1 Unfortunately, I'm not surprised.  Just exactly whose votes are race based again?  Racism?

2 And just think: there was a time when this guy was mooted as the Republican candidate for prez...

3

It's all because Powell can't beat him at bowling.

4 Much as we like to pretend otherwise, racial solidarity among minorities trumps class, culture, and ideology.

5 This is sad. Especially after the way Obama's party have savaged Powell over the past few years. Democrats have called him all sorts of terrible and racist things. I don't see how he can go and support them now. I know he's pissed at the Bush administration and all but come on. I thought he was classier than that.

6 No, it's because a man who was Secretary of State knows that B.O.'s 143 days of Senate experience, his long record and eloquent gaffe-free rhetoric qualify him to be president.  Absolutely nothing to do with skin color, come on now.

7 How quickly the RINO turns...

8 Colin Powell  was never really a Republican or conservative.  He's a career army official and a dedicated ass-polisher, and as the Republicans held the executive for most of his career, he just knew he had to make nice-nice to advance.

its not so much that he's turning on his party, as much as the GOP hyped him as "one of ours" to give itself some high-profile diversity.  But he wasn't one of ours.  He's always been pretty liberal.

9 Eh, I like Powell.  His biography was a decent read, and he's led an exemplary life.  I guess I'll have to disagree with him on this choice and leave it at that.

10 With prominent black conservatives nibbling at their fingernails over whether to vote for Obama, was Powell really a surprise?

11 FWIW...his spokesman is denying the report.

12 Maetenloch is just plain right. Sadly. And someone remind me... wasn't Powell one of the big brass opposed to going all the way to Baghdad in the First Gulf War? If only the elder Bush hadn't gotten that wrong. Wouldn't the world have been very different if the US had eliminated Saddam back then, when he was ripe for harvest? Sheesh, we are going to hear about tidal waves of Obamacans for the next 48 hours...

13 Shouldn't HE be in jail instead of Libby?
Wasn't Armitage his man?  Didn't he know who the leaker was (Armitage) during the Plame Game?
Didn't he withhold that information and encourage others to withhold it as well?

Obstruction at least, subornation?
After I supported him to run in 2000, it turns out that he was an affirmative action hire, anyway.

14

Over-rated. Draft Schwartzkopf.

 

 

15

HOLD YOUR HORSES!

 

 

16

But he wasn't one of ours.  He's always been pretty liberal.

I agree. I can't see him supporting Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell for President. Colin is another lesson in the damage that RINOs can do to the conservative cause.

17 I lost a lot of respect for Colin Powell a long time ago. Good to see the trend is continuing.

18 1/2 blackness trumps national security? Powell has seemed better than that to me. Hope it turns out to be untrue. But even if true, what does it really say? Most folks will think he just wants a black dude. That thus gives folks leeway to say "hell, then, I want a white dude".

19

"With prominent black conservatives nibbling at their fingernails over whether to vote for Obama, was Powell really a surprise?"

What's the what now?  To whom are you referring?

20

And people had "sources" telling them that Hagel was going to be VP for Obama too.

And "sources" swore up and down that Hillary was begging to be Obama's VP.

I could be wrong but I think all these "sources" are desparate Obama staffers hoping to force somebody onto his team.  But yeah, Powell was certainly never a doctrinaire conservative and does resent W.  Why he would carry that through and stab McCain in the back, when he and McCain have been friendly, well....Maybe Alma's been drinking the kool aide?

21 Shame on him. I would expect that he would know that Obama is clueless as to foreign affairs and thinks all conflicts can be solved by chanting hope/change. 

I agree. I can't see him supporting Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell for President. Colin is another lesson in the damage that RINOs can do to the conservative cause.

How about all these rumors that McCain will take Lieberman as his running mate and pledge to run for one term only? I would not characterize McCain as a rino but that's prety damn rino to me.

22

"8 Colin Powell  was never really a Republican or conservative.  He's a careerist army official  REMF and a dedicated ass-polisher, and as the Republicans held the executive for most of his career, he just knew he had to make nice-nice to advance." 

There, I fixed it for you - no charge.

He was also the laziest SecState in recent political memory.

23

And we can't forget the "sources" who said McCain wanted to be Kerry's VP.  Kerry asked/begged and McCain said he was flattered but not interested.

You still see people parroting the former point rather than the truth.

24 General or Secretary Powell has certainly earned respect and is entitled to this opinion.  I will listen to his argument for voting for Obama, but I sincerely doubt I'll hear anything persuasive.

We've prevented another 9/11, largely by sucking Al Qaeda into a conventionalish war in Iraq.  Powell had one of the hardest jobs we've got at the state dept, but he didn't impress.  I like him, but he's going to have to make a good argument for Obama for me not to assume he's being a dummy here.

