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Colin Powell, Swears To Senator Ted Steven's Character and Honesty. Will You Stop Asking For Him To Endorse Obama, After This?
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/v-print/story/53745.html
Excerpt:
October 10, 2008 03:02:00 PM
WASHINGTON — Colin Powell, the retired Army
general and former secretary of state, described Sen. Ted Stevens in
court Friday as a "trusted individual" and man with a "sterling"
reputation.
"He was someone whose word you could rely
on," said Powell, who self-deprecatingly described himself as someone
who retired as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then
"dabbled a bit in diplomacy."
Stevens, on trial for lying
about gifts on financial disclosure forms, has the right to ask
character witnesses to speak on behalf of his "truthfulness and
veracity." The first such character witness, Sen. Daniel Inouye,
D-Hawaii, spoke Thursday. Three others are set to testify on Stevens'
behalf but the highest-profile witness, by far, will be Powell.
Comments (20)
Powell seems like such a smart guy. I don't know why he always gets caught up with the wrong crowd and makes such terrible decisions.
October 10, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
This would be the Colin Powell that lied to the United Nations as we were going to war with Iraq, right?
October 10, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
This would be the Colin Powell who has a record of mendacity going back to his part in the My Lai Massacre coverup.
October 10, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am glad somebody remembers that!
October 11, 2008 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought that Powell was just a victim of circumstances with his false UN testimony and now I wonder. With this support of Stevens, when it is clear there is some wrongdoing here, my opinion of Powell has fallen and now he's just another public servant. I hate it when personal favorites end up with feet of clay.
October 10, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that if he was an honest person who had been a victim of circumstances, once he had become aware of such, he should have since used a clear and loud voice to denounce how Bush and Cheney tricked him into declaring falsely for the UN.
He hasn't done that. He was no victim, he was and continues to be an actor.
October 11, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen. Senator Daniel Inouye (D Hawaii) also testified for Stevens, or is planning to in the near future.
October 10, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, liam.
This is one of my biggest problems this time around. In '04, I'd like remind everyone that there were hundreds of liberals running around insisting that Kerry ask John McCain to be his running mate.
I hear the same stupid comments about Powell as I used to hear about McCain from Democrats and liberals.
Get over Colin Powell, please. He's not what you think he is and never has been. The man is not an honorable man - he's a useful idiot for Republican war mongers and criminals. He's one too - he was part of the torture group - goddamn it - and don't tell me he was there to try to keep them from doing it. No, he wasn't.
October 11, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
What is the deal, anyway? Are liberals as brainwashed over uniforms as Republicans are? The military has worked overtime to plant this idea in our heads that if someone has a uniform on - any kind of uniform - we are automatically supposed to respect the person.
You need to get over this romance with uniforms -the whole country does. It's a crock of shit and it's been hurting us since 1949. It has been deliberate on the part of the government and the military-industrial complex and I swear to god, every person in this country has fallen for it.
Please wake up and quit worshipping uniforms and our military.
October 11, 2008 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
We don't need endorsements from folks with military uniforms, but it helps. There are plenty of military people who look up to him. If Powell endorses Obama, which I suspect he will -- at the very last minute, cause he hates to be on the losing side -- it will help in Virginia and other swing states.
Powell has the right to speak to Stevens character, since Powell had dealing with Stevens. I don't see it as a problem that he 'called it as he saw it.' This has nothing to do with whether he illegally took gifts from individuals who benefited from his legislation.
October 11, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I give up.
Good god - you just defended Stevens.
it's beyond my ability to understand.
October 11, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems like Powell would have to be caught with a live boy or a dead woman to get people to see him clearly.
And I don't how much respect he still has with military -
and don't care. The brass won't be swayed. The enlisted personnel are, from everything I've read, solidly Obama.
Powell is useless to us. He is only useful to Republicans and neo-cons. He has no credibilty in the world at all.
But keep buying your illusions about him -
October 11, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait. How did I defend Stevens?
October 11, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you being a little too emotional about this.
For clarity, I lost all respect for powell after his 2003 UN speech. My comments have nothing to do with respecting powell or stevens.
I am not defending either. Powell goes under oath and defends steven's character. I take him at his word. That doesn't mean steven's isn't guilty. It only means that steven's word was reliable from powell's experience.
Some in the military look up to powell. Sure obama has a lot of support from enlisted. Could he use more? Yes.
October 11, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The point of an endorsement is to either get people to switch to you or to win over undecideds. If Powell endorsed Obama, he would lose, roughly, zero votes from people who are already in the bag for him. He might well win over some undecideds and McCain leaners.
So, no. This testimony doesn't really affect my judgment about whether it would be good for him to endorse Obama.
So let's recap. Powell endorsement wouldn't mean jack to me. I'm thinking it wouldn't flip you to McCain or stay at home either, right? But it might mean jack to someone who would otherwise not vote or vote for McCain. So how is this even hard?
Obama's running for president, not chief ideologist of the damn Politburo, and personally I want to run the score up so high that even Limbaugh can't claim it was stolen by ACORN without cracking up or vomiting.
October 11, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
ditto.
October 11, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hell yeah I want his endorsement, he is the last endorsement that actually matters.
October 11, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Powell meaningless appearance for Stevens shows where he is in the larger scheme; essentially he is a company man or in current day terms a surrogate that is locked into a positions he has long held to get ahead. He achieved high office but with no solid accomplishments; his overdone reputation lent credibility to many foolish characters and events. His support or lack of support is about the same, it does not matter. I suspect he will soon be in the back ground, and at times paraded as a senior something or another.
October 11, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
A follow up to my original blog question.
Name one major positive accomplishment of Colin Powell's, since George W. Bush became president?
Since time is running out, I might as well make one last use of a riddle that I created, to annoy the hell out of my Bush backing friends.
Riddle: Why did Colin Powell agree to become a member of George W. Bush's cabinet?
Answer: Because ever Colin(colon)must be attached to an asshole.
October 11, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Powell is an unmitigated asshole. Still, I suppose his endorsement DOES have some value, doesn't it?
October 11, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
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