Sunday, October 19, 2008
Colin Powell Endorses Obama
I have many issues with Colin Powell, but here's Powell at his best and most eloquent. This story will dominate the news for several days, and there are not many days left before the election. That is all to the good. I believe that Powell's endorsement will help many of the still (amazingly!) undecided make up their minds in favor of Obama. Perhaps, he may even change a few minds.
I hope that Powell's quite moving story of the picture of the Muslim mother grieving over the grave of her son, who died in Irag, his headstone marked with the star and crescent, rather than the cross or the star of David, will help greatly to counter the idiot notion that Muslim equals terrorist.
His calling attention to the vicious campaign to link Obama to terrorism because of his tenuous connection to William Ayers will be especially helpful. Who knows? It may even get the attention of the doltish managers of the McCain campaign. Of course, I could be wrong.
UPDATE: Here's a link to the picture, thanks to Harriet. The mother looks so young.
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I was up fairly late last night reading some of the speculation on whether or not he would endorse Obama. I was pleased to read this morning that he had, and now it's wonderful to watch that interview.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting it!
Excellent...I couldn´t believe that Colin Powell was willing to state such clear and obvious defects, including Veepcandidate Palin, within the Republican Party and this years campaign...I sense that we will be seeing much more of Colin Powell again...he´s not done, he´s got his eye on REALITY and what grave roads his party has taken us down...more will be revealed! In the meantime...yes we can!
ReplyDeleteThanks Grandmere Mimi!
Argh! no! hit wrong cut'n'paste. Grandmere, can you delete my last omment and substitute this one?
ReplyDeleteThat eloquent photo of the grieving mother at her son's headstone came in a photo essay in The New Yorker (the whole photo essay was very powerful) and you can see it here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/09/29/slideshow_080929_platon?slide=16#showHeader
Harriet
This is Powell's payback to the Republicans for making a chump out him in front of the United Nations Security Council.
ReplyDeletePowell worked very hard behind the scenes to defeat Bush's torture policies, habeas corpus suspension, and to close Guantanamo.
He should consider switching parties. He's too decent for a party taken over by its wingnuts. He also remembers what John McCain was like before he sold his soul to right wing rock n' roll.
I'm glad he called out the Republicans on the whole "Obama is a Muslim" nonsense. Indeed, the right answer to that is "So what?" I have old friends going back 20 years who are Muslim, and very much American. Go to any mosque in Queens or Brooklyn, and you will see some grey heads wearing VFW caps.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine how this looks to the Arab world, which is watching all this on teevee. Remember folks, these are the people we set out to "liberate" when we invaded Iraq.
Sorry that the URL I gave earlier, for the photo Powell mentioned, didn't seem to fit into the column width. Try this "tiny URL" version if that one didn't work for you:
ReplyDeletehttp://tiny.cc/0Vark
Harriet
Bubs, Leonardo, it's very impressive commentary by Powell, indeed.
ReplyDeleteHarriet, I left the link that led directly to The New Yorker site, and I added an update to the post with a link to the picture. Thank you.
Counterlight, what huge load of shit the Republicans have spread out over the years! It stinks to the high heavens.
Thanks, Grandmere Mimi! It's such a speaking image (though I think Colin Powell conveyed its essence quite well in his words).
ReplyDeleteAlmost, I could forgive Powell for some of his past sins, just for making all those points in such judicious, measured, decisive words.
For a moment just now, after reading Leonardo's words, I had a brief vision of what this campaign could have been if Powell and Obama had been the contenders...
Harriet
Hmmm. . .this endorsement can't be good for Obama I don't think. IF we are to continue thinking that Obama is running against W via McCain then can he really accept this endorsement?
ReplyDelete1) Didn't Powell preside over the *failed war* which was headed by a *failed administration*??? We don't want four more years of the same - and he thinks the Messiuh is the right candidate!!!
2) Or, does this expose more Democratic hypocrisy in the double-standard of who is allowed to be connected with each other? (Ayers, J. Wright, ACORN. . .) It's good to know we have the left to determine who is worthy of the Messiuh's graces.
Congratulations Grandmere!
ReplyDeleteYou're a political threat now. You're starting to get the anonymous political trollers from over there on the right fringe.
Anonymous, this will work to Obama's advantage. What it exposes is the bankruptcy of McCain's whole campaign, with its vicious tactics, which are backfiring, if you hadn't noticed.
ReplyDeleteMessiuh?
If you visit again, please make up a name and sign your post. You don't need to register. Simply leave a name at the end of your comment. I don't like to mix up the Anonymouses (Anonymi?).
Counterlight, a threat? Me! Do you really think so? That's always been my aspiration, but I never thought it would actually happen. And at 74!
ReplyDelete1) Messiuh is a reference to the messianic fervor around him, although the great orator can't really speak that well.
ReplyDelete2) I have noticed the backfiring. . .that's why O can't close this race. . .it's actually tighter now than any poll has shown to date. . . but there is none so blind as she who will not see, is there???
-Jack
Messiuh is a reference to the messianic fervor around him
ReplyDeleteWould you mean "messiah", then?
So you think that Powell's endorsement will actually work to McCain's advantage? Well then, that's all right, Jack! Have your fantasy.
I can see why you endorse the left, because you can't actually understand what I've said (although it's in print before you), and you draw conclusions which I've not made. Perhaps you think that spreading the wealth is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI don't mean "messiah" because the messianic characterization of Lord Barack is not actually true, although this is the cheapened version of a messiah. So I refuse to contribute that office to him. And (as I said above, if you want to read), it is a reference to his inability to speak in complete sentences (off-prompter) without *uh-ing* all the way through it (7 minutes worth in a 40 minute speak, I think he was timed at).
I didn't say Powell's endorsement will help McCain. I don't think it will. Thanks for drawing an errant conclusion from what I didn't say. If you want to know, I will tell you: Powell is mostly irrelevant at this point (along with a host of other endorsements on either side). It simply doesn't matter to most people. Maybe if I need to decide between a Big Mac and a Whopper, but otherwise. . .
I have no fantasy here. . .I see the flaws on both sides. Both of these losers are potential disasters, some more potential than others.
-J
"Anonymouses (Anonymi?)"
ReplyDeleteProperly, they are anonymice. I decided this recently when I was beset with them in dealing with a local election on my other blog:-)
"Anonymice"! I love it, Jim. I'll remember that.
ReplyDelete