Am I Supposed To Be That Impressed With Colin Powell's Endorsement?

Is all forgiven, his role in deceiving American people into approving an unprovoked attack on another nation?

His endorsement means nothing to me. Maybe somewhere, to others, it has some heft. But Colin Powell showed himself to be nothing but a Republican whore, a good Party guy who did as he was told and kept silent while thousands of Americans and even more Iraqis were murdered.

Who cares who he endorses?

but there will be many people who are impressed, including the media.

Hopefully the undecided voters who think highly of him will care, and will help to ensure our win in November.

Colin Powell gives large parts of white America the warm fuzzies.

What matters is if it will impress undecided voters to come our way.

The point is that we get to stand on a pedestal and declare to the world how we're right and they're wrong, and whine when things don't go our way.

Winning elections is beside the point. In fact winning elections undercuts our ability to feel outraged and characterize ourselves as victims of injustice.

... one kind word from any of the mob that handed us our recent disasters and suddenly we're singing their praises and delighted we may not be beaten today.

What has Powell done to address the thousands of American families he helped destroy?

Nobody is one dimensional save for hard corps "right or left" therefore, Powell's endorsement is significant. :shrug:

hm

This endorsement was not for you and me.

Don

Did you really want change, or did you just want a Democrat in the White House instead of a Republican?


Barack Obama got a shitload of primary and caucus votes because of his stance on the Iraq War. By allowing Powell to attach himself to the campaign, while simultaneously getting in front of news microphones to repeat the Bush administration lies that were used to hoodwink America and the world the first time around, completely undermines the intent of a huge chunk of people who made Obama the nominee.

If he wants to get on the bandwagon, by all means, let him, but I want someone to shut him up about Iraq or toss his ass back off.

That Powell will make campaign appearances.

But that is water under the bridge now.

Don

I voted for her, too, already I disagreed with her on IWR.

:hi:

and now your bitching about Colin Powell are serious? Sorry your whole thread just lost a lot of credibility.

it is well worth it.

:puke:

Go puke somewhere else. I said one word in this thread.

everything was fine with them too AS LONG AS IT GOT VOTES!! And I will puke ANYWHERE I DAMN PLEASE, WHILE USING CAPS!!! :puke:

This is not good for Obama it's just bad for McCain.

Let’s not forget that one of Powell’s first jobs was to try to cover up the My Lai massacre.
Powell supported Bush for President - then the Bush LIE about WMD and he has pretty much kept his mouth shut about it.

Colon is an asshole.

Is it possible to make a claim that our candidate, whose victory carries the utmost importance, gaining more votes is not a good thing?

:dunce:

Maybe there's some Republican out there who can use this as an excuse to support Obama: "Usually I don't support the Democrats, but hey, if Powell is doing it, maybe it's okay..."

I could give two fucks about who Powell likes, but his endorsement is a good thing.

exactly what everyone did in the Bush regime. I chose to look at what Colin Powell was doing before Bush. He was actively trying to make this world a better place. He was running a campaign for more volunteering in communities. I will gladly take the endorsement. I am willing to let him try and make up for past mistakes. He has always been viewed as a centrist.

I was particularly happy when he acknowledged Obama's "intellectual curiosity" as a positive (and, by implication, saying that McCain/Palin had none). Using the word "intellect" has been off-limits in campaigns for decades -- in favor of "values". Fuck values. We need SMART. Thank you Colin.

On Iraq. Today: "I'm well aware of the role I played. ... I wanted to avoid a war, the president agreed with me; we tried to do that, we tried to get it through the UN."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fStJT2VrhdQ

I would be a lot more pleased if Powell's glomming onto what's already a juggernaut (IMO) wasn't being used as a tool for re-inforcing the Bush doctrine.

And that's the last comment I will make about the turd.

Or are we going to take a page out of Obama's book and attempt to forge a dialog with those intelligent/thoughtful members of the opposition.

Notice I said, intelligent/thoughtful.

Nobody says we have to forgive or forget what Colin Powell did in front of the world by lying about Iraq.
I won't.

But that doesn't mean his endorsement is any less thoughtful or well-considered.
I listened to the whole thing.
He finally said what nobody seems to say on either side... that whole part about Muslim Americans.

In fact, he expressed many good points. He was solid and logical. He didn't use a lot of talking point buzz words.
He seems to have deliberated about this a great deal.

I believe he has the right, as an American who has served this country his entire life, to speak.
As do we all.

And we can use that free speech to tear down the opposition, to hate, to deride, to throw mud, to shut out.
We can "be like them" when we become the majority party.

