Hah! That’d be something, wouldn’t it? Attack Powell for helping lie us into the Iraq war while clinging to the idea that going into Iraq was the right thing to do. I’m dying to see how this gets parsed.
And quite a hearty endorsement too. A pretty good Obama stump speech that nailed the state of the campaign, and eviscerated McPalin. I had doubted Colin. I halfway expected him to get on there this morning and tow the party line. Glad he didn’t. He is still a douche for the UN speech though. I hope Obama uses him effectively for votes, but I’ll be disappointed if he gets hired in the administration.
I’m not sure the GOP will want to open that can of worms, about Iraq.
Next stop Hagel? Or will he hold his promise and leave his wife being the only one to endorse?
Steve Clements has a good post about his conversation with Wilkerson over at the 'Note.
Oh, man. An endorsement by Hagel (my personal pick for Obama’s running mate) would be so sweet.
Great Ceasar’s Ghost! You’re right. Out of morbid curiosity I peeked into the Fox News comments. I couldn’t stomach more than a few pages.
People are crying racism over Powell’s endorsement. Some are saying they used to respect him but not anymore since he’s endorsing Obama.
Damn…so if he backed McCain he’d be called *“Uncle Tom”. *But since he’s backing Obama he’s a racist? I’ve met Powell once, and while I was a bit put off by him he didn’t strike me as a person that makes his decisions based on race. *(it was at a book signing in the Pentagon…his aides wouldn’t let him sign my day planner unless I bought his book. I didn’t…I thought it was petty to kind of extort money from a then-lower-enlisted soldier in DC which is horribly expensive that doesn’t have a lot of cash to throw around. But I did get to at least shake his hand, and to be honest, he didn’t refuse to sign it, his aides are the ones that said no. Though it was most likely something he knew about). *Amazing…these same people should be crying “sexism”. Do they think Palin got the nom for VP on her merits? Its because she has tits. She doesn’t have much else.
So the rest say they used to respect CP until he backed Obama. Hmmm…I don’t think they respected him then. He’s allowed to make his own decisions, and just because he doesn’t agree with ***Joe-Sixpack-the Plumber-McCain-Voters ***isn’t a good reason to no longer respect him. I expect his involvement with Bush’s war will rear its head, but didn’t McCain vote in agreement with it? It will be interesting, if not sickening to see these wingnuts try to spin it.
Raised my respect a few notches, especially his comment on the smear tactics of Obama being Muslim, “The really right answer is what if he is?”
And, I think this endorsement is something that could help cement my father in the Obama camp.
That’s an awfully flowery way of describing a man who knowingly (your word) lied to help start a war where he knew thousands of innocents would die.
I was really happy to hear that. That hasn’t been said nearly enough during this campaign. I understand why the Obama camp hasn’t been pressing the argument, but it is a message that needs to be much more prominent than it has been.
I go back and forth in my feelings about Powell. That was a good endorsement, though. I especially liked his line about Obama knowing that all towns have values, not just “small towns”. It was a quick line, but a good one. And his words about the Muslim soldier were quite moving.
I don’t know how big a deal this endorsement is, but I know that my parents, at least, really respect Powell and will probably give a fair bit of weight to his endorsement. I would imagine they’re not the only people of their generation who do.
My guess is this will do nothing to swing any Republican votes to Obama but it will have an impact on swinging undecided independents toward him and away from McCain.
This is not going to be good news for McCain/Palin in toss-up states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and maybe Florida. I think that is the only influence it will have.
While I have issues with Powell, I wasn’t aware he knowingly lied about intelligence prior to the war. Isn’t it likely he was misled just as much as the rest of us and Congress were? Anything that could be offered showing he knew he was repeating false info would be something I would like to see.
I think Powell’s smarter than that, so no, I don’t give him a pass. I respect him, but I believe he knew what he was doing and is going to have to live with the shame of his decision to be a good soldier and lie to the American people, even if he doesn’t acknowledge it publicly.
I’m certainly not willing to give him a pass if it can be shown he knew he was repeating false information to the Security Council or in any other setting. But I haven’t seen anything to show that he knew the intelligence data was distorted or inaccurate. The Bush Administration misled scores of Democrats in Congress but we don’t say they knowlingly lied when they accepted this information as fact. Is it so unbelievable the same thing happened with Powell?
In my opinion, yes, it is quite unbelievable. Powell was not somewhere on the periphery during the run-up. He was in the thick of it. There’ve also been reports (I’m sure someone could dig up) of Powell becoming extremely, and loudly agitated because of intelligence conveyed to him that controverted what the Administration was putting forth. Yet, in the end, Powell lied to the Security Council and, thereby, the American people.
Really? How do you see this increasing turn-out among the hardcore any more than it already is? Those that would react to Powell’s endorsement with increased McCain vigor are already either going to vote against Obama no matter what or vote for Palin no matter what (yeah, I don’t think too many of the hardcore are actually voting for McCain really). The rabbit that McCain has had to pull out of his hat was always motivating that base while also beating Obama in the middle - those who might have voted for the McCain they thought they knew back in 2000, back when it was flirting across the bar but not yet actually having breakfast together. They’ve both sewn up their bases by now; the core is revved on both sides and right now the Dem core is bigger than the GOP core. The election could always only go McCain’s way if he also won over a majority of the middle - Powell might not win those folks over much more, but he does help prevent McCain from having a chance to win them back at this late date. And that is plenty. Keeping the gains right now is more important than making new one.
BTW, his defense against the Islamophobia and the prejudice against American Arabs, that Obama to his shame has implicitly also endorsed by the nature of his denials, moves him back up quite a few notches in my book too. It reminds me some of when, back when he was first declining to run for President, he was asked if it was because he was afraid that the media would bring up his wife’s depressive illness: he responded bluntly, to the effect of “No. She has a treated illness. Every one knows about it. And her meds work better than my high blood pressure pills. Next question please.” (That did more to destimatize mental illness than a hundred Koppel Nightlines about it had.)
Well, first of all, any endorsement of Obama (regardless of the endorser) is superior to an endorsement of McCain. Considering the source, however, and the circumstances surrounding my tendency to view him with disdain, I don’t see myself crowing too loudly over this.
Be funny, though, if Condi were to come out and also endorse Obama. 
I didn’t say it would increase turnout among the hardcore base. By galvanize, I meant to harden. Those who may vote for McCain, but do so with ambivalence, may now not only do so with increased ferver, but go out of their way to try to sway others currently swathed in political malaise. The result may be an increased turnout among the softer edge of the base. Significant? Probably not. An impact? i think so.
I agree. His firm, unequivocal statement about islamophobia this morning definitely helped.
They certainly seem to be in an uprorar over something that “doesn’t matter” (their words, not mine).