) - they have EVERYTHING to lose for exposing their bigotries, lies and hatred. Like he would want ANYTHING to do with the mental midgets in the tea party anyway. He's an extremely intelligent man - way too smart to have anything to do with the tea party.

So long tea party. You wore out your welcome a looooooooong time ago! Hasta la vista!

You all are ones who are glorifying Colin Powell! He is no better or worse than Bush for the Iraq War. And, let me remind you of something......the entire Country and Congress were behind the Iraq War. They ALL were and old Powell just stood up there and lied!

Colin Powell is one republican I respect. ( that was hard to type)

the entire Country and Congress were behind the Iraq War. They ALL were and old Powell just stood up there and lied!

Whats to say he presented the best information provided him by Cheney/Rumsfeld...Nothing unless your a conservative that hates the man because he supported this President. Interesting how quickly they throw away a republican with a different point of view and a thoughtful mind. The entire country and congress were lied to and yet conservatives blame Powell and not Pres Bush/CHeney, rumsfeld, CIA, or the press. Powell was/is a victim of circumstance of working with an administration with an agenda of which he was used but unfortunately many don't or can't understand the whole implications of his action by resigning they stop thinking once they are told what to think. The world is a complicated place whether or not you fully understand its complications is the question?

I really can't think of Colin Powell as a Republican, as he does not fit the sick, greedy, imbecilic, anti-American profile they have created for themselves. Powell is a man of honor, respect and patriotism, having served his country with honor and dignity. He may call himself a Republican, but, I can not, as I respect the man too much to think of him is being that base a person.

magnoliaave: As had been said and I've said and will repeat, he resigned his commission when he found out he was being lied to and used as would any decent commanding officer.

I'd love to see you fill his shoes and do what he did, earn his rank then say what you said!!!

As the saying goes: If you can't stand behind our troops, you're more than welcome to stand IN FRONT OF THEM!

Like every new group of politicians, the "tea party" is green.

green tea?? frankly, i've found them to be more like white tea; very, very, very white tea.

Green Tea??? ( ^:

Is there such a thing as "White Tea." I keep looking at photos of Tea Party rallies and I have yet to see a non white in attendance.

My first thought is Kool Aid in tea bags. They are supposed to be a grass roots populist movement, but they are super well funded by the Koch brothers and others and seem to have the same Koch agenda of protecting Wall Street, the super rich and huge corporations. Doesn't sound too grassy rootsey populisty to me at all.

yes, Virginia, uh, mike, there is white tea. (and get it? white tea? whitey?)

Didn't take long for the race card to be thrown in...

While I didn't speak about race, it's kinda hard not to think that for some people it plays a part when Obama is doing exactly what his predecessors did -- From foreign military engagement, to taxes cuts, to the

stimulus, etc. -- and yet Obama is a "Muslim Commy Socialists!" when he does it.

Now does that mean every who disagrees with Obama is a racist, of course not. But you can't deny that it's a little convenient that the first African-American President it also the first President to be called a Muslim/Socialists/Communist/fill in the blank.

And, I find it disturbing that you would trust a liar!

(roll eyes) So you're saying that you actually believe in the opposite things Powell is saying about the current GOP field? That the GOP have candidates that everyone likes and will vote for, especially since they are *not* far-right extremists?

Sorry, but I know for sure that this something that Powell is not a liar about, especially given the evidence of the way the candidates are embracing far-right ideas.

He is like a chicken... flops one way or the other.

clearly, someone doesn't know their animals. i guess it's that Fox Nooze misinformation sydrome and avoiding informative programming like Sesame Street.

When one doesn't have anything intelligent to say, they say "fox news". Baby, I was yelling in the streets my support for Colin Powell, but when he lied he took first place on my chit list. I believed in him. I was not for the Iraq War, but when Mr. Powell came on TV and supported the War, I said, "if he says it, it must be so". Damn him!

BTW, I suppose you have never seen chickens flopping from one side to another! I have...

Only time I saw chickens flopping, was when they were headless.

@ magnoliaave

When one doesn't have anything intelligent to say, they say "fox news". Baby, I was yelling in the streets my support for Colin Powell, but when he lied he took first place on my chit list. I believed in him. I was not for the Iraq War, but when Mr. Powell came on TV and supported the War, I said, "if he says it, it must be so". Damn him!

I'd recommend checking out PBS's Frontline documentary on the Iraq War link. I think you may find it interesting, especially the detailing of events which led up to Powell's "endorsement" of invasion, so to speak. It would certainly appear that Powell's "lies" were a result of he himself having been lied to, as well as being pressured by the Administration in general.

Along those lines, here's another story outlining the very questionable source of the intel that Powell was given, although the flawed credibility of the source was something that appears to have not been shared with Powell link:

"It has been known for several years that the source called Curveball was totally unreliable," he told the Guardian . "The question should be put to the CIA and the DIA as to why this wasn't known before the false information was put into the NIE sent to Congress, the president's state of the union address and my 5 February presentation to the UN."

