Throughout the day on Wednesday, Colin Powell was trending on Twitter. Powell was the victim of another (alleged) Russian hack of influential politicos. It seems like Powell’s email was targeted, and his emails were distributed on DCLeaks.com, a hacker site which has some (tenuous?) ties to Russian intelligence. Throughout Wednesday, I kept reading excerpts from Powell’s emails and laughing my ass off, but it took NY Mag to put it in context for me: Colin Powell isn’t just one of the most influential diplomatic minds in America, he’s also your BFF, the delicious bitch who loves to gossip about the rich, powerful and well-connected. What’s particularly amazing is how Powell seemingly sits around, emailing off-the-record thoughts to friends, journalists, former colleagues and more. Like, this is his retirement: he email-gossips. It’s amazing. Here are some precious gossip-gems from Powell’s leaked emails:
On Donald Trump & the Birthers: “Yup, the whole birther movement was racist. That’s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn’t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim…As I have said before, ‘What if he was?’ Muslims are born as Americans everyday.”
General thoughts on Trump: A “a national disgrace and an international pariah… If Donald were to somehow win, by the end of the first week in office he’d be saying ‘What the hell did I get myself into?’”
Trump as the business: “He appeals to the worst angels of the GOP nature and poor white folks. Just finished a book by a guy named Llosa about loss of culture. It was reviewed in the WSJ last week. Culture is going and with it the ties that bind. An increasing theme in my speeches –– celebrification of our society. Fox got the highest rating ever after the debate so Ailes makes friends with Trump and sends Megyn Kelly off to get over her period. Hey, noting (sic) personal, just business.”
On the Cheney family: “[The Cheneys] are idiots and spent force peddling a book that ain’t going nowhere.”
Hillary’s biggest flaw: “Everything HRC touches she kind of screws up with hubris.”
His assessment of Hillary: “I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect. A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still d—ing bimbos at home (according to the NYP).”
Racism in the GOP: “Or as I said before the 2012 election, ‘There is a level of intolerance in parts of the Republican Party.’”
An email to Fareed Zakaria about not wanting to speak on Trump: “You guys are playing his game, you are his oxygen. He outraged us again today with his comments on Paris no-go for police districts. I will watch and pick the timing, not respond to the latest outrage.”
On giving Trump any additional attention: “To go on and call him an idiot just emboldens him.”
[From Politico, Buzzfeed & NY Mag]
See? Powell loves to gossip. He’s That Friend – you want to go have a drink with him and catch up on gossip about all of the people you have in common and he delivers all of the juicy stuff, but you know in your heart of hearts that he’s gossiping about you to other people. He’s sort of the Regina George of the Bush Administration.
Surprisingly (to me), there’s a lot of love and respect between Condoleeza Rice and Powell, and some of the most nuanced emails are their exchanges. Rice and Powell discuss the aftermath of Benghazi, and they both seem to agree that the intelligence community likely hung the Obama White House out to dry with shoddy early-intelligence work, and both agree that the GOP-led investigations into Benghazi are “witch hunts.” Rice and Powell also reminisce about the terrible people they worked with in the Bush administration, and they both seem to absolutely loathe Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and even Dick Cheney. You can read more here and here.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
This headline is everything.
Made my morning!
That is what I came here to say. 😂😂
I just tweeted this article because of the headline!
I am having a bad morning (and it’s not even 8 AM here, sigh) and this whole post just cheered me right up. Gotta love a gossipy bitch! LOL.
same! this headline is everything! and so is Colin’s gossip 🙂
Best. Headline. Ever!
COSMOS WITH COLIN
Seriously, someone give this man a talk show!
Nah, he needs a blind item column
I have loved Colin Powell since I read his autobiography “An American Story”. I know an autobiography is supposed to make you look good but I still like him. He is much funnier than he looks and seems to have a self-depreciating sense of himself and of life in Washington.
The headline is offensive and not funny at all. Of all people he should receive respect. SMH. He was not gossiping he was sharing his political opinions the same way we do.
Anyway I’m glad I got to see a few emails from Condi. I always felt she got a bad deal. I wish her well.
