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REPUBLICANS

Colin Powell: Birther 'Nonsense' Is 'Killing' the GOP

He calls on Republican leaders to reject conspiracy theories from Palin et. al.

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: AP

Colin Powell today had some harsh words for his own party that are getting a lot of attention – though it's nothing new to hear harsh words from Powell about the GOP.

He told ABC that the Republican establishment needs to loudly reject the "birther nonsense" because it's "it's killing the base of the party," resulting in a recent 26% favorability rating.

"Why aren't Republican leaders shouting out about all this birther nonsense and all these other things? They should speak out," said Powell. "These idiot presentations continue to be made and you don't see the senior leadership of the party say, 'No, that's wrong.' In fact, sometimes by not speaking out, they're encouraging it."

Powell admitted that his recent attacks on the GOP have left people wondering why he's still a Republican. He explained, "I grew up under Ronald Reagan and Cap Weinberger and George Schultz and George Herbert Walker Bush - that's the Republican party I know...and I think we've drifted from that."

Via ABC News and the Huffington Post.
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Comments (view in Forum)

  • PNWest
    !
    Colin Powel is probably the best representative of what the GOP should be about. He is well respected and would make a fine President. How long will it take before the Tea Partier's here label him a RINO?
  • Keyjo
    !
    They already have.
    I asked that same question the other day and it was a matter of minutes.
    He and a few other traditional, Goldwater Republicans were chastised and disowned. Many of today's Tea Party Republicans prefer idiotology to ideology!
  • Keyjo
    !
    @PNWest
    "I learned a new word today,'atom bomb,' it looked like God taking a photograph!"
    Spoken by 13 year old Christian Bale in "Empire of the Sun."

  • View all 73 replies >

  • wild_turkey6
    !
    But that is not a solution. That is like when my kids were little and would point fingers saying, "But he did it first." I agree, both parties are focused on what is best for the party, not the country. But saying, "well, the other guys are worse than we are", still implies we are bad. This kind of constructive criticism shouldn't be dismissed. Look at how many votes went to the third parties in the last election because voters were fed up with the kind of nonsense that Powell is talking about.
  • Romney2012
    !
    @wild_turkey6 How many votes went to third parties? Plus, this is not a child's game! The party that is best for the peple happens to be the Republican party. It's not a fight over right and wrong, it's a battle for the welfare of this excellent nation!
  • dances-weebles
    !
    @Romney2012 wow... maybe you should go back and study jr. high school civics. republicans favor the aristocracy and big business and the democrats support the people... and no, the u.s. is no longer an 'excellent nation'
  • wild_turkey6
    !
    @Romney2012 Look at the popular vote. There was about 5 million votes separating Romney and Obama. Johnson took in about 1.3 million. That was with around 59% of eligible voters actually going out and voting. So, 41% said, "Screw it. I don't like either of these guys." The GOP is going to have to do something to make those 41% "like" them. Pointing fingers and calling your opponent a foreigner, didn't help in the last two presidential elections.
  • Romney2012
    !
    @wild_turkey6 @dances-weebles First of all, show me a valid birth certifacate of this guy, and I'll stop calling him a faurener, second, tell me how the Democrats are more for the people! They support big businesses (Google, General Electric, etc.) just like the Republicans, plus all of those social programs they've created are taking the money of the citizens and giving it to the dead weight of society! The Republicans want voter ID laws to help protect the value of a citizen's vote from illegal voters, while the Democrats want to bring in as many illegal voters as possible so that they can give them free money with social programs, and then in return get votes from them to keep them in power! Oh the Republicans are evil! They want to oppress voters, blah, blah, blah!!!! We have heard all of this garbage before! Just look at the National Socialist (Nazi) party of Germany! They fooled everyone that they were on their side with propaganda like our media has today! And look at them now! They look back at those days in mourning! It is even illegal to deny the Holocaust over there!

  • View all 42 replies >

  • Bobolinsky
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    @hwyangel-- Not sure what the devalueing of human life has to do with Powell's Quixotic quest to stay relevant and in the good graces of the media... ;-) But I'll go with it.

    "Taro Aso, the finance minister, said on Monday that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" to relieve pressure on the state to pay for their medical care."

    "Rising welfare costs, particularly for the elderly, were behind a decision last year to double consumption [sales] tax to 10% over the next three years, a move Aso's Liberal Democratic party supported."
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/22/e...

