Colin Powell (R)

[Costanza]

I'm twenty-two, so I'm not too aware of the general sense of the nation toward Colin Powell in the 90s. I've never understood why so many are positively convinced he could've been President, but that's not the point here, just the intro. (Though I'd love to see it addressed.)

It's funny to see people like Rush Limbaugh and Pat Buchanan questioning how Powell could now abandon the Republican party... My question is how the hell he was a Republican in the first place. I understand he served under Republican administrations, but I'm listening to him talk on Meet the Press and before the point where he endorses Obama, his explanation of his worldview leaves no doubt:

* We need to "reach out to the world." Obviously a slam of Bush and the conservative faction that just wants to bulldoze the world and scoffs at global opinion.

* The first thing the incoming President need to do is present a "new image of American leadership in the world." Gee, I'm stumped as to who is better equipped to do that! Though not discused often enough, this is Obama's greatest potential and my main reason for supporting him. Doesn't matter if you don't give two shits about the rest of the world, though.

* "When you help the poorest," you help yourself. Sounds like something Jesus would say, but not a Republican. Powell said this with regard to the need for further efforts to end global poverty; contrast this with a Michael Savage, who lists the $700 billion dollar bailout package right along with $850 billion in foreign outreach as a way of blaming other landmasses on the map for America's hard times.

* Asked by Brokaw for the biggest issue "not on the screen right now" awaiting the next President, Powell answers "education." The wing of the Republican party that could be identified with Ron Paul doesn't even support the idea of a Department of Education. They barely believe in the idea of common rights to education, homeschooling attitudes being a microcosm of the mindset that doesn't give a fuck about the rest of the globe unless it somehow impacts the specific coordinates of their own backyard.

He sounds like a Democrat! Can anybody possibly make a case for this man as a Republican, ideologically?

 

[Dr. Truth]

He's more of an Independent.

 

[BenQ]

you didnt read his autobiography?

 

[Costanza]

you didnt read his autobiography?

I actually have a copy of Colin Powell's autobiography, but it's a tome the size of King Tut's tomb, so I Colin Powelled it. I kept it for a reason, but I haven't read it yet (which could be said of many things).

 

[tical]

so funny, i thought the same thing as i heard him speak. more specifically some of the kinds of things he was saying i too couldn't understand how this man is a republican.

 

[Erebus]

Soon after Powell retired from the Joint Chiefs of staff, there were those of both parties who were awaiting his announcement of his party affiliation. In a 60 minutes interview, Powell stated he is a "Moderate republican." The GOP seized upon this announcement and was pondering him making a run for president. It would've been against Clinton in his second term.
One of the reasons (and maybe the major reason) Powell didn't run was he didn't want to expose his wife to the intense media scrutiny. If I'm not mistaken, she has had a history of mental health issues and both parties would've expose this fact. This is all from my memory, so I may've left parts out, but this is the gist of it!

 

[mc2]

so funny, i thought the same thing as i heard him speak. more specifically some of the kinds of things he was saying i too couldn't understand how this man is a republican.

Powell probably has some core conservative beliefs which is why he's a republican. I have some of those core conservative beliefs myself and a lot of us probably do..

Against government control of everything
Against abortions
pro 2nd amendment
pro death penalty
etc..

Its just that the republicans are also racists as a whole, and have been the worst party for black people.

Regan, Bush and Dubya Bush have been the worst presidents for black people

 

[Costanza]

Could Colin Powell have been elected president in the 1990s???


NOV. 9, 1995 :

THE POWELL ANNOUNCEMENT : Moment in the National Spotlight Gives Alma Powell a Chance to Shine : Politics: Retired general's wife displays candor and 'strength of character' during news conference. Some see her as perfect political spouse.

When she finally faced the media horde Wednesday, Alma Powell was refreshingly forthright, frustratingly succinct.

www.latimes.com

... Standing by her husband’s side in the hotel conference room where he put a merciful end to the nation’s No. 1 political mystery, it was clear this 57-year-old Army wife had played a pivotal role in the former general’s tortured decision against seeking the White House.

“It was one we reached together as a team, as we have for 33 years, and I am very supportive,” she said, stepping confidently to the microphone from her position one step to his left.

In the days leading up to his long-awaited announcement, the Washington gossip chain buzzed with word of her dread that he might be assassinated--”It just takes one nut,” was the way she put it. On Wednesday, she acknowledged--then promptly discounted--those fears when asked about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: “It was a deep tragedy, one that has great effect on the world at large . . . but it did not play a part in the decision.”

Still, some found it hard to believe that the decision of Powell’s life, made on the Monday night that Rabin was laid to rest, was not somehow colored by the ghost of yet another fallen leader.

“I can see where the pressures on Mrs. Powell and on him must have been intense--to be sitting there making a decision with Leah Rabin on the television set,” said Mary Finch Hoyt, former press secretary to Rosalynn Carter, Jane Muskie and Eleanor McGovern.

Even so, there were other factors that may have helped convince Alma Powell that the comfortable house with a swimming pool in McLean, Va., was a safer, saner bet than the mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue.

At the news conference, Colin Powell was asked whether he had, at least in part, been deterred from running by news reports that his wife has suffered from depression for more than 10 years and is on medication for the condition.