Totally agree, The headline is very disrespectful
Maybe she got a bad deal, but the people who died on 9/11 and their families also got a bad deal when she didn’t do her job as National Security Adviser in flagging the memo about Bin Laden determining to attack the United States. Bush surrounded himself with ambitious sycophants.
These people were no paragons.
Not gossiping? Powell referenced a salacious New York Post story about Bill Clinton and a new mistress, and used some pretty crude language to do it. That is gossip.
Where do you think you are, the NYT? This is a gossip site called “Celebitchy” – this headline is totes appropriate for this site.
In what world is that not gossip? Re-read that part about Clinton.
The headline is not offensive and yeah, pretty damn funny. If you gossip and you’re exposed, deal with it.
Yes, she got a bad deal when she said that the next 9/11 would be a mushroom could over our city.
She was a disgrace, ignorant, and complicit in not paying attention to warning s before 9/11. My FDNY husband who was disabled cleaning up the WTC sure doesn’t think she got a bad rap. She got away with incompetence that led to thousands of deaths.
Oh please. He was gossiping. Unclench the pearls.
He lied to the UN and sent us to war. No respect from me.
It is the word “bitch” I have s problem with. So we don’t like it when men call us bitches but it’s ok to use it in a derogatory way against a man (which is then some insult of using a derogatory term used for women, and has a gay slur connotation as well).
Sorry. Doesn’t fly.
Bitch please. See what I’m doing there, DirtyMartini? Lots of us say that to each other AND to the men in our lives all the time, and we say it in affectionate and playful good spirits, just the way Kaiser did in that brilliant headline, which is what brought me to this thread in the first place. Lots of us even refer to ourselves that way. (“Lahdidah, yeeou little beeotch!) Women call themselves bitches online all the time and that’s nothin new. Fifteen or so years ago some woman started a book-rating blog called Bookbitch.com. Gave a book of mine a great rating, so I’ma be her bitch eternally.)
Kaiser, ffs, do not change a thing. This was one of my favorite threads ever. And as a general point, gotta say I love the way you can always be trusted to find the silliness in serious matters and real meaning in silly, superficial stuff. (Well, not ALWAYS. Some sh*t has just gotta stay sh*t.)
And as for Colin Powell, I would joyfully vote for him for POTUS before EITHER of the two main candidates, and I’m a Dem. But he promised his wife when he first went into public life that he would NEVER run for President. I have always loved, trusted, and respected him. And if he saw your headline, I know he’d dig it. It would make him grin and shake his head and proudly show it to his wife.
@lahde. Sorry but I will respectfully disagree with you on the use of bitch — particularly applied to a man with gay undertones to it.
But I will gleefully agree with you about voting for him. Because for the most part…..he nailed my thoughts about everyone he commented on. 👍🏼
Is it really gossip or just opinion based on his experiences with said people? I vote opinion.
His truthiness and opinions are amusing observations, like it.
I spent most of yesterday laughing hysterically at the emails. The shade was so real
Colin Powell shade is the best shade. I had great respect for this man before the email leaks, I now adore him.
Agreed – I liked and respected him before and now see that my respect was not misplaced. He nailed both Trump & Hillary on the head – bad choices all around but of coarse Trump is worse.
+1000
I want to invite him out with my girlfriends for drinks after reading these emails.
I love his shade. So fun and intelligent.
Yes!!! I read almost every one of them. There is no better shade than shade from an intellectual.
I loved the bitchiness of some of those emails. Of course they ended up only being talked about in relation to how awful Hillary is and why she isn’t fit. I really don’t know what other options Americans think they have with the system you have in place. I know some people are voting 3rd party and it just seems so stupid, dangerous and petty. There is no perfect candidate and they are all flawed in one way or another, so why risk everything when you know how awful the result could be when one of the candidates is a psychopath surrounded by psychopaths with no experience or sense.
What surprises me is the polls constantly changing. Who doesn’t know who they are voting for at this point?
This! I don’t think the polls are wrong, exactly (always dangerous thinking a la the Republicans in 2012), but seriously – the only sane candidate is Hillary. That’s just where we are. Who is having difficulty with this?
This. How can anyone be undecided at this point? I have this conversation with my family all the time. I’m the only liberal in a family of (fiscal) conservatives. Only one crazy uncle of mine is voting for Trump, the rest are dead-set on voting for Hillary. Most of my family understands that it’s country before party. Hillary probably won’t be the best president we’ve ever had but that’s ok, we can survive a “bad” president for 4 years. I truly believe that we won’t survive a Trump presidency.
