Free Republic

This man will have zero credibilty for the rest of his life, and should never be listened to by anyone in the GOP ever again...

As Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, a self-professed man of simple tastes, often stayed at Holiday Inns while traveling the globe to confab with world leaders. As such, he has a personal list of gripes and suggestions for Holiday Inn owners. Gen. Powell rattled off that list ...when he was at State he had professed his affinity for cheeseburgers and the Holiday Inn. His points elicited chuckles and nods of agreement: “I don’t want to go to astronaut training to figure out how to set a clock radio,” Gen. Powell said, adding later, “I’m only there for the night....

All Speakers Live and In Person - All In One Day! President Bush, General Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw, Zig Ziglar, Dr. Robert Schuller, Tamara Lowe, Rick Belluzzo and Rudy Giuliani. Monday, October 26, 2009 Ft. Worth Convention Center Arena · 8:00AM - 4:45PM

Colin Powell, the titular head of the Republican Party gives some advise to Obama on Afghanistan, what a great guy to listen to, the same man that was 100% against the troop surge in Iraq...(Flashback Video Included on Powell)

Of course we knew this all along, Colin Powell a decorated General, Veteran of Vietnam, votes for an inexperienced radical who was best friends with a guy who bombed his place of employment(Pentagon), over a Vietnam Veteran who spent 5 years in a prison camp for his country getting his arms broken behind his back......H/T to Rush Limbaugh, you were right all along...

Gen. Colin Powell responds to criticism from Rush Limbaugh in a recent interview. "I can handle his criticism," he says, "but... he says things I consider to be completely outrageous" and wishes other members of the Republican party would responds to them like he does. Larry King suggests the GOP is "afraid" to take him on. Powell says he responds to Rush because, "I don't have to worry about winning elections."

Here is video of Colin Powell tonight on Larry King Live responding to comments by Rush Limbaugh recently and saying he thinks Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh because of the strong base of support he has in the GOP. Powell said he gets to decide which party he is in whether Rush Limbaugh thinks he should be in the GOP or not. Colin Powell can call himself a Republican, but he has forfeited his opportunity to be a leading voice in the Republican Party. He calls himself a "moderate" in the GOP, and last year the GOP ran...

Here is video of Colin Powell on Larry King Live tonight where he called Gov. Sarah Palin a "fascinating" person, but said she was not ready to be President of the United States when John McCain put her on the ticket last year. He mentioned that she will be speaking next month at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and said she bears watching to see if she has political intentions in her resigning as Alaska's Governor. . . . . . (Watch Video)

I was just surprised he didn't blame the arrest of Gates on Rush Limbaugh and Republicans that are standing in the way of a big tent, Lets just see if Mr. Powell has anything negative to say about the President for his "stupidly" comment...

Powell called former Alaska governor Sarah Palin a "fascinating figure… you have got to hand it to her." He repeated his assessment that the former Republican vice presidential candidate had not been ready for the Oval Office last fall, but said she was worth watching.

Could Colin Powell run against Barack Obama as a Republican and win? The idea is more than a little fanciful. Alma Powell, Colin Powell's wife, has long opposed her husband's political forays. And of course a presidential campaign would be an ordeal for a man Powell's age, his robust health notwithstanding. It doesn't help that there is no clamor for a Powell presidential campaign. Back in 1996, he was seen as an Eisenhower-like figure who could unite Republicans and independents to defeat Bill Clinton. Since then, Powell has alienated Republicans with his sharp criticisms of social conservatives and his support...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Colin Powell worries that President Barack Obama is trying to tackle too many big issues at one time. In an interview to be aired Sunday on CNN, the former secretary of state says he's worried about the huge national debt that's piling-up. Powell says that while the needs of the people must be met, the size of the government, and the tax burden, need to be kept as small as possible. He says the president has to start taking a "very, very hard look" at the cost of all he wants to do and at whether the...

Add Colin Powell to the ranks of Americans waking up from the Obama induced stupor. The Washington Times is reporting that Mr. Powell has voiced serious reservations in a CNN interview about Obama’s big government agenda and its consequences for our nation and our children. In the CNN interview to be aired Sunday on “State of the Union with John King” Powell cautioned Mr. Obama about "budgets that are running into the multi-trillions of dollars" and "a huge, huge national debt that, if we don't pay for in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great-grandchildren will have to pay...

Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern publicly for the first time Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much. "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an interview with CNN's John King. It was released by the network Friday. Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. Army general who rose to political prominence after a long and...

Here is video of former Secretary of State Colin Powell saying - somewhat grudgingly - that he is "concerned" about all the spending and programs being pushed by President Obama. Powell made the statement after pushed by CNN's John King, who played a video of Powell speaking at the 1996 GOP Convention where he explained why he became a Republican. Powell said then he wanted a smaller government and lower taxes with less bureaucracy. King then asked Powell how he felt about Obama's policies in light of that speech. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell tells CNN's John King that he's concerned about President Obama's spending.

