# If Colin Powell Hadn't Blown It... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 6, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480 "2013-10-06T01:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480/41 "2013-10-06T20:51:13Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Powell could have run for President in 2000, and considering how wide open the field was initially there’s a good chance he could have been the Republican nominee and won. He decided he didn’t want to then. Considering that, I was surprised that he decided to accept the Secretary of State position under Bush at all. This was basically what I was going to say. There was a time when Powell could have won, he maybe even could have won in 1996 if he had ran against Clinton. By 2008 his biggest problem was not his association with Bush, it was that the Republican party by 2008 had moved far to the right of where it was in 2000. It’s actually unlikely that George W. Bush c. 2000 could have won the Republican primary in 2008 without moving very far to the right to knock out the Santorum types, and thus make himself unelectable in the general. In 2000 Powell was seen as a moderate Republican, Bush was seen as a traditional conservative but with some moderate wrinkles (he gave speeches in Spanish, embraced Tejanos and a relationship with Mexico and immigration reform, and his “compassionate conservatism” was a sort of religiously branded form of social welfare), both were electable in both the general and the primary at that time. By 2008 Bush would be considered a “moderate” Republican while Powell would be considered a RINO. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480/42 "2013-10-06T21:27:30Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Emphasis added. And point of clarification: Powell endorsed Obama twice. In 2008 and again in 2012. > > Really going out on a limb there, **TB** , aren’t you? 🙂 John, \*you’re \*the one who asked for “cite?”🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NotfooledbyW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NotfooledbyW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotfooledbyW)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480/43 "2013-10-06T22:21:34Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Powell knew it was bullshit before he made the speech. And said so in private and gave the speech anyway. > > [http://www.thenation.com/article/colin-powell-and-power-audacity](http://www.thenation.com/article/colin-powell-and-power-audacity) > > As masterful as the speech was (and it was except that it was based on knowing lies) those of us who were following it at the time also knew it was bullshit. Bullshit was Powell’s word for it. > > If you assume the evidence of Powell’s speech, it was a very persuasive and wonderfully structured and delivered piece of rhetoric. Like a syllogism about the moon being made of green cheese, it all followed, except celestial bodies are not made of green cheese. What sold this bullshit was Powell’s personal credibility with international leaders. That speech, because Powell knew it was bullshit, used up all of Powell’s credibility with international leaders. The US public didn’t really care. Since Powell was covering up My Lai the US public has swallowed his shit sandwiches of lies with a smile. He is a convincing liar. > > So to get to the OP, he could have been any US politician he wanted to be because the US public doesn’t give a shit. He could have been elected to anything. But he would not have been an effective President or Ambassador because he used up all his credibility in that speech and revealed his great skill as a liar. Other countries, without the luxury of being so much more powerful than the rest (like the USA) would never have trusted him for even small matters of business because he lied on such an important matter. Other countries have a lot less room for margin of error in their foreign policies because they might actually have to pay the consequences for a massive failure, up to and including survival. I agree with most of what your saying but Powell did not use in the UN speech what he clearly knew and called bullshit as he went through all the intel he was given. So I have questioned why Powell didnt become suspicious of all the intel and why he didnt tell Dick Cheney to go eff himself for trying to get him to spread intel bs to the entire world. It was Cheney’s Intel that he called bullshit. I don’t think a VP should feed one ounce of bullshit to a Sec of State making a case for war or ever. A real leader does more than call what Cheney did bullshit. And there is no excuse for Powell siding with the neocon and Cheney camp in the end who declared inspections were not working so war was necessary ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480/44 "2013-10-07T14:41:30Z")
Powell could have been president in 1996 or 2000 if he had wanted to. It is rumored that his wife did not want him to because she thought he would be assasinated and they also did not want her history of depression to be a subject of publicity. They have both denied that she was the reason and say they discussed it as a family and came to a family decision. By 2008 it was too late for him to run, there is no way to remain a hot candidate for over 12 years. The public had moved on from then. What catapulted Powell to fame were his briefings for the first gulf war and they were 16 years old by 2008 and most people had forgotten about them. Voters like fresh new faces for president and Powells chances were long gone by 2008. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480/45 "2013-10-07T14:47:29Z")
Powell would have been a credible candidate but he would not have been nominated. The Republican base was not ready then nor are they ready now nor will they likely ever be ready for a black president. Excepting the whole UN speech fiasco, I have enormous respect for him and actually think he would be an acceptable Republican president. So between his race and the fact that someone like me could vote for him, he’s entirely unacceptable to the base. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480/46 "2013-10-07T14:56:27Z")
Despite being a joke candidate who had no political experience and no apparent ambitions other than selling his book, Herman Cain was ahead in the GOP polls for a little while in 2012, and his supporters were exactly the same people some posters are trying to convince us are racist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-colin-powell-hadnt-blown-it/670480.md?page=2)