20% of Americans are technically “undecided” at this point. It is higher by a large percentage than in past elections. That is a HUGE number and very scary.
The “undecided” segment is misleading. It could be people just didn’t want to tell the pollsters where they are going. I mean when these dummies interrupt me during my meal with a poll, I usually give them an “undecided.” Sorry leave me and my food alone.
Could be, but that would probably be similar in various election years. 538 has give this number out, and I tend to approve of their methodology.
I always loved Powell and Rice – why can’t one of them run for office, they’d be great. Sadly Shrub made sure that he couldn’t – pity.
Because they were key players in launching an unjust and now unpopular war, neither one could run for office.
Exactly. I’ll resist the temptation to add more as it would be at odds with the tone of the thread and wouldn’t go down very well.
I won’t resist! Powell knew full well that the Iraqi intelligence was highly suspect which is why he insisted George Tenet sit behind him while he made the case to the UN. He has never taken responsibility or accepted any accountability for anything in his life. He was also caught red-handed lying about Hillary Clinton when his emails were released. He first claimed he had never even had a conversation with her about how to handle emails in the State Department until a year after she had already set everything up. Lie. The emails show they had that conversation days after she became SOS. He also clearly advised her in those emails how to get around having your emails available for congress or the public. He told her how he did it. She actually did not take that advice.
It amazes me how many people don’t actually read the news stories and comprehend them. A fair reading of those emails show that Hillary was not trying to skirt freedom of information requests for her government emails, and guess what? Powell was.
He won’t run because of his family. I think he could win or would have if he had run years ago.
Actually, it was pretty clear at the time that Powell did not want to go in front of the UN and that he had a lot of trepidation about a potential war. (Especially as an experienced general — he would have known that Iraq was an “unwinnable” war like Vietnam.) You could tell just by watching his speech to the UN that he was not enthusiastic. He could have left his post, but I think he probably would have considered that a replacement for Sect. of State sent in by Bush’s eagles would have been more damaging to diplomatic affairs in the long run.
I’m not a Republican and I still would likely have voted for him. And, if memory serves, he decided not to run because his wife has a mental illness (IIRC, bipolar disorder), and he felt that it would be too stressful for her to be in the public eye as FLOTUS. Which makes me respect him more — a lot of politicians play the “what’s right for my family card” — but I think he does genuinely care about what’s best for his family.
Rice is tainted by the Bush administration. And it was widely reported that Powell’s wife feared he’d be assassinated if he ran for president.
Exactly. Neither Condoleezza Rice nor Colin Powell could run for national office, because they’re both international war criminals. Neither of them hold any moral authority.
I would quit my job to campaign for Rice and Powell full time like a political Deadhead. I love them.
Cause they lied to us, made up s$it and went along with war criminals?
Sure. Powell and rice for President.
And the rest of the politicians who voted for the war? Everyone who was paying any kind of attention knew the whole thing was based on lies. It was widely acknowledged that inspectors had affirmed Iraq was disarmed, up to and including the day before GW’s state of the union citing WMDs as justification for his planned attacks.
Everybody knew. Write and thank your congress person for voting for the war. ( I recall only 3 who didn’t: Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, and Ron Paul. Congress was likely under less pressure than Powell to go along, yet go along they did.
So many powerful men I know and work with are all gossip all the time
I am always amazed when women are discussed and this is used as a ‘women be gossiping’ kind of schtick
The best dirtiest and most frequent gossip I get from MD level men always ending in a – ‘I mean in a nice way, of course’ disclaimer
So so true.
True – I work with a lot of men in my career field, and the majority of them are quick to talk about each other and re-tell whatever they hear.
They control the narrative. When men gossip they call it other things — networking, discussion, debate, truth-telling.
I’ve been calling my boss a b*tchy gossip queen all year. He hates it but he still does it, soooo… Lol what else am I supposed to call the man who speculates on various colleagues’ marriages during status meetings??