Washington—Having had enough of Limbaugh’s criticism of Colin Powell, Tom Ridge laid down the gauntlet on Rush Limbaugh, and evicting him from the Republican Party. The event took place after the interview on CSPAN’s Washington Journal where Ridge took a strong stance, supporting Colin Powell and blaming Limbaugh and Dick Cheney for having “a mindset,” that doesn’t foster unity.

The Foreign Office mounted a fightback yesterday against allegations that Jack Straw and Colin Powell had expressed serious doubts about whether Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction before the start of the Iraq war. As Tony Blair faced allegations from a former Cabinet colleague that he had "duped" the British people over Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities, the Foreign Office issued a detailed rebuttal of allegations, made in the Guardian newspaper, that were seized on by news media around the world. The paper said Mr Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Mr Powell, his United States counterpart, had privately expressed serious doubts...

Facing a world of diplomatic woes from Iran to North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had the opportunity to get some heavyweight advice at a dinner held by eight of her living predecessors. Tuesday night's private dinner at former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Washington home gathered top U.S. diplomats from five previous administrations with decades of hands-on experience in some of the most difficult foreign policy crises America has faced. A spokeswoman for Albright says all but one living former secretary of state attended the event to honor Clinton(continued at link)

Former House Speaker And Potential 2012 GOP Candidate Rallies Party Loyalists At Fundraiser In Washington. (AP) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday urged some 2,000 Republican party loyalists to stand up for GOP principles but to be inclusive as the party tries to retake the majority. “I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican,” Gingrich said at the annual Senate-House fundraising dinner. “I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican.” Cheney, the former vice president under President George W. Bush, and Powell, who was Bush's secretary of state, have feuded recently over the approach of the...

My first thought on former secretary of state Colin Powell’s response to Rush Limbaugh and former vice president Cheney was a chuckle that he sought to influence the future course of GOP by appearing on . . . "Face the Nation." Put aside any allegations of bias on the part of Bob Schieffer; few Republicans watch the Sunday-morning political chat shows, even fewer on Memorial Day weekend, and still fewer watch the CBS offering. If Powell genuinely wishes to persuade Republicans to alter course, and not just get praise from liberals in the vein of “Why can’t those extremist right...

RUSH: Now, I've checked my e-mail at home since the Sunday shows. They had General Powell on Face the Nation Sunday. Tom Ridge was on CNN on Sunday morning. Tom Ridge, just for your information, Tom Ridge called this program in 2003 to detail for... I mean, he wanted to be on this program in 2003, Tom Ridge out there saying I'm too shrill and I need to dial it back and all these other things. But I need to ask the question: Who's really changed? I've been who I am for 20 years. When it comes to the core...

Along with this, and on another show, for Governor Tom Ridge referred to Rush Limbaugh as "shrill". On that note, here is how pundit Bruce Bartlett described the situation. Powell has to accept that he is in a unique position to command attention and lead the Republican Party—or at least that part of it that isn’t consumed with defending the indefensible on torture or living in a fantasy world where the economy would be booming today if it just wasn’t for Obama’s budget deficits. It’s a pretty small constituency these days—most of those, like me, who share Powell’s views have...

WASHINGTON (May 24) -- The conservative vs. moderate split threatening to rupture the Republican Party played out across the airwaves Sunday, with Colin Powell and Tom Ridge denouncing shrill and judgmental voices they say are steering the GOP too far right. Karl Rove challenged Powell to lay out his vision and "back it up" by helping elect Republicans. At stake is the GOP's status as a major party, Powell and Ridge suggested "I believe we should build on the base because the nation needs two parties, two parties debating each other. But what we have to do is debate and...

Reporting from Washington -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Sunday that ideological conservatives, particularly radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, have gained a hold over the Republican Party that risks driving the GOP into an extended exile from power. Powell's warnings were cast in unusually personal terms as Powell answered recent charges from two champions of the Republican right -- Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney -- that Powell was no longer a Republican. "Rush will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney was misinformed," said Powell, whose resume includes military advisor to Ronald Reagan, chairman of the Joint...

Gen. Colin Powell was on Face the Nation today, trashing the Republican Party again, as if he has some particular moral authority. I beg to differ. Colin Powell has almost as little moral authority as did the bystanders in the Kitty Genovese rape case. While his own administration, and especially a very good man named Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was being raped by Patrick Fitzgerald's out-of-control investigation into the Valerie Plame leak, Powell and his top aide Richard Armitage stoo by silently even though both knew that Armitage had been (without malice aforethought) the actual source of the leak.