Obama has no experience, his Georgia line mimiced Putin's before Obama flipped to Mccain's.  He's just not a serious candidate.  Mccain isn't Bush, and whatever gripe Powell has about Bush (some of which I bet are legit), it's not with Mccain.  If Powell doesn't realize that Obama would harm this country, and that Mccain would do a better jiob of uniting and leading us, then we're just not on the same page.

But I'm not going to insult him.

25 Sheesh, we are going to hear about tidal waves of Obamacans for the next 48 hours...

And there won't be one mention of the words "Operation Chaos".

26

11 FWIW...his spokesman is denying the report.

I don't care one way or another--it's about what I expected from Powell.  But Kristol is gonna look like a real douche if he got this wrong.

27 I didn't insult him, ghy. I said I'd lost respect for him, which is true, and that this makes me lost more respect for him.

I lost respect for any person who looks at Barack Obama and thinks, "President... in time of war."

28

Y'all may just want to ixnay on the atredhay.  And read Drew M's link.

Obamabots are desparate for some positive buzz about their candidate.  I think they put this story out there to put pressure on Powell and to get folks on the right to make fools our of themselves.

29 I'd love it not to be true.

30 FWIW...his spokesman is denying the report.

I don't care one way or another--it's about what I expected from Powell.  But Kristol is gonna look like a real douche if he got this wrong.

Just putting on my tin-foil-hat here, but could Kristol have put this out simply to squash the endorsement before the Powell/Messiah camps came to an agreement? After all, he's saying that it isn't a done deal.

31 Holding judgment until:
1) This report is confirmed, &
2) If true, hearing his reasons why.

32

How about all these rumors that McCain will take Lieberman as his running mate and pledge to run for one term only? I would not characterize McCain as a rino but that's prety damn rino to me.

I'm not defending McCain. We don't have a conservative running this year, so I'll likely stay home for the first election in my adult life.

33

This story is phonier than Pam's tits.

34

Powell comes off as a total pussy in Doug Feith's book about the lead-up to the Iraq war. He and Richard Armitage sat around gossiping like hens and waging a desperate attempt to keep Ahmed Chalabi out of power in Iraq. This seemed to inform the State Dept. and CIA's every useless decision both before and after the invasion. That's part of the reason why Bremer was so disorganized after the invasion -- the Pentagon had wanted to have an Iraqi expatriot military force to help preserve order, but Powell and CIA nixed it because of their irrational anti-Chalabi animus. After the Iraqis voted, Chalabi was in just like that, so all their worry was even stupider than Feith thought it was at the time.

Powell's biggest concern has always been Powell. I just can't understand how ANYONE involved in Bush's administration at any time could make common cause with human emetics like Pelosi, Reid, Boxer, Obama et al. I'm convulsed with gagging.

35 Thank you Drew. From the Fox News link:

Powell spokeswoman Peggy Cifrino strongly denied the report.

“There’s absolutely no truth to it whatsoever,” Cifrino told FOXNews.com. “Colin Powell will not be at either convention. There’s absolutely no truth to this.”

That's a pretty strong denial.

36 I read his bio back in the day, and was impressed.  Then I found out about his advice to Bush the elder on the eve of victory in Kuwait, and was a lot less impressed.  Then he turned out to be an incredibly lacklustre SecState, and I was even less impressed.  Then he and his stooge Armitage the Dick let Libby take the fall on the Plame affair, and I pretty much had it with the guy.  Then I found out how he wasn't really even in favor of the original Gulf War, and I realized he's just another flip-flopper.

37 Are some of you really saying this is because of race?

He has publicly said that what the administration had him do in front of the UN was a mistake, and has been criticizing a some of the Bush policies for a while now. It isn't that strange that he would stop supporting Republicans.

38 Drew M's point was my first thought also.  If Powell's spokesperson is categorically denying an Obama endorsement, then I will take that at face value for now.  If it turns out to be wrong, I think Powell has to answer for some integrity issues.

39 Never did, still don't, trust/like him.  He wasn't that great of an Officer.  Mostly a politician in uniform.

40 Oops, that was me.

41

1. If he's doing it, it's because of race.

2. Powell was more adamant in front of the UN about WMD than anyone in the Pentagon, including Rumsfeld. That was HIS FUCKING CHOICE so stop blaming it on Bush and Darth Cheney. Don't you people ever get tired of this?

42 Completely expected.

43 Powell was more adamant in front of the UN about WMD than anyone in the Pentagon

Exactly. Funny that I don't hear much about the Dems wanting legal sanctions against Powell. But everyone else in the Bush administration is or was eeeeeevil.

