Why the Powell Endorsement (Could) Matter

[richlevy]

Well, he did come out for Obama. I explained here in the "Military Polls" thread what my impressions were.

In short, Powell, besides being a black general, is a moderate Republican intellectual icon. His defection mirrors the defection or abstention of a large number of conservative intellectuals who think a liberal intellectual would be better than a conservative wedded to the current Republican base.

It was a great interview. I recommend everyone catch the repeats of "Meet the Press". Or just watch it here.

BTW, McCain will take the high road on this, but watch for what happens with the 'red meat' Republicans. The smart ones will refrain from trying to tear down Powell, but as I mentioned earlier, there are less and less smart ones left.

[tw]

Originally Posted by richlevy

It was a great interview. I recommend everyone catch the repeats of "Meet the Press". Or just watch it here.

Powell said both McCain and Obama are competent. Powel is quite clear where his criticisms are directly. Not with McCain, other than McCain lets the problem exist. Some quotes from Powell's "Meet the Press" interview:

I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that's a choice the party makes. ...

This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign. But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? ...

And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration. I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. ...

She’s [Palin] a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired, but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president.

The last statement is a publically correct way of calling her incompetent for the job and an example of a party moving even more extremist right.

Powel criticizes the Republican Party leadership - McCain's biggest problem.

NY Times provided an example of McCain's problem - the extremists that must be part of his campaign.

The McCain campaign’s top foreign-policy aide is Randy Scheunemann, who was a foreign-policy adviser to former Senators Trent Lott and Bob Dole and who has longtime ties to neoconservatives. In 2002, Mr. Scheunemann was a founder of the hawkish Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and was an enthusiastic supporter of Ahmad Chalabi,

As we all know, Chalabi was a con artist who rose to power by supporting or even creating George Jr administration lies about Saddam and WMDs. He was lying so often that only those with a political agenda (rather than working for America) could have believed Chalabi. And yet Scheunemann, an example of that extremist political agenda, joins Karl Rove's people and Carly Fiorina to lead the McCain campaign.

Powell also praises Obama for his abilities to learn, inspire, comprehend, and lead. Powell uses the word "transformational".

McCain's largest problem is attributed to his right wing extremist party.