The mainstream media can be very judgmental. The like to classify everything into categories, especially things they disagree with. For example there are "good" Republicans. and "bad" Republicans. "Bad" Republicans are people like Newt Gingrich,Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. "Good" Republicans the more "liberal" ones, people like Colin Powell, John McCain (when he is not running against Obama) and Maine Senator Olympia Snow. The mainstream media takes every opportunity to use the "good" Republicans to bash the bad ones. The MSM may be moving General Powell to the "bad" category after his performance today on Face the Nation. The former...

Time for another round of increasingly tedious GOP big tent/small tent navel-gazing, this time with moderates on the offensive. Powell’s point about Limbaugh not being above criticism is fair enough but I don’t know what he expects from big shots like Steele who’ve been forced to grovel to him. As the GOP shrinks, it relies more heavily on the base for fundraising; the base adores Rush, so as a matter of simple politics, party leaders can’t afford to take him on. It’ll necessarily fall to moderates like Powell who are outside the process and have nothing to lose by antagonizing...

The conservative vs. moderate split threatening to rupture the Republican Party played out across the airwaves Sunday, with Colin Powell and Tom Ridge denouncing shrill and judgmental voices they say are steering the GOP too far right. Karl Rove challenged Powell to lay out his vision and "back it up" by helping elect Republicans. At stake is the GOP's status as a major party, Powell and Ridge suggested. "I believe we should build on the base because the nation needs two parties, two parties debating each other. But what we have to do is debate and define who we are...

Colin Powell on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer

Colin Powell is engaged in a war of words with two GOP heavyweights: Rush Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney. Addressing 1,500 business leaders in Boston, the former secretary of state took on Cheney and Limbaugh, who have criticized Powell for endorsing Barack Obama in last year's presidential race. Powell recently lambasted Limbaugh, saying the radio icon "diminishes the party" with nastiness. Limbaugh dismissed those comments, calling Powell "just another liberal." Powell hit back on Tuesday night, according to the Boston Globe: "Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party,'" Powell told the business executives. "Dick Cheney says,...

Boston, MA—Sick of Cheney, Limbaugh and conservatism, Colin Powell told 1,500 people that he is tired of Cheney and Limbaugh’s constant resonation of conservatism, and their unabashed advancement of their version of the Republican Party. Powell went on to state that “these two individuals are wrecking any chance of the Republican Party’s return to power.” “These two are wreaking havoc on Obama,” claims Powell. “They’re holding the Republican Party back, and if they don’t shut up, they’ll ruin America. I’d personally like to take that ‘Golden EIB’ microphone and shove it down Limbaugh’s throat. And don’t even get me started...

Liz Cheney said Sunday that some of the stories in print about her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, were "fantasies" cooked up by some of his old Bush administration rivals. Responding to a question about Dick Cheney's role in pushing for aggressive interrogations, Liz Cheney pointed to Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, for spreading inaccurate information about her father. Wilkerson "has made a cottage industry of fantasies about the vice president," she said on ABC's "This Week." "It's important to look at the source" of media reports, Cheney said. "Nobody talking about...

Dick Cheney is out there. He is defending torture, dissing Colin Powell, and genuflecting before radio personality Rush Limbaugh as the high priest of what's left of conservatism. His refusal to go quietly, unlike his much-reviled boss, is risky. He was a laugh line more than once at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner. But the media's focus on the sheer spectacle of the ex-veep's antics, and on the Republican vs. Democrat feud he's stoking, underestimates the way Cheney's principles still inform many of the country's most crucial policies. Like the creatures in the "Alien" films, Cheney has planted some vicious...

A PROMINENT supporter of Barack Obama told a Washington audience last week that "the Republican Party is in deep trouble" and "getting smaller and smaller" because its views are not in sync with those of mainstream Americans. Republicans would do better without the "nastiness" of Rush Limbaugh or the "very polarizing" Sarah Palin, the speaker said, and they should realize that their philosophy of lower taxes and limited government has put them out of step with their fellow citizens. "Americans do want to pay taxes for services," he told his audience. "Americans are looking for more government in their life,...

In the wake of voters' rejection of John McCain this past November, there has been a lot of advice proffered as to what steps the Republican Party should take so as to insure its viability in the Age of Obama. With few exceptions, most of the commentary on the subject, emanating as it does from liberals and Cable TV pundits, is spurious, and if followed by the Republicans, will simply ensure that the party will remain in the political wilderness. Stripped bare of its specious reasoning, the "big tent" theory — as propounded by liberals — in essence, asserts that...

There is only this to say about how small Colin Powell came up when he recently criticized the Republican Party before a group of security executives: It didn’t make us sad; it made us stupendously sad as it reminded us that any person who is admirably large in one area of endeavor can be stunningly minuscule in another. Of course, this is not to say there aren’t valid criticisms to be made of the GOP. Indeed, there are many, including demands by Main Street Conservatives that Republican politicians quit their fixation on the notion that “What’s good for General Motors...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday took a shot at former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell by accusing him of turning his back on Republicans, adding that conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh is a more loyal party member than the retired Army general. "If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh," said Mr. Cheney on CBS' "Face the Nation." Mr. Powell recently said that Republicans need to move to the center politically and said that Mr. Limbaugh's conservative rhetoric is polarizing and hurts the party's image. The radio talk-show host fired...