His reply was candid, matter-of-fact: “It is not a family secret. [Depression] is very easily controlled with proper medication, just as my blood pressure is sometimes under control with proper medication. And you obviously don’t want your whole family life out in the press, but when the story broke, we confirmed it immediately, and I hope that people who read that story who think they might be suffering from depression make a beeline to the doctor. . . . “

Nevertheless, others said such disclosures represented a “shot across the bow” fired by an unrelenting press corps. “Let’s face it, he’s been a major public figure for years and 90% of the public probably did not know who Alma Powell was,” said Washington political consultant Norman J. Ornstein. “This story had to raise the notion that running for President is different from running a war, being national security adviser or a best-selling author. It’s one of the most unfortunate elements of what has become of public life: You have to run with the expectation that there is nothing that is private.”

Oddly, the factors that led the Powells to decide against a presidential bid are the very qualities that make them so appealing to many in an American public sick of ambitious politicians who will say anything to win, the pundits say.

“The things that led her not to say: ‘Oh boy! I could be First Lady’ are what make her so attractive,” Ornstein said. “She is not consumed by ambition. She is not a Stepford wife.”
...

 

[easy_b]

Could Colin Powell have been elected president in the 1990s???


NOV. 9, 1995 :

THE POWELL ANNOUNCEMENT : Moment in the National Spotlight Gives Alma Powell a Chance to Shine : Politics: Retired general's wife displays candor and 'strength of character' during news conference. Some see her as perfect political spouse.

When she finally faced the media horde Wednesday, Alma Powell was refreshingly forthright, frustratingly succinct.

www.latimes.com

... Standing by her husband’s side in the hotel conference room where he put a merciful end to the nation’s No. 1 political mystery, it was clear this 57-year-old Army wife had played a pivotal role in the former general’s tortured decision against seeking the White House.

“It was one we reached together as a team, as we have for 33 years, and I am very supportive,” she said, stepping confidently to the microphone from her position one step to his left.

In the days leading up to his long-awaited announcement, the Washington gossip chain buzzed with word of her dread that he might be assassinated--”It just takes one nut,” was the way she put it. On Wednesday, she acknowledged--then promptly discounted--those fears when asked about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: “It was a deep tragedy, one that has great effect on the world at large . . . but it did not play a part in the decision.”

Still, some found it hard to believe that the decision of Powell’s life, made on the Monday night that Rabin was laid to rest, was not somehow colored by the ghost of yet another fallen leader.

“I can see where the pressures on Mrs. Powell and on him must have been intense--to be sitting there making a decision with Leah Rabin on the television set,” said Mary Finch Hoyt, former press secretary to Rosalynn Carter, Jane Muskie and Eleanor McGovern.

Even so, there were other factors that may have helped convince Alma Powell that the comfortable house with a swimming pool in McLean, Va., was a safer, saner bet than the mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue.

At the news conference, Colin Powell was asked whether he had, at least in part, been deterred from running by news reports that his wife has suffered from depression for more than 10 years and is on medication for the condition.

His reply was candid, matter-of-fact: “It is not a family secret. [Depression] is very easily controlled with proper medication, just as my blood pressure is sometimes under control with proper medication. And you obviously don’t want your whole family life out in the press, but when the story broke, we confirmed it immediately, and I hope that people who read that story who think they might be suffering from depression make a beeline to the doctor. . . . “

Nevertheless, others said such disclosures represented a “shot across the bow” fired by an unrelenting press corps. “Let’s face it, he’s been a major public figure for years and 90% of the public probably did not know who Alma Powell was,” said Washington political consultant Norman J. Ornstein. “This story had to raise the notion that running for President is different from running a war, being national security adviser or a best-selling author. It’s one of the most unfortunate elements of what has become of public life: You have to run with the expectation that there is nothing that is private.”

Oddly, the factors that led the Powells to decide against a presidential bid are the very qualities that make them so appealing to many in an American public sick of ambitious politicians who will say anything to win, the pundits say.

“The things that led her not to say: ‘Oh boy! I could be First Lady’ are what make her so attractive,” Ornstein said. “She is not consumed by ambition. She is not a Stepford wife.”
...

He could have been the first black president if he didn’t run with the Bush family nevertheless, he was a good man, and he is the only Republican that I would consider voting for at the time. He was super conservative/Republican with foreign things but domestic issues he was liberal-ish.

 

[RUDY RAYYY MO]

He could have been the first black president if he didn’t run with the Bush family nevertheless, he was a good man, and he is the only Republican that I would consider voting for at the time. He was super conservative/Republican with foreign things but domestic issues he was liberal-ish.

Wrong . Regardless of the Bush ties and Iraq debacle he would have been elected

 

[Shadow]

Wrong . Regardless of the Bush ties and Iraq debacle he would have been elected

I think this as well. The GOP fucked up when they duped him over all the Iraq shit. When he left that killed it for them.

I can see how he would say moderate republican. I think of myself as a conservative democrat in a lot of ways like someone mentioned above. More centrist (if I’m using the word correctly) about a lot of thing but still looking for more freedoms from
bS.

 

[RUDY RAYYY MO]

I think this as well. The GOP fucked up when they duped him over all the Iraq shit. When he left that killed it for them.

I can see how he would say moderate republican. I think of myself as a conservative democrat in a lot of ways like someone mentioned above. More centrist (if I’m using the word correctly) about a lot of thing but still looking for more freedoms from
bS.

CP did a lot of fuck shit though not including Iraq , but no doubt he would have been Pres had he ran.

 

[Shadow]

CP did a lot of fuck shit though not including Iraq , but no doubt he would have been Pres had he ran.

I know he wasn’t liked by a lot of generals and racist politicians in the 70s and 80s. He actually became a 4 star without a division command which was unheard of back then and extremely rare now. Then to become chairman? Schwarzkopf hated that he was appointed over him I’m told.