What I'm going enjoy watching about the Powell endorsement..

[HardWorkingDem]

how fast the Rethugs turn on him and start to savage him.

Oddly, Though I'm glad his support will only help Obama, I find it sort of disappointing how a lot of Duer's have forgotten what he has done and his roll in allowing the Iraq War to march on.

If he had done things differently, I think he is the singular person that could have stopped it from happening.

[shraby]

1. We haven't forgotten, but with what we know now

about the roll-out of the war, I don't think anything or anyone could have stopped it. They would have kicked Powell to the side and put someone else in his place without a second thought, and discredited him at the same time.

[HardWorkingDem]

2. Well, if he is such a man of "integrity"...

he should have thrown his job under the bus and tried...instead, he went to the UN and did their work for them.

[monmouth]

3. I think the "soul" of the Obama campaign is to look forward, not backward..n/t

[Diamonique]

4. None of us have forgotten what he did/didn't do

But we're focused on getting Obama elected... and this endorsement helps with that.

[HardWorkingDem]

5. take a look at some other threads....

short memories it seems....

[Overseas]

6. I don't think all of those who are glad to have the endorsement have forgotten

Colin's role in the lead up to the Iraq War. I am still angry that he complied and agreed to make the case at the U.N.

But Republicans didn't forget Colin's role in My Lai and may have threatened to hash that out in public again if he went against their plans to invade Iraq. They can easily scare up political storms through all kinds of shadowy groups and authors like Gerome Corsi.

Oliver Stone's W. movie seemed to imply that when Powell was resisting the push toward war with Iraq, he was threatened with past transgressions being rehashed in public. Cheney could easily make that happen. As would Rumsfeld.

And some people have allowed themselves to forgive Powell because they've allowed themselves to pretend that maybe he knew more than we did, like those members of Congress who voted for the IWR.

So those moderate people who go along with some of the government's propaganda in order to be more "mainstream" and not venture to far toward the truth about how much was known about Sadaam's LACK of WMD before our country invaded.

[HardWorkingDem]

7. Here's the thing...

First, don't get me wrong - I'm ecstatic for what this endorsement will do for Obama. I really am. I'm happy the American people, in this case, have their head so buried into American Idol and all other nonsense that they are not thinking critically about Powell and his past.

But on the other hand, I'm just a regular guy who loves to read and follow politics. Also, I was in the first Gulf war and remember watching that unfold, so I've seen these tricks before. So when people say to me things like "everybody thought the same thing" I want to scream bullshit as loud as I can.

All of the information one needed to know about Iraq, WMD's and Bush's war was out there in the open for anyone willing to find it. When engineers stand up and state that a particular tube is not strong enough for this or that, one listens. When biologists and scientists stand up and say this organism or that organism can or can't do this or that, one listens. When independent bodies say this is true or that is wrong, one listens.

From balsa wood drones, to delicate aluminum tubes, to lack of nuclear capabilities, it was all out in the open for people to make an informed judgment.

Colin Powell could have been the Sampson to topple the pillars of Bush and Cheney's lies, but he chose to instead offer them support. He could have went down in history as one of the most important Americans of all times, but instead chose to take the easy way out, just like he is now.

[Overseas]

8. So we agree that he could have done more to stop the crazed Republican ideologues

with their dangerous plans to have the USA take over the middle eastern oil fields.

Yes. You and I and many others are very disappointed in him for that.

And he pushed the Republican imperialists to go to the U.N. and we are glad about that.

But I am adding the element of blackmail to the usual Republican urging that he defend the Bush plans. Some believe he was threatened into supporting the New Republican cause by veiled threats to revive his My Lai history, with more details than had been made public ever before, using some of the right wing's vanity publishers to push the stories. Using the Lee Attwater clones who run the party's tactics today, Smears-R-Us. They could keep a smear campaign going for months. So timing his announcement must have presented those additional challenges.

[HardWorkingDem]

9. I personally believe....

he could have stopped the entire war if he had done it right. If he had only stood up to those in the Bush Admin and refused to do what they wanted and if not, then resigned and then spoke out about it. If he had done those things, I think the media, talking heads and pundits would have done an about face and looked at all the information much differently.

Seriously, when I remember how this all unfolded, I KNEW it was all lies and bullshit and that is not because I'm super-smart. It is simply because I chose to examine all sources, biases and who was reporting what and when.

And I don't know about any sort of useful blackmail stuff anymore. I just think the American people just don't give a shit about the things that really are important and instead focus on stuff like The Biggest Loser, the new version of Sony Playstation and who's on American Idol.