Washington -- Dick Cheney made it clear Sunday that he would rather follow firebrand broadcaster Rush Limbaugh than former Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin L. Powell into political battle over the future of the Republican Party. Even as Cheney embraced efforts to expand the party by former Govs. Jeb Bush of Florida and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and the House's No. 2 Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the former vice president appeared to write his former colleague Powell out of the GOP. Asked about recent verbal broadsides between Limbaugh and Powell, Cheney said: "If I had to choose in terms...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday that he preferred Rush Limbaugh’s brand of conservatism to former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s, saying Mr. Powell had abandoned the Republican Party when he endorsed Barack Obama for president last year. “Well, if I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I’d go with Rush Limbaugh, I think,” Mr. Cheney said in an interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “I think my take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn’t know he was still a Republican.” Mr. Cheney said he “assumed” Mr. Powell’s...

Via Greg Hengler at Townhall. It’s superficially surreal to watch a former VP side against his own Secretary of State, especially given Powell’s public approval rating vis-a-vis Limbaugh’s, but what’s Cheney supposed to say here realistically? That he thinks a guy who voted for Obama and has been known to muse that “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less” is a superior spokesman for a conservative party? This is like asking a lefty blogger if the Democrats are better off with Keith Olbermann or McCain-lovin’ maverick Joe Lieberman. Sure, Liebs is the more impressive person, but...

Cheney: Powell no longer a Republican Posted: 11:48 AM ET WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday he no longer views Colin Powell as a Republican. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Cheney was asked about a dispute between Powell — who was secretary of state in the Bush-Cheney administration — and radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh over the role each plays in the GOP. "My take on it was Colin had already left the party," Cheney said. "I didn't know he was still a Republican." The former vice president noted that Powell endorsed then-Sen. Barack...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who spoke out about his beliefs on the Obama Administration and also spoke about his White House days. Cheney's remarks were in response to Powell's recent criticism of the Republican party. Earlier this week, Rush Limbaugh said Colin Powell should become a Democrat. Asked about recent verbal broadsides between Limbaugh and Powell, Cheney said, "If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh. My take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn't know he was still a Republican."

Dick Cheney made clear Sunday he'd rather follow firebrand broadcaster Rush Limbaugh than former Joint Chiefs chairman Colin Powell into political battle over the future of the Republican Party. Even as Cheney embraced efforts by ex-Govs. Jeb Bush of Florida and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and the House's No. 2 Republican, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the former vice president appeared to write his one-time colleague Powell out of the GOP. Asked about recent verbal broadsides between Limbaugh and Powell, Cheney said, "If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh. My take on...

In good times or bad, there's always someone willing to tell the Republican Party that the road to success is to embrace the liberal agenda. In a speech in Washington Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell joined the chorus. We hope for the sake of the country that his party doesn't listen. Mr. Powell insisted that he doesn't want the Republicans to turn into Democrats or clones of the Democrats. But it's hard to see what other space he hopes the GOP will carve out for itself given his analysis. According to press accounts, Mr. Powell argued that America...

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell blasted Rush Limbaugh Monday during a speech in which he said the Republican Party is in a state of collapse. SNIP Powell lashed out at Limbaugh and conservative icon Ann Coulter. Neither serves the party well .... SNIP “The Republican Party is in deep trouble," he said, according to the Journal. “The party must realize that the country has changed. Americans do want to pay taxes for services. Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

Politics: Our former secretary of state savages as "mean-spirited" and "driven by social conservatism" the party that gave him prominence. Americans, don't you know, really want more taxes and more government. Seems there's no shortage of advice these days from inside and outside the GOP on what the Republican Party needs to do to return to power. Colin Powell is no exception as he continues to snipe at the party that, thanks to appointments by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush, made him a national icon. "The Republican Party is in deep trouble," the former general and secretary of state told...

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Rush Limbaugh fired back at Colin Powell for his critical comments earlier this week, saying Wednesday that the former secretary of state should join the Democratic Party. "What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party," Limbaugh said on his radio show Wednesday.

The Republican Party is in big trouble and needs to find a way to move back to the middle of the country, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday. Powell said the GOP is "getting smaller and smaller" and "that's not good for the nation." He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right. "The Republican Party is in deep trouble," Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has...

The Republican Party is in big trouble and needs to find a way to move back to the middle of the country, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday. Powell said the GOP is "getting smaller and smaller" and "that's not good for the nation." He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right. "The Republican Party is in deep trouble," Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has...