Bolton Versus Powell: A Tale Of Two Diplomatic Cultures

Jewish Press ^ | 5-17-05 | Ron Rubin

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[Sacajaweau]

Pitting two respected individuals in the same administration is just another anti-Bush play. The media pitted Powell against Bush all through the first term. This is just a continuation of "THE PLAN".

[Bennett46]

Bump for later.

[Howlin]

GRRR.....are you trying to ruin my day??

[Howlin]

Well, "pitting" or not, Powell sure seems to be playing his "part."

[ZULU]

Powell is a back-biting, back-stabbing political underweight who was one of Bush's worst choices. Probably selected on a recommendation from Bush I, another diplomatic lightweight.

Powell would have made a great Democrat secretary of state.

He amply illustrated that an ability to worm oneself upwards in the U.S. military hierarchy bears no connection with the Realpolitick of dealing with far shrewder, manipulative and duplicitous foreign diplomats.

He was out of his league.

[longtermmemmory]

Powel proved himself to be compatable with the anti-american, anti-republican HACKS infesting the state department. The culture that just delayed to keep information out of the presidents hands until kerry could be elected to office.

Bolton was what was needed in the fight against institutional incompetence of the bureacrats.

[onyx]

I am deeply saddened by Powell. Does that have a familiar ring to it?

[Carolinamom]

Colin Powell---whose legacy as secretary of state is steadily going bust...

A well-turned and accurate phrase.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

When Powell dropped his presidential flirtation in 1996 he said his wife made him - all the presidential inquiries had to go through his wife.

Powell has all the leadership of a caboose.

[ZULU]

"Powell has all the leadership of a caboose."

Well put.

The foreign leaders in the U.N. and southeast Asia recognized him for the sham he is.

[longtermmemmory]

Powel would have stayed on for kerry.

Powel's performance eNDED any presidential aspirations.

[reelfoot]

But there were many who were practically jumping up and down in ecstasy at the prospect of Colin Powell running as the Republican candidate for President just a few years back. They were ready to coronate him on the spot, despite any available information on various positions to determine whether he was conservative or not.

I see the same thing happening now with Condoleezza Rice--many on this board trumpeting her as a future Republican president. But do we know any more about her views than we did Powell's a few years back? Is she demonstrably more conservative than Powell and if so, where is the evidence?

[Bennett46]

"GRRR.....are you trying to ruin my day??"


LOL! No, I'm not.

I was reading the live thread yesterday posted by Ken 5050 and agree with you about Colin Powell.

I appreciated the link you provided from The American Thinker and thought this article could be added to the argument.

[Liberty Wins]

Lucky for us that he served a term as Secretary of State. Otherwise his weak, spineless, Carter-era approach to foreign policy might not have been exposed. Notice that he is no longer being pursued by the media as a Republican candidate for President.

[ZULU]

Read Condi's biography.

Its too early at this point to coronate her - or anyone else.

[Liberty Wins]

Requirements of an acceptable Republican candidate:

1. Conservative resume
2. Likeability (electability)
3. Backbone
4. Opposition by all known fifth columnists: media, academia, State Department lefties

[iopscusa]

Agree 100% - Powell was a failure from the get go!

[paul_fromatlanta]

I don't know how accurate the rumors were, but all through the 2nd half of the first Bush43 term there were rumors that Powell was unhappy and wanted to leave.

Also the article says Powell opposed using force against the Taliban... I don't remember any statements like that from Powell... I mean, even most Democrats here in Georgia supported the War in Afghanistan.

One thing this article kind of skips over is Powell, as a result of of Vietnam experience likes to have clear justification before going to war and while that was there in Afghanistan, he really seems to have been searching for a way to justify Iraq to support the President but couldn't find it.

Powell's big failing, in my opinion, is that when he didn't support invading Iraq, he should have resigned rather than that wretched (and now very false looking) performance at the U.N.

If we were going to invade Iraq no matter what, it would have been better to do it up front - based on a determination of what we thought was best instead of trying to pretend we were enforcing international law under the U.N. resolution - when the U.N. clearly was not suppolrtive of war.