I hope not.
I do not think that's what Obama stands for, nor do I think that's the CHANGE we are working toward.

"I'm well aware of the role I played. ... I wanted to avoid a war, the president agreed with me; we tried to do that, we tried to get it through the UN." - Colin Powell upon being asked if he didn't think some would see his endorsement of Barack Obama as a repudiation of the Iraq War.

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:eyes:

Do you think that if Powell had endorsed McCain it would have added a single vote to Obama's side of the ledger?

Do you think at all?

And yes, I do think...I think there are an awful lot of people around here who are willing to sacrifice every shred of principle to get their man elected. That just keeps reminding me of how the republicans operate. So sue me.

Obama would win with or without Powell's endorsement. Its main purpose is to re-assure people who were already leaning that way. It would have made no difference at all to McCain's campaign.

First, even if you are right that the election is "in the bag" and that nothing can change the result, the margin of Obama's victory matters greatly and therefore Powell's endorsement, which assuredly will produce a net gain in votes, is signficant.

Second, I am not so complacent as to assume that this election is in the bag. If nothing else, the Powell endorsement is hugely important because it disrupts the "McCain is on the comeback trail" message that his campaign, with the media's assistance, was hoping to ride starting this week. A Powell endorsement of McCain would've fit that message. His endorsement of Obama drowns out that argument.

... and has always liked Powell, just told me if he's good enough for the General, he's good enough for him!

You can't think about the dead and the dying or the maimed and the tortured...

One of America's most respected war criminals, a war criminal that is popular with a great many, has endorsed Obama.

Now, if that isn't enough to get your cheering, I don't know what is....

You'll have to loan me your own pom-poms :evilgrin:

At least none that are dripping with blood...and you'll need some like that to cheer this.

and the aggressive "reminders" from some democrats that "I don't matter," "my opinion doesn't mean anything," while they pander for the center-right votes, drops my respect for democrats and the democratic party another few rungs into the sea.

Because your anonymous self says so?

:rofl:

Don

Happily, I don't have to show you my voter registration to vote.

Are you a stalker, as well as an "anonymous internet poster?"

I know you know that.

Wonder what would happen should John Yoo endorse Obama? I suspect more of the same...



ABC Report: Bush’s ‘Principal’ Advisers OK’d Torture - ABC News reported


"Principals Committee — Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and John Ashcroft — approved the use of these techniques."

It's interesting to note how many DUers who professed to be horrified by the tortuous activities of the U.S. military interrogators are suddenly delighted by Powell.

:(

someone for helping provide false information that led us to war, or someone that signed off on torture, just because he endorsed the current nominee.

I probably wouldn't have posted about it at all, if there weren't two OPs attacking those who don't love Powell or his endorsement.

1 - People like Powell are legitimized when they aren't held accountable.

2 - War criminals like Powell are so legitimized by this lack of accountability that it's seen as a positive to get the endorsement of a war criminal

So an endorsement from a war criminal makes those who support the war criminal (and torture) feel better about Obama



That's nothing to celebrate in my opinion...because celebrating such an endorsement does nothing but further legitimize a war criminal. It enables Powell to go on pretending he's something he's not..and he enables Americans to continue believing the lie that America does not torture and that those involved in that torture program are worth courting

A question people might want to ask themselves is why would the endorsement of a war criminal hold sway over some people? Why is it that some Americans respect a war criminal so much that what the war criminal has to say can influence them? Perhaps it's because America - and far too many Americans - like to pretend Powell isn't a war criminal or that America is too good and righteous to be involved in war crimes..and because none of them have been held accountable for their crimes, people can continue to pretend Powell isn't a war criminal.

If Powell had been held accountable when he left office - as he should have been...then I wouldn't be typing this post. But America would rather parade their war criminals on the news and pretend they are great heroes or experts....and American colleges would rather war criminals become part of the faculty...


I've read several of the OPs and many of the replies...and almost everyone seems to be forgetting - for whatever reason - that Powell helped to individualize a torture program for people. People seem to be stuck on just his UN lies...as if that's all the man is guilty of...


I can't stop people cheering a war criminal's endorsement - nor would I try...but I don't have to cheer it myself and I won't.

makes you no better than the republicans. You just view it from another point of view but your hate and un forgiveness is no different. Just because Powell was wrong does not make you right. While your opinion does matter it is not the only opinion and just like republicans you vilify those that disagree with your opinion.

"My humble opinion" juxtaposed with a personal attack.

I don't know where you learned logic, but where I learned it, your argument would be considered "ad hominem."

And now, he's on national television, using the publicity of this endorsement to reinforce the Bush version of events.

