Thank you for the endorsement, Colin Powell. P.S. This doesn't negate your fuckup.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

I am not a huge fan of Colin Powell by any means. In my opinion he's an intelligent, knowledgeable, hugely experienced military man and public servant... who has only risen as far as he has because the Republican Party needed a token black statesman. I think Powell knows this, too, and I think it informs a lot of his sycophantic behavior.

Colin Powell is maybe the only person alive who ever had it within his power to stop this lunatic war, and he did not (which is not to say that he did nothing to try to prevent it either.) In doing so he put loyalty to the President (and the Party that had brought him so far) above loyalty to the country. Lame.

I don't respect Powell any more or any less because of his Obama endorsement, but then again I put little stock in whether people agree with me when according them respect. I don't know why he's doing this. Maybe he really does believe it. Or maybe he's trying to save his soul. It's not for me to know, and honestly I don't really care. His motivation for doing this is irrelevant to me. But I do know that Colin Powell is also respected by a great many people in this country, and so I'm happy about the endorsement even though I don't think much of him personally. The end.

[gateley]

1. That just about sums up my feelings -- well put. We'll take the endorsement

and the votes it brings to our candidate.

[Kahuna]

2. I am with you. He endorsed bush in 2000. Enough said. nt

[Buzz Clik]

3. "who has only risen as far as he has because the Republican Party needed a token black statesman"

Holy crapoli!

Racism lives at DU.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Oh, buzz off.

The Republican Party knew exactly what the were doing with Colin Powell and he knew exactly what they were doing, too.

[Buzz Clik]

9. I do love the Token Negro comment.

Welcome to the Free Republic.

Oh, wait. This is DU.

Seriously, Powell had no credentials to be Secretary of State, right? Just that he was of African descent. Right? Are you willing to defend that comment on the day that Powell endorsed Obama?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Read my post again.

Powell is very experienced, talented, and capable military and public servant. He would have done well with or without the Republican Party. But please spare me. The Republican Party would sooner put a black man in jail than in the cabinet, except where it suits their purposes of appearing open and inclusive. Powell is a member of a political party that has at the core of its value system the idea that minorities are automatically inferior to white, "real" Americans. Do you really expect me to believe that he didn't have a problem with that, or that he just figured it out?

The relationship between Powell and the Republican Party has been a symbiotic one. He lends the party a patina of racial inclusion, and in return they have promoted his career at every turn.

[Buzz Clik]

12. That symbiotic relationship -- assuming it ever existed -- is cleary dead.

But you continue to defend your "token" comment.

I'm done.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. Of course it's dead.

He's basically retired. He doesn't need them any more. I welcome his endorsement, but it doesn't change my opinion of the man at all. And you can take your argument and shove it. I'm hardly the first, and I certainly won't be the last, to point this out. And if you're gonna call all of us racists, you're gonna have a long row to hoe.

[Buzz Clik]

14. "And you can take your argument and shove it." Blatant racism AND intolerance. Lovely.

What's next? Challenging my loyalty to the Party? Demands of patriotic symbolism?

Your bullying bullshit is reminiscent of Freepers, and it won't work on me.

Your ignorance and hate ooze from your pores, and you embarrass me that we will both be voting for Barack Obama.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. You've called me a racist. You've compared me to Freepers.

I've said nothing against you. I have nothing against you. I'm not interested in engaging in personal attacks, and I'm no longer particularly interested in answering yours.

[Buzz Clik]

17. Funny how you can tell me to take my opinion and shove it, and then proclaim yourself as a victim.

And, yes -- calling the former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a token is racist as hell.

[kath]

20. And they knew *exactly* what they were doing with Clarence Thomas, as well.

(the person arguing with you has shown itself *repeatedly* to be on the short list of "most ignorant DUers". Pay it no mind.)

[Colobo]

4. Powell is a decent man who was as loyal as he could to his boss

and yes, helped create a disaster. Still, the man deserves some respect for what he did today.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. I'm loyal to my boss, too.

But if my boss started willfully misleading the President of our company on the progress of a project, especially in a way that could create a disaster for the company, you can bet your ass I'd go over his head! Powell may have been loyal to his boss, Bush, but Bush works for us. We are his boss. Ultimately we are the boss of everybody in the administration. These people WORK FOR US, or so we are told. And there are times when you have to put the chain of command aside and go to the people at the top.

[stolivodka]

5. My sentiments exactly.

Those DUers who are humping Powell's leg or demanding that he be made part of a future Obama cabinet, I take great offense to.

[ravencalling]

6. I agree - you said it well!

I tried to write my own feelings. Then deleted several times, but you sum it up well.

I remember how raw it was when we were betrayed by this man. A man whom many trusted to bring sanity to the run up to the Iraq war.
The fallen will never have that luxury.

I am grateful for the endorsement, and for his stating the truth. That takes courage. I'll give the man that. But redemption? That is not mine to give, that in my opinion could only be given by those who now no longer have a voice.

[rusty_parts2001]

10. He stuck his finger in the wind and

saw the direction, once again proving he has no principles. A 4 star prostitute, all the way to the end. He could have endorsed Obama 8 months again and done something important and effective. Now, its just a footnote......
Go back to playing with your Volvos.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. I don't think we can assume to know why he did what he did.

And really I don't see the point in exploring the motivation. The only person to whom motivation is relevant is him.

[always_saturday]

18. I agree. And while I'd rather have his endorsement than not have it -

because I think it will help Obama - it doesn't change my opinion of Powell one iota.

Kerry might have been running for HIS second term right now, if not for Powell.

[Buzz Clik]

19. Here's another thread where your opinion would make an impact.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7515917