44 "Shocked" was meant sarcastically right? I'm kind of tired right now.

45 Oh, I hope it isn't true.

46

Who ever thinks he is choosing Obama because of his race is a retard! He served this country for years with honor and respect. And now he's being trashed because he doesn't support McCain when most of you don't even support that bastard! Fucking amazing

47 Meh.  Kristol has always had a very vivid imagination.

48 It's way too soon for Powell to endorse. He usually waits till after the election and then gets 100% behind the winner. That's just how he rolls.

49

The fact that he wasn't attacked by the MSM and Dems when blacks like Clarence Thomas were, is proof that he was a RINO who played the "game".(i.e.- I'm trying to change my racist party).

He was always a political insider more than willing to throw someone under the bus. His silence on Libby was deafening when his boy Armitage was the true leaker.He bailed on Bush when it got too hot  before the surge (which he would have opposed).

Endorsing BO would be entirely in character.

 

50
You mean Obama just got the endorsement of Bush's "Uncle Tom" who was a willing part of the neo-con war machine that LIED LIED LIED to America about mobile biological weapons labs and other WMD's and misled us into an ILLEGAL WAR FOR OIL and was a co-conspirator in the massive war-crimes and humanitarian crisis and biggest strategic and diplomatic blunder in U.S History, and Obama's bragging about it.

Well, that settles it.

We must've won the war in Iraq.

51 Sorry... I forgot the proper capitalization and punctuation... should've been:

...willing part of the NEO-CON!!!!! war machine...

52 Bro's befo ho's. Jus the way it rolls.

53 I wasn't talking about you Cristoph.  You cocksucker.

54 Status: Confirmed, at least in part. He will endorse Obama.

Where did this "confirmed" come from?  The Hot Air link (including updates) doesn't confirm any supposed endorsement.

55 Oops, Barack is still on vacation, so I'm filling in by sockpuppeting...

56 No question about it, this is a blow.  Let's not engage in retrospective tarring of Powell now just because he endorsed Obama - his shortcomings as SecState have been discussed many times already, and I agree with them - and for god's sake I'll wipe anyone who advances the "he endorsed Obama 'cause he's black!" line off the face of the earth.  The simple fact is that, even if we could have kinda-sorta predicted this (Powell's a pretty moderate guy, was an unwilling participant in the Iraq War, probably disgusted with the Bush administration), it's gonna play badly in the press.

And Powell is an honorable soldier.  Attempts at smearing his military record (as opposed to his political record at State) are disgusting and unfounded.

57 The only unique thing about Powell is that he's the first affirmative action homophobe U.S. Army General.

58 I don't know why this would be a surprise. Powell has always been a State Department creature and there are far too many blacks who will vote for Senator Obama just because of his Melanin content. They don't even care what his politics are or how good he'll be. His skin is all they see.

59 I think I speak for everyone here when I ask: How many of those white women are Scandis? 'Cause I'm not sure how scared to be.

60

I can see Powell doing this. Bush hung him out to dry at the UN, leaving Powell in front of the cameras with his dick in his hand. (Hell- I supported IOF from the start, but that presentation at the UN was embarrassing for its thinness.)

So- Powell feels embarrassed, and gets to thumb his ex-boss in the eye by publicly sipping the Obama koolaid.

Politics.

61

I did like Powell's Desert Storm briefing about how we would fight the Iraqi Army:

"First we're gonna cut it off, and then we're gonna kill it."

62

Let's see and affirmative action ROTC officer from NYC suddenly gets Reagan's nod and goes to the White House, as in house N.  Now he thinks he is the queen bee.  What a prick. Loyalty? NONE. 

Lesson?  maybe affirmative action employees are what they appear.

OH, Racist?  No, facts.

Pompous Asshole.

63 That is "ARE NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR"

64 Fuck 'im. They can have him.

He sucked as SecState.

65 I see.  They can vote for a candidate because he's black.

Then I can vote for a candidate because he's white.

McCain...the White Choice.

(Somebody ask Powell what Obama's qualifications are.)

66 No 'shock' whatsoever.  Blacks are easily America's most racist ethnic group.

67 RINO in the worst way.

68 No 'shock' whatsoever.  Blacks are easily America's most racist ethnic group.

I know!  I always wondered why that is?

69 Racist!

70 "these people"

That's code, isn't it? Racist.

Plus, coming from a whitey? Even worse. Why, he's a racist's racist.

Kinda pathetic that a Sec of State sees Obama and thinks, "Yeah, that's the guy we need when the international scene gets hot."

Powell's legacy continues to fall.