THANK YOU. I know the stereotype is of women being gossips, but I swear — the worst gossips I’ve ever known, without exception, are men. One of my old English professors at college could overhear you dishing on a student a mile away and zip over to eavesdrop. And one of my old bosses knew where every last body was buried, who did it, who helped bury it, and who was thinking about burying someone else. Hen party, my ass.
Yes! I’m from a rural farming community and everyone knows the Farmers know all the gossip and love to spread it.
I say this all the time. In the legal profession it is the men who are the worst gossips. And often they use the negative gossip about women against them.
In male dominated environments women in particular tend to be close mouthed about opinions because it doesn’t take much for the women to get labelled gossip.
@ Nic910. I totally agree. I was a lawyer for 22 years and yes, it is the male lawyers who are the worst gossips. It is an incredible informal information network. I’m not sure if the digital era would have much influence on this as they seem to prefer to gossip in person rather than online.
The lawyers’ lounge at court (private workspace area accessible only to lawyers in court that day) is a bottomless pit of “informal communication”. And the cookies are free too.
I don’t find anything about this funny. I am so alarmed by all of these email hacks that are clearly trying to influence the election. Trump’s party says so many negative things about Trump, and it just doesn’t stick. So what Colin and that one Dem super donor in the email says about Hillary throughout those emails hurts her, because things, unfortunately, do stick regarding Hillary. And those are the main headlines coming out of this hack, which is what was designed all along.
I can’t read the news for a while. It’s making me have nightmares. Trump is much closer again. The race is really tightening. I am beginning to believe he absolutely could be our next POTUS.
Excuse me. I have to go throw up now.
I’m with you, despairing. I can barely stomach the news anymore. You re so right that nothing sticks to Trump. I just heard a guy on NPR opine that it’s because he’s just a sideshow and the public’s standards are so low compared to Hillary who really is presidential material.
We can only hope the debates give Hillary the bump she needs.
I think both candidates are appalling and both sets of supporters look increasingly ridiculous as they try to justify their support for them.
Soror Bro, I don’t need to justify my support for Hillary. She may not be perfect — who is? — but she is far and away the more qualified candidate.
Hey Bro, I’m almost 60 and have seen a lot worse than basically honest lifelong public servant Hillary Clinton. But false-equivalence all you want. The country and the planet would be in a lot better shape if the media and the voters hadn’t done that with Al Gore and John Kerry.
Yeah, I hear Kris Paranto is really happy with her qualifications..yank yank. And as for a witch hunt on the Benghazi stuff…just WOW. People need to look at those soldiers that were left alive to tell their story. Where do their loyalties lie?
They were not military grunt soldiers..high level government contractors, they know more than the average bear about what she is really like.
And Trump is just a pontificating, womanizing, prejudiced- ASS. A trained monkey that will say and do anything to fill this office. Back in the day him and the Clintons were tight when it was mutually profitable..now its profitable to tear each other up so both sets of loyalties have changed accordingly. There is no clear better choice here. They out-snake TS any day!!
I would like to call a time out on this election..I think American does too.
Assange said something along the lines that there is no point releasing anything on Trump because nothing is worse than what already comes out of his mouth.
This election, along with everyone and everything surrounding it, is dismal… in the most boring peuce-colored way.
The question we should be asking is why aren’t the Russian hackers digging into Trump’s emails? Either a Trump presidency has Russian backing, or the man doesn’t know how to use a computer and has no emails to hack.
Certainly Putin wants Trump to win as he sees him(correctly)as a big, blustery, ignorant wimp that he will run over easily. I believe with all my heart they’re trying to influence the election.
I thought wikileaks was releasing the emails. Assange has made it clear he hates Hillary Clinton.
Putin definitely wants anyone but Hillary.
There is a lot of bad blood between Hillary and the Russian establishment from her times as a Secretary of State.
More red baiting. I thought that’s what Republicans did. No wonder people are calling Clinton Romney in drag.
For Peres sake, does anybody really believe it was the Russians?
I agree. As much as this info can be aform of entertainment it is very, verh alarming. Putin basically came out and challanged so called “independant” hackers to hack Hillary’s emails and Julian Assange basically said that he will drop the info right before election and hence influence the outcome of the vote it seems like the US authorities do not put enough effort to stop the hack. This is an attack on a sovereing state and the breach of country’s security so there is nothing funny about this. In case this scenario comes true the US authorities will be partly responsible for the result of the election. Focus on the gossip aspect of this leak completley diverts from the actual problem.
