This morning, a man that I used to say I would vote for for President of the United States had an opportunity. He had an opportunity to redeem himself for shocking Republicans and Democrats alike with his 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama. You see, after this tremendous mistake, Colin Powell had the opportunity to prove to the nation that he is indeed the Republican, and more importantly the Conservative, that everyone has always distinguished him as. As I expected, the endorsement for Obama was a sign of things to come.
The former Secretary of State started off swinging– for the wrong team. Host of Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer, began by discussing the recent comments by Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Dick Cheney regarding Powell. Specifically, Cheney’s week-old statement that he did not realize Colin Powell was still a Republican. Powell’s response CLEARLY is contradictory of itself. After starting off by saying that he is still a Republican, and clouting his 20 year record of voting for Republican Presidential candidates(leaving out his votes for JFK, Jimmy Carter, and LBJ-3 gentlemen that completely made a mockery of their position), Powell reaffirmed his endorsement last year for President Obama. When probed for reasons for this surprising decision, Powell began to show his true agenda-
Colin Powell admitted to feeling that if the Republican Party continues pushing further and further to the right (which I must say they have a long way to go), then this will open up the moderates and middle-of-the-road voters to be taken in by the Democrats. He follows by saying that there must only be 2 political parties–Democrats and Republicans. And for Republicans to be successful, they must move more towards the center. This statement alone should give him a free ticket out of the Republican Party and out of the minds of Conservatives as being one of their own. This man has completed what many say is the biggest turnaround in may years. While his call to Republicans to move more towards the center was a broad statement, he made sure to nail down exactly what he meant.
The hot topic that came up first was the talk of closing Guantanamo Bay. While there are Republicans that favor this, they are party members who can join him on his donkey ride out– Lindsay Graham and John McCain. Colin Powell appears to share Barack Obama’s “Citizen of the World” dreams. He feels that the fact that America catches and imprisons terrorists who are caught in the act of fighting and killing soliders makes us look “bad” in the eyes of the world. It makes us look as though we are not a “nation of law” as he puts it. Colin is right in one thing- it is important how the world views America. It is important that the world view us as a nation that is not “soft” or “tolerant” of those who choose to attack us here or around the world. It is important that the men are captured, thrown in prison, and the key thrown away. There have been many men released from Gitmo in the past. The fact is that almost 1 in 5 will go right back to planning and attacking Americans, quite often in the very same place they previously did. Powell says he supports Obama closing the prison, but only after Obama outlines a detailed plan of where to place the prisoners. Let’s see, prisons around the country are bursting at the seams of overcrowding. Guilty convicts are being given lighter sentences to free up space. And you, Mr. Obama, want to close a perfectly good prison which centrally locates the worst of the worst, and place these terrorists in prisons somewhere else in the country. Where is your logic? That’s it sir, you have none, and neither do you Colin Powell!
After this enlightening discussion, Powell moved on to several other issues. Powell stated that the people in America want an effective and fair government (I will give him this one). But, he did not stop there. He went on to claim that Americans want a government that will keep them safe (right), provide them aid thru groups like FEMA (ok, not going the right way), and finally, will HELP THEM OUT OF A DIFFICULT ECONOMY SUCH AS THE ONE WE ARE FACING NOW!!!!!! Mr. Powell, you are now out of the closet. No Republican, and certainly no conservative, should ever share this feeling. Powell specifically mentioned that he agrees with Barack Obama’s sharing of wealth with the rich and the poor, and the Republican Party should move in this direction (Sounds like Mr. Powell should get Meghan McCain’s number).
In closing, Colin Powell clearly demonstrated today that his days as a conservative member of the Party are well behind him. The Republican Party must not take action on any ideas such as the ones proposed by Powell today. They must do what true conservatives say they must do, and that is stick to conservative principles. How did George Bush win re-election in 2004? The Party focused on its base and transformed this into an excited Party who believed in a candidate that had their best interests at heart and would keep them safe for the next few years. We had a candidate this past year who fit exactly what Powell claims we need, and he was soundly defeated by the most radical President ever elected. This should silence people like Colin Powell, but unfortunately for us, it will not.