71 It's sad, really.  After the way the Dems savaged Powell for his UN Presentation, he's going to endorse Obama?....  Oh, well. Powell always struck me as a man without political convictions.  The Repubs were the strong horse (to use an unfortunate Bin Laden metaphor), so he rode them to SecState.  Now the Dems appear to be in the ascendancy, so he hitches his wagon.   Maybe another go-round at State?  Or maybe it's just that simple - race does trump all.

72 Stop with the anti-Powell attacks until it's official.  It is hard to believe, for one thing.  How exactly will Powell deal with his public support of the war in Iraq in his Democratic convention speech?

73 I don't believe it either. Powell is better than this. It has to be someone from the Baracky camp leaking this.

74 Max Power,
There was no reason to bring Pam's unnatural bosom into this.
Seriously, back the fuck up already!

Colin Powell's endorsement wouldn't move the meter for anybody I know. And I can't imagine he'd move more than a few thousand people unless he's on the ticket as VP.

75

"I don't know why this would be a surprise. Powell has always been a State Department creature and there are far too many blacks who will vote for Senator Obama just because of his Melanin content. They don't even care what his politics are or how good he'll be. His skin is all they see."

I'd bet my left nut that there are more white people voting against him because he's black than there are blacks voting for him because he's black!

 

76

He's asking for more money, I suppose.

77 skin color over everthing heil  hitler

78 http://daily.iflove.com/world//2008-06/15/content_6761125.htm The article gives some insight to the thoughts of Black conservatives and Obama. If Powell endorses Obama and his statement doesnt say something about the historic nature of the first black presidential candidate, Ill eat my hat. Its a racial move pure and simple. The Right liberals on this site dont seem to understand that Whites have ethnic interests and can vote and organize along those lines as well.

79

^{That person} supporting ^{that man}?

No surprise here.

 

80 It's despicable how certain people are accusing Powell of voting his skin color.

He's an individual, and he's clearly been at odds with mainstream Republicanism for many years now, especially over the decision to invade Iraq.

It's no surprise that he might endorse Obama, and it has nothing to do with skin color.

81 I'd bet my left nut that there are more white people voting against him because he's black than there are blacks voting for him because he's black! Posted by: Uncle Luck at August 13, 2008 10:42 PM (hawQ0) I bet you would end up walking funny if you considered the percentage of either demographic.

82

"Exit question: How psyched are the Democrats to have the endorsement of a guy who "lied us into Iraq" and "twisted the intelligence" and all that good stuff?"

No he didn't.

83 I'd bet my left nut that there are more white people voting against him because he's black than there are blacks voting for him because he's black!

Who could say. Both are racist idiots, but one of them is defended by the left.

84 Finally!  Colin Powell is an AUTHENTIC BLACK MAN at last!  Praise Jesus!

And this confirms it, if screwing up Turkey and covering for Armitage didn't: Colin Powell is officially a buddy-fucker.

85 Shocker?  Well, if anyone followed his affirmative action career, there should be no surprises.  Too many conservatives and Republicans get so enamored with the like of him and Condi Rice, when there are true conservative blacks out there like Thomas Sowell.  Rhino blacks serve no purpose, just like Rhino whites like Lincoln Chaffee.  Powell supports racial discrimination against whites, let the homosexuals and John Kerry Democrats run the State Department under his watch.  Do you not remember Visa Express that gave the student and tourist visas to the 9/11 highjackers from Saudi Arabia?  He was always a fantasy of the neo-cons who hated those who opposed the civil rights attack on the Constitution.  The neo-cons always distinguished themselves from real conservatives on this issue, they supported the attack on the 10th Amendment and Powell was their man for the Presidency at times and the neo-cons are still supporting Condi for either President or Governor of California.

86 33. This story is phonier than Pam's tits. I'll be the judge of that! Where's Pam?

87

70 I'd bet my left nut that there are more white people voting against him because he's black than there are blacks voting for him because he's black!

Who could say. Both are racist idiots, but one of them is defended by the left.

 

THREAD WINNER

 

Best Regards

88

Troops Deployed Abroad Give 6:1 to Obama

 

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

 

Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall -- whether stationed overseas or at home -- are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

 

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/08/troops-deployed-abroad-give-61.html

 

Feast on it

89

Feast on it

Meh.  Its thin gruel:

A former West Point professor, Jason Dempsey, noted that the small set of contributions from deployed troops at this point in 2008 -- just 323 donations -- should not be extrapolated to form conclusions about military personnel overall. "If, on a bad day, a guy gets that letter that says [his tour has been extended] from 12 to 15 months, that could spur a quick donation and expression of anger," he said. "Donating helps members of the military express their political views privately."