If the information is damning it’ll be a good thing if the public finds out about it.
Exactly, SM. This is beyond alarming and, might I add, another arrow straight into Hillary’s run for POTUS.
We have outside influences conducting hacking to influence the election. When Trump wins, just remember these condescending and,
in some cases, nasty remarks about Hillary will be one of the things that hurt Hillary when she was vulnerable already this week because of her fifty percent deplorables remark and collapsing which was again used in calling into question her truthfulness.
Colin’s email hacking played into all of those issues in his remarks and that super donor’s remarks, etc. Funny now reading them? They won’t seem that way on Election Day when Trump wins.
This is about, most likely, Russian connected hackers trying to take out Hillary. They are actively involved in trying to influence the outcome of a U.S. election for the highest position in our country. If they want Trump in office, think about that. Why?
This is why electronic voting is a nightmare that we should ALL be squawking about – yet no one is… Anything/Everything can be hacked. Obviously. The good ol’ U.S.ofA. basically forces us all to file our taxes electronically, and tax refunds are hacked all year long and the Feds have very little to say about it. NO ONE SHOULD TRUST ELECTRONIC VOTING.
“Putin basically came out and challanged so called “independant” hackers to hack Hillary’s emails ”
Lol, he did no such thing.
This. I’ve read them here and otherwise haven’t sought them out first because it’s such a violation – same as why I didn’t look at any of the naked starlets, this isn’t any of our business! – and second because seriously, no one has a problem with Russia hacking this stuff for Donald? I am finding myself at a loss words first for the heinousness of this and second for the Republicans who think this is just ducky.
My problem is that the American public now only depends on hackers when we should be able to depend on rigorous, unbiased investigative reporting to find whatever EVERY candidate would rather we didn’t know.
*play “it’s a mad mad world” theme
And the so-called reporters are now saying they’re not responsible for doing this job and voters should dig in and decide. Yeah, like voters have their time, resources, training and most of all their public platform. It’s awful.
In some ways I disagree. These are PRIVATE emails that were sent. There is little to NO way that CP would have mentioned any of this to a reporter. So, then, how would a reporter have gotten this information? They would have had to hack his emails, and that is neither legal nor ethical.
Great point, Tulip. If it takes a team of hackers to stop the suppression of the truth then I’m all for it.
Of course, no candidate is going to directly answer questions that they would rather not. That’s why a unbiased fourth estate is necessary for our democracy. We don’t have the time, money, or power to vet all statements and claims uttered by candidates. In depth reporting is much like police work, I imagine, working sources, digging deep, going wherever the truth leads you.
I’m sorry but not one “news” organization does this anymore. This is the real worth of media. It is where their value comes into play for citizens. Kardashians and love triangles are just “bread and circuses”.
I don’t know how this could be an unpopular opinion.
It makes me sick to but honestly I blame Hillary! She has to want this, and so far all she has said since her convention is trump is unfit- well we know that. But she needs to make a case for why she is fit! and being off the trail all of August, while trump got his shit together (for him) and then not being forth coming about a minor health issue, adds to issues the American people already have.
The reason she got the huge bounce after the convention was she sold what she did, what her goals where. She needs to go on offense. She is losing Millenials (I’m one, but an old one) to third party because the third party is make a case to them I wouldn’t vote third party but many are. , Hillary is just assuming Latinos, African Americans, educated white women, and the youth will support her because of how terrible trump is. Sorry but she isn’t great either for a lot of people because all they know is the media narrative so she needs to control the narrative, and show respect to the voters.
Sorry I’m really upset about this and am furious that I feel like Hillary has just assumed she’ll win because trump is an idiot and horrible.
I agree K, especially because so many people choosing to vote 3rd party feel she and the DNC provided a fair election and rigged the system against Bernie. (This is the truth, she didn’t create excitement the way he did…not by a long shot) so if Trump wins, it falls to Hillary and the DNC not doing their job in showing her accomplishments, we ALL know trump is an idiot tell us something new!
