Powell: “I want to continue to be a Republican because it annoys them,”

[Newell Steamer]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255501-powell-i-stay-republican-to-annoy-gop

“I want to continue to be a Republican because it annoys them,” Powell quipped to host Walter Isaacson.

“I think the party has shifted much further right than where the country is and it should be obvious to party leaders that they cannot keep saying and doing the things that they were doing and hope to be successful in national-level election in the future, not just in 2016,” he added.

Powell said a small faction in the GOP is alienating voters with their rhetoric on immigration.

“I think most Republicans understand that we need immigration, we are an immigrant nation [and that] it is in our best interest to do it,” he said.

“But there are pockets of intolerance within the Republican Party [and] the Republican Party had better figure out how to defeat that."

Powell has usually been one of the few voices of reason in the GOP. Powell gets it - the GOP has turned into an lunatic extremist's asylum. It houses liars, vandals and people who want to oppress people instead of serving them.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Powell would make a great President however, both sides would blast him over his record.

 

[Strk]

Powell would make a great President however, both sides would blast him over his record.

Kind of hard to take anyone seriously who was linked to Iraq.

 

[Jhhnn]

Powell would make a great President however, both sides would blast him over his record.

Rightfully so. History turned on his participation in the campaign of falsehoods leading to the invasion of Iraq. Had he resigned & denounced it, the invasion likely would not have occurred.

War is a much more serious matter than any email flap.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This is kind of the reason I'm still registered as a republican. Should be fun voting in the primary this election. I think I'll vote for Trump.

 

[sm625]

The country isnt on a rail. It does not simply shift from left to right. When will people stop accepting this false and meaningless paradigm? You have axes on social issues, fiscal issues, national security issues, and personal liberty issues, and none of them are directly tied to a particular party.

 

[Mxylplyx]

The country isnt on a rail. It does not simply shift from left to right. When will people stop accepting this false and meaningless paradigm? You have axes on social issues, fiscal issues, national security issues, and personal liberty issues, and none of them are directly tied to a particular party.

The rightward shift is the product of a hyper reactionary media culture, and a dedicated core of the Republican electorate has fallen victim to it. I used to fall prey to it, and thankfully broke out many years ago. I could only imagine where I would be today if I continued absorbing the incessant fear mongering parroted by the right wing media bubble.

 

[HomerJS]

Idiot Republicans had their chance in 96. Powell would have been the perfect candidate then but GOP were too stupid to realize it. He thought about running but they were going to smear his wife.

He was the first Republican I would have voted for POTUS

 

[glenn1]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255501-powell-i-stay-republican-to-annoy-gop

Powell has usually been one of the few voices of reason in the GOP. Powell gets it - the GOP has turned into an lunatic extremist's asylum. It houses liars, vandals and people who want to oppress people instead of serving them.

There's a difference between legal and illegal immigration he's overlooking. You can oppose the later for reasons of wanting to maintain rule of law and fairness to immigrants who do use legal channels. There's also plenty in both parties who disagree with the obvious solution (raise legal immigration quotas) but of course he won't bother calling them out for the intolerance and racism that's the source of their opposition to raising quotas.

 

[nickqt]

This is kind of the reason I'm still registered as a republican. Should be fun voting in the primary this election. I think I'll vote for Trump.

Right. Being against anything the libruuls are for is what makes the Republican party Reactionary, rather than conservative.

We already know.

I too look forward to voting for Trump in the primary, assuming he's still in. Only Nixon could go to China, and only the Republican base can kill the GOP.

 

[MongGrel]

Powell at least has integrity.

Trump has none.

 

[MongGrel]

This is kind of the reason I'm still registered as a republican. Should be fun voting in the primary this election. I think I'll vote for Trump.

I've thought of switching myself in the past, just so I could vote to nominate the guy I think has the least chance.

 

[trenchfoot]

I've actually felt sorry for Powell, as it's my guess that he got hornswoggled by both Bush and Trump into being the loyal soldierly SecState that would give lustre and prestige to the position he held, and then subsequently have him lie through his teeth to "be a part of the team" and "do the right thing" to sell the War on Iraq as a necessary task to preserve our national security.