    David Attenborough - Humans are plague on Earth
    Humans are a plague on the Earth that need to be controlled by limiting population growth, according to Sir David Attenborough.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/98...
  • hwyangel
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    @Bobolinsky

    I have been called. "birther" for my pro-life position. The term also applies to those who believe that Obama is not a citizen of America. The first is true and the latter undecided.
  • wild_turkey6
    !
    I feel the same way as Powell. The GOP that I supported 15 years ago, has been taken over by this lunatic fringe that is squeezing folks like me out. They were trounced in the last two Presidential elections. They stick with personal liberties, security, and economy. Stay away from social ideas that most of Americans are at least tolerable of, if not supporting.
  • Deano
    !
    There are at least 20 million Limbaugh fans, At least 15 million Sean Hannity fans, at least 10 million Glen Beck fans millions of religious conservatives Mike Huckabee has a huge fan base. How many members in the tea party and in the NRA We are your base!. You sound like some country club republican who looks down you nose at social conservatives. A true conservative is conservative on social and fiscal issues and does not make excuses for it. If you abandon us as a base you will lose by more than you did with Romney. Why do you think Romney picked Ryan to shore up the conservative base. And to say that voting for Obama is a better choice makes no sense. He is the most liberal president in history.
  • wild_turkey6
    !
    @Deano I never said that I voted for Obama. Look at my posts leading up to the election. I said that there was no room for libertarian leaning members in the party anymore. Social issues is what is causing this split in the party. I'm not going to get into a huge argument over social issues on a "birther" thread, but I will add that Dumb@$$es like Akin and Mourdock are not doing the GOP any favors.
    Furthermore, I have never been a member of a country club. I have been a hard working guy that put himself through college and graduate school on the GI Bill. As for the NRA, I am a strong supporter of gun owners. It is in the Constitution. I also think that the same document that gives Americans the right to own guns, gives gays the right to marry. This is where I differ from most social conservatives. I think that the government needs to stay out of private lives. Conservatives used to stand for personal liberties and small government. But you can't say that you support small government, and then decide who can marry and who can't.
  • u
    Keith_D
    !
    @Deano 20 million plus 15 million plus 10 million plus Huckabee fans plus members of the Tea Party plus the NRA? Those aren't all separate numbers-- many of those are the same people. You don't get to count them twice any more than the Democrats do.
  • frigginhell
    !
    @Republican5001 You would be lucky to have done accomplished a fraction of what this man has in his lifetime. You would do well to have a fraction of the influence this man has in his party. I say this and I don't like him. I do however, respect him and always have. You need more Powells and less Bachmans. You need more Snowes and less Palins. Not that it matters. You can not demonstrate as a matter of their voting records that the gop are any more or any less fiscally repsonsible or conservative than democrats. Both spend more money than they take in and the differences are just where the money is going. For every Solyandra you'll have a highway and bridge to Ketchikan. When we talk about the defense budget they fail to mention funding planes that we'll never use to support jobs at boeing in their homestates on the dime of the rest of the country. Both parties and all members slap earmarks and pork onto every budget deal. It's how they stay in office by sending the pork back home. It's not a conservative thing and it's not a liberal thing. It's an american politician thing. Start making them put their names on the earmarks. Start making the earmarks not an automatic portion of a bill, have them voted on their own merits. Of course, this makes to much sense and they'll never pass it themselves. It's shooting themselves in the foot. They live for this. The people actually have to quit fighting amongst ourselves and send a united message to our government. That will never happen. People like Limbaugh are there to make sure we stay split and at each others throats on sites like this one. Stagnation and gridlock means nothing changes and that's how they like it. Just like it is now.,.
  • o
    Republican5001
    !
    @frigginhell thanks for your insight, but I do not agree. When Powell made the comments that Obama wasn't so bad, he lost all GOP privileges. In fact I feel we do need more bachmans and palings and less Rachel madcows or Larry odonnells. GOP handbook page 1 says Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. It also has in big ass print, individual responsibility & self accountability.
  • frigginhell
    !
    @Republican5001 Oh, bible thumping? Start stoning the adulterers in your party. Adultery was mentioned far more often in the bible than homosexuality. It's given punishment was repeated time and again. Don't be selective about how you want to apply your imaginary bronze age war god's teachings.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    And not just birthers.
    Anyone whose ideology impairs their ability to compromise, that is, help govern, should be ousted from the party.
    Republicans used to be the most rational of the two parties, and that has been reversed by the likes of Chet Akin and Michele Bachmann.
    Somehow they are able to exert disproportionate influence in the party. Hopefully, that influence is on the wane.
    If it isn't, the Republican party will continue to decline.
  • Mia
    !
    Ideology that prevents compromise. Obama. He has done nothing to reach across the aisle. He has pointed fingers, endorsed crazy rhetoric, called names, scorned real debate.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    @Mia You and I see very different worlds.
    The future will belong to the one of us whose view is closer to objective reality.
  • Mia
    !
    @harold_lloyd the future belongs to all of us. If your world view is parallel with obama's and it prevails I fear the future for all of us is not very bright. I appreciate your response though.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    @Mia
    The future doesn't belong to all of us. All of us will affected by the winds of change, but some of will be sailing, and some of will just get blown away.
    My view is not parallel to Obama's, but mine is not opposed to his.
    Obama is at least rational. Birthers and teabaggers, not so much.
  • AlexMIA
    !
    @harold_lloyd I think it's when you say teabaggers were you most likely going to lose people. Very devisive! How can you expect compromise?