K – Hillary actually has been making the case and talking about policy quite a bit. The media have just pretty much ignored her because the Trump story is easier for them. They can understand all his best words and as Putin really said, he’s flashy (the Russian word used didn’t mean brilliant in the sense of intelligence, it’s used to talk about flashy, shiny things like brilliant gems). They can use sound bites for his stuff. Hillary is talking about more complex subjects in detail. That’s harder for American media to handle. Plus for a long time, it’s been obvious that American media can’t focus on more than one big story at once and Trump is their big story.
I don’t want a flashy know-nothing President. And very few things in life are well served by sound bites.
I agree with you 100%. My take on it is pure sexism – Hillary has her issues, but the fact that she is a woman explains the unfair treatment of her. She is simply held to a different standard on her emails, her health, everything. Meanwhile Trump paid $25K to the Attorney General of Florida to make an investigation into Trump University go away and everyone shrugs it off? If that was Hillary they would crucify her.
Bill may be a player, but it’s gossip and he’s not running. If personal lives are scrutinized, then I’m amazed that more attention isn’t given to five children by three wives. Plus some other, serious allegations by a young woman.
What is very hard to dispute is — Who is qualified to hold the highest office? One candidate has held no political office — none. Is that really cute or ‘what we need’?
I agree, hacking our democracy is not a good thing.
Additionally, people are taking these hacks at face value. How do we know they were not edited for compromised? Colin said his emails here are correct, but they could very easily slip in something that is untruthful. The speed and ease with which the public consumes this kind of hacked information is concerning.
Agreed. Hacking government (and other) emails, etc. is now just another salacious news story and isn’t being framed as being a bad thing. Just something we should expect now. With this in mind, how does anyone communicate sensitive information these days? I would be paralysed.
Certainly some of the most delicious dish I’ve read in a while. Kinda stunned Bubba is still nailing floozies – shows how committed he is to his wife’s campaign. 👀
He couldn’t keep it in his pants for the sake of his own career and legacy, of course he’s not going to do it for his wife’s. Anyway, at this point I’m not sure it would matter if he was caught, I don’t think anyone’s been under the impression they have a regular marriage since the 90’s.
He was referring to the the NYP Page Six gossip piece from back that said Clinton has a girlfriend. Nothing ever came of it.
Maybe someone here has some knowledge regarding cardiac issues, but I was always under the impression that the cardiac meds rendered Bill Clinton um, limp.
I’m pretty sure cardiac meds don’t have much of an affect on cigars.
He said ‘according to the’ NY Post, which is a conservative tabloid. So he reads malicious gossip and repeats it. That doesn’t make it true.
You have no way of knowing that he is doing that. Powell was going by a NY Post hit job. I am not even going to bother explaining to anyone why anything from the NY Post is highly suspect. Honestly if you don’t know that, you shouldn’t be voting.
My vote won’t be decided by gossip in any rag. My vote will decided by what comes out of the candidate’s mouths, and the platform they’re running on. I can’t and won’t make any assumptions on anyone else’s knowledge about the candidates and the respective campaign propaganda being put forth, but I WOULD encourage everyone, regardless of what they read, to get out and vote this year.
@kate, Powell refer to the New York post gossip column mentioning Bill Clinton p..king bimbos. Who knows if it’s true. All I can say is, Powell has a lot of free time. However, , I do agree with him that the orange one is a National disgrace and a international pariah not to mention a racist.
This is awesome, and also depressing. I have always had a lot of respect for Powell (and Rice). These emails are funny, but it again reinforces my mindset that there’s no good choice for me to vote for this election. I feel like it’s my duty to vote, but I really really REALLY can’t pick either one of them, and third party candidates aren’t a fit either, plus that would be a wasted vote IMO. It’s a pickle.
You can’t pick?
I’ll help you out:
Only one candidate emboldens hate groups. Only one candidate suggests women are at fault for their own molestations. Only one candidate threatens to ban an entire religious group from coming to the country, threatens to make Mexico pay for a wall, has ongoing violence at his rallys, has zero experience and can’t answer a single question clearly, ugh stop me now.
Basically, don’t vote for Trump. Personally, my white-Hispanic family will thank you for not voting for this bigot.