Is a good thing

to be pleased about the positive impact of that endorsement on Obama's campaign.

People who don't like Powell already probably are for Obama. But there are a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of folks who don't have negative views of Powell and will regard his endorsement as an indication that supporting McCain, not Obama, is the "outlier" position.

It's not for you.

--IMM

Sure, Powell's a douchebag, whatever. Let's bitch about it on Nov. 5th.

Thanks for getting it.

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powell's endorsement is important to only those people who still have some respect for him. There are not many of those people here in the "rank and file."

his endorsement would be important to old school Republicans, Independents, the moderate undecideds, and others who don't know or care about his past or his role in the Iraq invasion.

So, no...you are not, I am not, and many here at DU are not the target demographic for this endorsement.

It may be influential for the demographic I mentioned above. In those cases, he may have made it comfortable for them to "follow the General."

If I can throw my uterus under the bus to endorse anti-choice, pro-birthers for the sake of the party, I guess a few people around here could chuck their ideology under the bus for the sake of the party and the win, as well.

And Powell was right there spewing those lies along with bush/cheney/rummy/condi.

We're dealing with with reality as it is, not as we would wish it would be. In the reality that IS, Colin Powell is still held in high regard by many people. If his endorsement helps win votes from those people over to Obama then it would be foolish not to see it as a good thing.

Let's win this election first, THEN you can start the purity purges.

sw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fStJT2VrhdQ

Someone posted a link to a Sirota column that was dead on the mark when it predicted Powell would grab the spotlight use this to continue justifying our occupation of Iraq and war om its people. You can't let someone intertwine a concept along with their endorsement, leading up to the election, and then repudiate the concept in January. It wouldn't be a good way to start that administration.

If he wants to endorse, he's free, but someone shut him up on Iraq.

for a couple of more weeks.

On Shrub's behalf, at the UN, along with the endorsement.

Rather than looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Despite the polling, it will be a close race and every bit helps.

If Powell's endorsement lures a few thousand conservative military types in North Carolina and Virginia, it could make the difference.

Powell will never be brought to justice for his crimes if McCain wins, so look at the forest and not the tree.

The most important thing about Powell's endorsement is that it undermines McCain's central attack on Obama (which wasn't carrying weight with the electorate anyway).

But a lot of other people will be, and that matters when looking for votes.

I'm not exactly ready to forgive and forget either. He'll have to carry his responsiblity for the rest of his life, and it will mar his reputation. So be it.

But what he said about Obama was right on, and I'm glad to have the endorsement anyway, for what it will bring with independent voters.

i think colin powell is a lying bigot, however i dont have to like him personally to recognize that this benefits obama. in the long run thereby in benefits me.

Powell has just destroyed his political career with the Republicans.

are these nitwits too fucking deluded to see this? A rat swiming off a sinking ship and grabbing on to the one sailing the fastest?

want to give guys the benefit of the doubt.

And that's fine up to a point. But, that's how career criminals like Powell and Rumsfeld and Cheney and Casey and Poindexter and Negroponte got to stay in our government, right? We let them skate.

Lots of Republicans are going to endorse Obama. They want to eat and they see the writing on the wall.

when Powell was point-man in this murderous PR campaign of the Republican racketeers.
I'll forgive him if he continues to make amends but I will never forget the pile of corpses he conned Americans into stacking up - as they looted our treasury and picked our pockets at the pump.

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO SELL OUT OUR PRINCIPLES IF WE PERCEIVE IT TO BE FOR POLITICAL GAIN :puke:

3 weeks from now we should bash away, until then let's speak no ill of the exploitable.

n/t

This was an important endorsement. Powell does have an audience that respects him, and undecideds will likely be influenced by his support for Senator Obama.

Perhaps he is seeking redemption....

It is Powell's willingness to take his commander's word for it that is his problem. When his commanding officer in Vietnam told him that the accounts from soldiers about My Lai weren't trustworthy, he didn't question. When BushCo gave him the information to relay to the UN, he didn't do more than say "Really?" and when Tenant said, "Yeah, really!" he just went along.

It's not to impress or win you over, or make you forgive Powell. All it'll do, all I expect and want it to do, is add more votes in the blue column and subtract them from the red one.

n/t

Just ask 1/2 of DU, they're just as proud as the repukes to be stupid, dumbed-down propaganda stooges who change their entire belief systems daily. They don't give a crap about millions of dead, tortured, homeless, murdered, run out their country Iraqis or Americans as long as they can profess their high and mighty ability to forgive anyone at any moment for a vote.