I think the conflict between being the loyal and obedient "good soldier" as he was indoctrinated throughout his exemplary military career and then being ordered to lie and lie some more so as to be loyal to his Commander in Chief really messed up his head and ruined his chances of doing some good things in the body politic.

 

[Ranulf]

Powell at least has integrity.

Oh hogwash. Go check out that Frontline news special on Iraq and the state department. Supposedly he, Dick Armitage and others in State had their resignations ready to go at a moments notice for months during policy battles with Cheney/Rummy. If Powell had any integrity he would have resigned as Sec State over Iraq policy he didn't like. Bitching about it after the fact just makes him look like the weak liar he truly is.

 

[michal1980]

So Powells a troll

 

[HomerJS]

Oh hogwash. Go check out that Frontline news special on Iraq and the state department. Supposedly he, Dick Armitage and others in State had their resignations ready to go at a moments notice for months during policy battles with Cheney/Rummy. If Powell had any integrity he would have resigned as Sec State over Iraq policy he didn't like. Bitching about it after the fact just makes him look like the weak liar he truly is.

If Powell is the bad guy in that administration, what does it say for Cheney/Bush?

Perspective??

 

[Jhhnn]

Powell at least has integrity.

Trump has none.

I don't see it that way. Powell abandoned his integrity when he knowing spread the bullshit about Iraq in his speech to the UN.

Read it and weep-

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/05/iraq.usa

Trump? Of course he has no integrity. He panders to fools who believe in lies.

 

[bshole]

I don't see it that way. Powell abandoned his integrity when he knowing spread the bullshit about Iraq in his speech to the UN.

Read it and weep-

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/05/iraq.usa

Trump? Of course he has no integrity. He panders to fools who believe in lies.

I still like Powell. He made a mistake. I think he was forced into it by Cheney and company. You need to remember that he was against the Iraq war all along. In the end, he sucked it in and followed the commander in chief reluctantly. I suppose he could have resigned but there was no way he could have prevented the action.

 

[theeedude]

This is after a Republican president sent him to destroy his credibility and lie to the world about Iraq. This guy really is a glutton for punishment.

 

[Jhhnn]

I still like Powell. He made a mistake. I think he was forced into it by Cheney and company. You need to remember that he was against the Iraq war all along. In the end, he sucked it in and followed the commander in chief reluctantly. I suppose he could have resigned but there was no way he could have prevented the action.

He might have stopped the invasion had he resigned & denounced it for the trumped up bullshit he knew it was.

We'll never know, of course.

Righties try very hard to avoid that discussion entirely. They were chumped & are still chumped, can't possibly owe up to it. They'd rather talk about Obama's birth cert, Hillary's email or the penultimate mindfuck they constructed from the Benghazi incident.

 

[brycejones]

So Powells a troll

still broken

 

[Drako]

This is kind of the reason I'm still registered as a republican. Should be fun voting in the primary this election. I think I'll vote for Trump.

He's probably going to win anyway, without any outside help.

 

[peonyu]

He voted for Obama due to skin color alone, and he admits it...Its hard to respect him for being that shallow, and thats not even counting the cluster-fuck that was Iraq that he had a hand in.

 

[Jhhnn]

He voted for Obama due to skin color alone, and he admits it...Its hard to respect him for being that shallow, and thats not even counting the cluster-fuck that was Iraq that he had a hand in.

I'm no great fan of Powell but I have to object to obvious lies.

He's given entirely different reasons than what you claim with that generalized & backhanded slur-

Powell said it simply came down to the economic plans put forth by the Republican campaigns, which he says were not “suited for the times we were in.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...e-in-contentious-interview-with-bill-oreilly/

How can you believe in the kind of bullshit that a cursory google shoots right in the ass?

 

[DucatiMonster696]

We don't need ILLEGAL immigration. Legal immigration yes but unsanctioned and out of control ILLEGAL immigration, HELLS NO. Pretending that both are the same is a fucking insult to people who have gone through the long and costly ordeal of being a legal US immigrant and eventual US citizen along with all the others waiting their turn patiently.