Patricia, I like your list however from an African American to a Hispanic Im tired of the Democratic Party. Actually there is a growing body of Black Americans that, through this trifling election and Obama’s tenure have simply gotten tired of Democrats. They simply just don’t know where to defect. More than 1 percent will vote for Trump, and some will just pick a random third party name they don’t even know when they are in the booth. Many, I predict will stay home in disgust. I’m not sure what I personally will do yet.
Have you guys ever heard the expression ” better the devil you know, than the one you don’t know?” Something like that. Hillary is a known quantity, she will keep the country running, more or less, along the same path. But if you elect Trump, you have no idea with will happen. I’ll take the devil I know, Hillary, be the devil I don’t know, Trump. Besides that, she is definitely qualified. Do you want to take a chance with our country, riding on the back of some guy that has ZERO government experience?
I currently don’t understand how African American or Hispanic communities could consider leaving the Democratic party, but I am definitely open to hearing more from another perspective. For example, voting ID laws legislated in many states by the GOP which are intended to reduce voter turn out of minorities. In one state, the courts found EVIDENCE that GOP legislators did a study regarding factors that impact minority turn out, and they created legislation BASED ON THAT to disenfranchise minority voters. Who challenged these laws? Democrats.
While the Democrats might not come out with policies that have a certain demographic in the name of the legislation and are easily identified as benefiting minorities, they absolutely do go to bat against the many legislative policies that target minorities for discrimination, including wage issues, voting rights, workers rights, education standards, justice system, etc. There is so much more work to be done, but it isn’t for a lack of trying on the democrats part.
All of your reasons are exactly why I can’t vote for Trump (among a ton of others) despite being a lifelong republican. I’m conflicted about Hillary though because although I know she has the track record of doing what she says she’s going to do, I don’t agree with any of her policies. But even if I actually liked Trump (never, no way, no how), I don’t even agree with his platform, nor do I think any of it is feasible or desirable! So… rock and a hard place.
Abby- I’ve had to work against Presidential policies I think are wrong for decades. But first of all, we need someone competent in the job who at least HAS policies… I’ve had to vote for people with whom I seriously disagree many times because the alternative was worse.
There really is no choice in this election, Trump and Pence are downright scary. It is so risky to have a President like Trump in the nuclear age, that problem alone should send people to the pollsters in droves to vote for Hillary. She also has a solid reputation for actually listening to people with other viewpoints and working well with people of diverse politics, and you can deal with someone like that. It’s the ones whose prejudices are set in stone that are impossible.
Trump won’t have the power he thinks he will have to do all the damage by himself in other areas, he will need (and probably will get) lots of help. We will be an incredible mess after even just four years of Trump, heaven help his successor. Assuming we’re still all alive by then, considering that the one area where he can actually set off Armageddon all by himself is the issue of launching those missiles. It is a horrible situation and no one person should ever have that kind of power. But that’s how it’s been for a very long time. We have relied on Presidents being sane enough not to do it. That has to stop, and I hope the prospect of President Trump will help us reduce Presidential power to a level that at least won’t threaten the entire planet.
Powell is a Republican who helped lie America into the war in Iraq. I think he’s an intelligent man and admire his achievements HOWEVER he’s a Republican who lied. He’s also just as ambitious and just as greedy as anyone he criticizes. I don’t think he’s as “all that” as people make him out to be. He is not going to say anything nice about Hillary Clinton or most other Democratic candidates for office. It doesn’t take great brilliance to see that Trump is corrupt and racist.
Perhaps you should simply go to Clinton’s website and read her policy proposals, and go to Trump’s website and read his policy proposals. Then read the Newsweek investigations of his phony Foundation and the Charity Navigator report on the (clean as a whistle) Clinton Foundation. Maybe follow up with the new investigations of Trump’s dealings with foreign despots which would make it very hard for him to not be compromised in foreign policy. Compare that with Clinton’s globetrotting and alliance-building as Secretary of State.
Then think about the 2-3 justices they would appoint to the Supreme Court.
Maybe that’ll make it easy for you. Honestly, my tender conscience would suffer if I voted for anyone BUT Hillary Clinton!
Great post Who.
Oh hey thanks Tara. Sometimes one wonders if anybody’s listening any more, but this place at least gives some of us an outlet.