Continuing, testimony from the source himself:

"The BND [German intelligence] knew in 2000 that I was lying after they talked to my former boss, Dr Bassil Latif, who told them there were no mobile bioweapons factories. For 18 months after that they left me alone because they knew I was telling lies even though I never admitted it. Believe me, back then, I thought the whole thing was over for me.

"Then all of a sudden [in the run up to the 2003 invasion] they came back to me and started asking for more details about what I had told them. I still don't know why the BND then passed on my information to the CIA and it ended up in Powell's speech.

"I want there to be an inquiry so that people will know the truth. So many lies have been told about me over the years. I finally want the truth to come out."

Powell has previously expressed regret about the role he unwittingly played in passing on false information to the UN, saying it had put a blot on his career. But his latest comments increase pressure on the intelligence agencies and their former chiefs to divulge what they knew at the time and why they failed to filter out such a bad source.

The source and the information which was given to Powell was widely discredited years before it was given, yet the Bush Administration appeared to give no indication to anyone that this information was labeled as faulty years earlier.

Visit TheBlaze and look at what the posters there have to say about Powell. Blazers generally are not the brightest of lights, but this batch of posters are scary.

Under Bush, Powell could do no wrong. During his retirement, he's the second coming of Genghis Khan.

I suppose you have never seen chickens flopping from one side to another!

no. where i come from, fish do that.

I have...

things are... different in Republicanland.

jumpshotjarrod - The Frontline documentary "Bush's War" is a magnificent, 4 hour, step by step chronology of how Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz screwed America, starting with Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice.

Cheney and Rumsfeld were the "movers and shakers" and nothing was going to stand in their way as they slowly and methodically took over what was left of G.W.'s brain.

Disgusting as the documentary is, it should be rated as compulsory watching, especially with Nov. 2012 just around the corner and the GOP's next big plan; Bomb, invade and destroy Iran, Pakistan and throw in Afghanistan as a side dish. Yikes!

@ A North American

jumpshotjarrod - The Frontline documentary "Bush's War" is a magnificent, 4 hour, step by step chronology of how Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz screwed America, starting with Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice.

Absolutely. And the tough reality for some people to swallow is that the documentary itself isn't a partisan roast of the Bush Administration; it simply lays out the facts of the chronology which led to war. Unfortunately for the Bush Administration, the facts of the situation expose some pretty ugly governance on their part. Powell appears to have been one of the many bystanders whose credibility was compromised during said ugly governance.

Perhaps Powell should have been asking more questions - that's a valid argument. But, the other end of that is someone in Powell's position shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the nation's highest level of leadership was intentionally misleading people in order to put our country's men and women in harm's way.

ADDENDUM to #12.8:

But, the other end of that is someone in Powell's position shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the nation's highest level of leadership was intentionally misleading people in order to put our country's men and women in harm's way.

In re-reading my statement here, I think it portrays the wrong message. Allow me to revise:

"But, the other end of that is someone in Powell's position shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the nation's highest level of leadership was intentionally misleading people in order to for a cause that would also put our country's men and women in harm's way."

The way I had originally written made it sound like the Bush Administration's sole intention was to put fellow Americans in harm's way. While that was certainly an outcome of their actions, I don't believe putting Americans in harm's way was their sole intention or motivation.

jumpshotjarrod - #12.9 was sure needed and well appreciated. The initial wording had a firery rhetoric attached to it and which flamed a specific and highly contentious suggestion and which seemed bizarrely out of place, in an otherwise straight talking synopsis. Thank's for the clarification and I hope I have spoken with clarity. ( :

Yeah, it definitely wasn't worded in a way that truly represented my thoughts. I don't think the Bush Administration's motivation was to place Americans in the line of fire, and that's certainly how the original post read.

And what about all the lies Obama has spewed? All his broken promises? But I supposed you're all for that now aren't you?

There's nothing secret about corporatism. They just hide it behind the smaller government mantra.

Barry see link provided in 12.4 jumpshot posted of the Frontline story very informative.I a To answer your question Powell was told what he needed to get the backing of the world in bush's war and he achieved that. I also believe that there is more to the story that Powell is not or can't tell due to national security and that information would tear this country apart.

@DS12: If "national security" and truth could perhaps tear a nation apart, what sort of nation is it.

Would the nation be worth the sacrifice or the blood spilled for it's endurance?

Powell lacked the backbone for the truth. He took the easy route. And the wrong one.

Barry-Barry our nation still has secrets that is buried deeply in some vault that would still tear this country apart (JFK, MLK, RFK, Castro, Saudi relationship)....Like I said Powell was played and used for the bush war agenda IMO it had nothing to do with backbone or taking the easy way out. The wrong one that Powell took was believing that he wouldn't be used by Cheney/Rumsfeld and he got screwed royally for that belief in a that republican administration. I will say it again Powell won't say anything against Pres Bush but if it was Cheney that might be a different story.

@DS12: Your points taken, and accepted for their value.

But-----US is now the behemoth of everlasting untruths, with no way out? Never a way out?

right on ScienceGuy.

You should turn that post into the base for a seed/article.

Don't tell them.