  • View all 10 replies >

  • dances-weebles
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    i think it was with the older bush when he became president and used a war in the middle east to cover up for his two sons' illegal activities.
  • dances-weebles
    !
    @dances-weebles and then when his son found himself in the whitehouse the shit really hit the fan. he began seeing muslims hiding behind his breakfast table dishes, and bin laden sitting cross-legged in the bottom of his coffee cup.
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    @dances-weebles Are you suggesting that Operation Desert Storm was not fought to wrest control of Kuwait away from Saddam Hussein, but was instead manufactured to draw attention away from misdeeds by the Bush clan? If so, then I guess that Republicans aren't the only ones to buy off on absurd conspiracy theories.
  • dances-weebles
    !
    @Dan_Tien look at the history of it. the fact is that saddam was well within his rights to take kuwait back. he did, after give it as a present to the emir... under the stipulation that he would never, ever attempt to cut opec prices on oil. bush sr. knew that if he didn't have a war then he'd never have a chance at a second term in office because he was a do nothing. he paid saddam and supplied him with all the weapons to fight his little war in the sand and when it was all over everyone went home smiling. he also needed a smoke screen to cover the fact that one son was selling nuclear weapons secrets and weapons to china, and gw was up to his eyeballs in the colorado oil scam.
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    @dances-weebles Iraq was one of the countries created from the old Ottoman Empire by the British after the Ottomans were defeated in World War 1. Britain retained Kuwait as a protectorate because of its harbor. It never belonged to Iraq any more than the rest of the Ottoman Empire belonged to Iraq. Britain granted Kuwait its independence in 1961. Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait because of its oil wealth. He probably thought that the US would do nothing about it, since Iraq was our ally against Iran. He was wrong. George H. W. Bush served only one term, regardless of the defeat of Iraq. I find your conspiracy theories as fanciful as any.

  • View all 15 replies >

  • DARSB
    !
    Like most folks, I suppose, I became familiar with Sec Powell during Desert Storm. Impressive credentials, solid personal biography, persuasive personal manner. His selection as Secretary of State was encouraging since I had little faith in the rest of that Administration's foreign policy chops (a weakness I think persists today - in both parties). And then came his testimony to the UN over the entirely fictitious weapons of mass destruction. In retrospect, seeing a man of such accomplishment and immense personal dignity betrayed by the neocons and sent to lie to the world was profoundly embarrassing, both for him and for the reputation of our country.

    Considering how he was used by the leaders of his own party it is not surprising that he levies criticisms against their continuing lapses today.
  • PNWest
    !
    General Powell has always acted with dignity and grace. He really should renounce the republican party. They don't deserve him. Let them have Sarah Palin, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Joe Walsh, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann.
  • Ashstop
    !
    Colon Powell is not a republican, I could say I'm a bird but that doesn't make me one, he is always coming out against republicans . But never against democrats? Come on!! He agrees with everything they do!! He voted for them! It it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck..
    I would have more respect for him if he'd just switch parties,.. I mean publicly
  • mimi57
    !
    @Mia That they are... they go with whatever way the wind is blowing. Well, Arlen
    is gone now, he won't be blowing in this wind any longer.
  • Ashstop
    !
    @dances-weebles
    ? Want to explain why your mind went to panties when we were talking about Colon Powell? On second thought I don't want to know.
  • Post Removed by Moderators

  • View all 10 replies >

  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    What I want for Christmas is for all RINOs to leave the party, starting with Powell and Christie. If they don't believe in conservative values anymore then go with the party of debt and fiscal irresponsibility. Trust me, we won't miss you. Don't let the doorknob (actually, let the the doorknob) hit you where the good Lord split you.
  • PNWest
    !
    Serious question Neo - The GOP has driven out almost all the moderate republicans. If you drive out respected republicans like Powell and Christie how will anyone take the party seriously? How can you attract independent voters?

  • View all 19 replies >

  • MadAmerican
    !
    He had his chance to head the republican party and even run for president, so now he's flapping his gums because he's too little, too late.
  • Ironicguy
    !
    Even If he wasn't born in the US (but he was) he's been president for 4 years and he'll be president for another 4 years citizen or not!
  • u
    Realthinker
    !
    Palin is never mentioned in either story so why did Politix gratuitously insert her name in it's headline? The term for this is "yellow journalism".
  • Deano
    !
    Hey Mr Powell I am Sure Mr Reagan is turning over in his grave watching you support the most liberal president in American history! It is silly for Republicans to take advice from you now since you have been such a supporter of the very Liberal Barack Obama. The guys you sited would as I understand it be polar opposites to Obama and his world view.I would have voted for you once but not now!
  • jessejaymes
    !
    You are so wrong. the purpose of the GOP is to funnel pork spending to the wealthy benefactors, to provide the hicks with a party that they can "belong to" while the ultra rich takes every damn dime they have. I would be all in favor of rubes being taken if they didn't cause the rest of us to be taken as well. There is no more stupid person in this country than a Tea Party person. A street gangster is more aware, more intelligent. Michelle Bachman may well be the dumbest person to have ever held a national political office and she's their queen. That should tell you something.
  • FollowTheMoney
    !
    I truly hope your joking. If you want to boil this countries problems down to one word, may I suggest the word...GREED. Professional politicians trading laws and influence for personal gain. In that respect all politicians are the same. To buy into partisan politics, in a word, is ...Stupid.
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