Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama.

[Raziaar]

Just heard on MSNBC, the network that will be airing the Meet The Press show later today, that in fact Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama. This isn't speculation, it actually happened. I guess we know from before the show even aired.


EDIT: Got a video from Meet The Press. Check it out, it's FABULOUS.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490


What are your opinions on this? Think it will help Obama, think it will hurt McCain?




End of the video segment I thought was particularly moving:

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 has 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 is no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven year old Muslim American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop this suggestion that he's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture, at the tale end of this photo essay, was a mother in her [something something cemetary] and she had her head on a headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see writing on the headstone. And it gave awards, purple hearts, bronze star, showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old, and then at the very top of the headstone it didn't have a Christian Cross, it didn't have a Star of David, It had a Crescent and a Star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Mushad [can't spell it]. And he was an American, he was born in new Jersey and he was 14 years old at the time of 9/11 and he waited until he could go serve his country and he gave his life.

 

[Kadayi]

That was awesome. I think he summed things up very nicely there.

 

[Laivasse]

GJ Powell. I suspect he resents the Bush administration after he was put into a position where he had to whore out his professional integrity over the Iraq war. I wouldn't quite say this redeems him in my eyes, but it shows he's still a rational human.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I wasn't surprised but it's still incredibly awesome.

This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture, at the tale end of this photo essay, was a mother in her [something something cemetary] and she had her head on a headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see writing on the headstone. And it gave awards, purple hearts, bronze star, showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old, and then at the very top of the headstone it didn't have a Christian Cross, it didn't have a Star of David, It had a Crescent and a Star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Mushad [can't spell it]. And he was an American, he was born in new Jersey and he was 14 years old at the time of 9/11 and he waited until he could go serve his country and he gave his life.

I'm so glad someone is saying something about this.

 

[Kadayi]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265746

This was what he said beforehand, which I thought was pretty telling.

 

[Eejit]

My respect for him has gone up a few points.

Still an idiot though.
He can't even pronounce "Colin" correctly.

 

[Jintor]

GG Powell.

 

[Krynn72]

I was talking to my dad the other day, and this seems to have cemented his choice in Obama as his vote.

 

[No Limit]

I think this is a good thing for Obama. But I lost all my respect for Powell shortly after 2003.

 

[Tyguy]

you can expect the whole "he's black too, no surprise" comment any time soon. It's really all they have at this point.

 

[Kadayi]

you can expect the whole "he's black too, no surprise" comment any time soon. It's really all they have at this point.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/19/limbaugh-george-will-powe_n_135968.html

Yep, predictable old white men...

 

[The Monkey]

Powell on the same subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_c5bbvmqc

 

[DEATHMASTER]

His next line was "So thats why I'm rooting on Obama, I don't want another assclown in the president seat."

 

[Kula Meenur]

Just heard on MSNBC, the network that will be airing the Meet The Press show later today, that in fact Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama. This isn't speculation, it actually happened. I guess we know from before the show even aired.

Well, he's ****ed

 

[99.vikram]

Respect = -65536

Respect++

Respect = -65535

 

[Absinthe]

Powell on the same subject:

Well said. Powell's a good guy and he's pretty much always come off as a guy who ultimately wants to be honorable and efficient. He still has to live with his part in the war in Iraq, but although I wish he had more backbone in defying his administration, it always seemed a position he was pressured into. At the very least, he wasn't one of the wild-eyed "true believers" that were the real minds behind the invasion.

He's got a lot of respect. I hope that translates into some minds being swayed Obama's way.

 

[Kadayi]

Well said. Powell's a good guy and he's pretty much always come off as a guy who ultimately wants to be honorable and efficient. He still has to live with his part in the war in Iraq, but although I wish he had more backbone in defying his administration, it always seemed a position he was pressured into. At the very least, he wasn't one of the wild-eyed "true believers" that were the real minds behind the invasion.

He's got a lot of respect. I hope that translates into some minds being swayed Obama's way.

I'd say it's pretty much the nail in the coffin for McCain. Powell is a kingmaker.

 

[Absinthe]

But McCan has Joe! **** Powell.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

But McCan has Joe! **** Powell.

There's no politician in the world right now that I hate as much as Joe Lieberman.

 

[Raziaar]

Maybe he meant Joe the Plumber.

 

[Pesmerga]

/facepalm

 

[CptStern]

Powell knew exactly what was going on in the lead up to the war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1X-I-38lrU


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYBA9JD5oW4

 

[The_E]

Kick in the balls for McCain

 

[Ennui]

Despite Powell's role in the war and everything I really think he nailed this one, his reasoning for endorsing Obama is rock solid. He can't redeem himself for his role in all the WMD bullshit, but at least he still has a tattered soul intact.

 

[Absinthe]

Powell knew exactly what was going on in the lead up to the war.

Yes, he did make the case for the war. But it was at the persistent bidding of the president and other white house officials in the administration. Powell had long advised against a war in the first place and it was due to his voice alone that the US decided to even take it up with the international community at all before plunging head in. If you accept reports of his skepticism over the evidence presented to him, then this is a case of a government employee following the will of his president despite all his reservations. I'm not saying that excuses his involvement, but it's not the same as the kind of scheming that had intelligence agencies scrambling to find any link to justify invading Iraq immediately after 9/11. He's no Cheney.

I think he's still liked because, despite his role in the cock-up, he's one of the few people in the affair that manages to look human and sympathetic. He seemed more swept up in the whole thing rather than masterminding it.

 

[Kadayi]

The man got lied to by his advisers. That he resigned from his position when it became abundantly clear the intel was fabricated says a lot about him.

 

[CptStern]

Yes, he did make the case for the war. But it was at the persistent bidding of the president and other white house officials in the administration. Powell had long advised against a war in the first place and it was due to his voice alone that the US decided to even take it up with the international community at all before plunging head in. If you accept reports of his skepticism over the evidence presented to him, then this is a case of a government employee following the will of his president despite all his reservations. I'm not saying that excuses his involvement, but it's not the same as the kind of scheming that had intelligence agencies scrambling to find any link to justify invading Iraq immediately after 9/11. He's no Cheney.

I think he's still liked because, despite his role in the cock-up, he's one of the few people in the affair that manages to look human and sympathetic. He seemed more swept up in the whole thing rather than masterminding it.

my boss a number of years ago bought out a poster company ..we have thousands of those inspirational type posters ..one of them features Collin Powell when he was a general, it says:

you must love your soldiers with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. You must give nothing less

yet he sent 4500 of his soldiers to be killed in a meritless war ..it doesnt sound like he loves his soldiers



the video I posted of his speech in front of the UN secruity council is seem by many as the speech that turned the tide towards war ..he used evidence from an informant who the CIA said was completely unrelaible and a compulsive liar ..the CIA warned that his information was likely bogus yet Powell used it as his main case for war:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5024408
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062401081.html


even though this is completely unrelated to the endorsement of obama I still dont believe powell to be a man of impeccable integrity

The man got lied to by his advisers. That he resigned from his position when it became abundantly clear the intel was fabricated says a lot about him

I dont believe in that pontius pilate wash is hands of all responsibility thingy ..Powell isnt stupid enough to not check his sources, the cia were telling the bush admin that the information was faulty yet Powell still pushed it on the UN security coucil as if were fact ...he can only use the "the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing" excuse for so long