Amen!! I can understand disliking Hillary, but to consider voting for a racist, sexist carnival barker over a woman who is smart and has dedicated herself to public life? I just don’t undestined that at all.
I liked a lot of things about Powell but he should have quit as soon as he knew about all the lies and told us why. He had a duty to his country and he flubbed it big time. I blame him much more than George W. Because Powell is smart enough to know what it all means.
Powell is not a perfect person, so what he says about Hillary has to be read with the realization that sometimes he’s just mad because she got something he couldn’t. In particular, he said in one e-mail something about her being “greedy”. Turns out he didn’t get a speaking engagement he wanted because (he was told) they already had paid Hillary’s fee and didn’t have money in the budget for his fee (which I’m sure wasn’t cheap, either). Who knows what he means by “hubris”…. Women are supposed to waffle and be uncertain, while she doesn’t do that for better or for worse. In a guy, I don’t think “hubris” would leap to mind for someone like Hillary.
Also I’m tired of people blaming Hillary for Bill’s affairs or thinking that has anything to do with her ability to govern. I think she came to an understanding with him long ago for their child’s sake and also because they actually are friends and colleagues. So what? It’s their private business. She’s not the one having the affairs, but other male Presidents have had plenty and that has not been considered an impediment to their actual work. That’s why the Republicans going after Bill was so stupid, people elsewhere thought we had lost our collective mind. The impeachment nonsense makes more sense as a way to actually neutralize Hillary, who was working on real health care reform at the time and was tenacious enough to maybe succeed if not stopped. Huge profits were at stake. Hillary has been unjustifiably smeared and lied about ever since.
Anyway, Powell should just do as he did with Obama and just come out and admit that he’s voting for Hillary because he knows she’s competent even when he doesn’t agree with her, and the alternative will be a disaster for this country and the world. He owes us that much.
I was glad to see your post too! I am reading above and thinking that we have short memories…..I had respect for Powell and he is the only republican that I have been able to stomach in a long time but not love. Just because I don’t vomit what he serves doesn’t mean it’s good. And Rice…..I used to have respect for her and I do respect her accomplishments but I side eye the hell out of what she did. Iraq, our reaction to 9/11, Bush’s presidency….okay, now I AM getting nauseous. What they did (the reaction to 9/11) poured the foundation for a lot of the anti-Muslim sentiment and racism we have now. 9/11 was equaled to the middle east in general and Muslims to justify going to war in Iraq and now some Americans take it as a truth that Muslims = terrorists.
Jwoolman- what a great post & I totally agree. My friend (Bernie die hard) posted something on fb with Bill’s face saying “I pick other women over her, why wouldn’t you?” and I found it so sexist- a bunch of the people liking it were supporters of Bill and now his affair is used against her, in her career nonetheless. It bugs me to no end. I agree and hope that Powell comes out and says that HRC is a better pick for our country. And I’m not surprised that he wouldn’t want to vote for her? I’m surprised other people are surprised by that given their political affiliations but he is right on about Trump.
I’d love to know his views on Taylor and Tom’s split….
Where on earth did that avatar come from…And more to the point what is it ?
Me too. First I want him to educate and apologize to all the politicians who were tricked into voting for a war based on LIES(!!!!!) Because that was a secret. /sarcasm
Excellent summary and analysis.
As much as I hate hacking and that personal stuff became public…that is an interesting read!
The men I worked with in government always had the best gossip and were so eager to dish. I loved it.
I wish he would speak more candidly in public. Sometimes leadership requires some straight, in calculated assessments.
Can Powell run for office?
Powell, like other old-school men in Republican administrations, spent enough in an around the Vietnam war doing and enabling monumentally traumatizing and horrifying things. No one in that generation with that background will run for president.
NB: Yes, I said Vietnam war. Once the media got done banging on him for his support of the Iraq war, they’d turn to that next.
And none of them SHOULD run for president. The Vietnam war was a disaster – especially for Vietnam.
Powell did decide to run once a long time ago but pulled out saying something along the lines of that his family had received so many threats he decided to give up the idea of running.
I also think it’s worth noting how many transparently gendered stereotypes Powell uses in describing HRC. A woman with power is by default full of “hubris,” “unbridled” in her icky “ambition,” (instead of admirably strong for believing she has the skill and authority to lead), “greedy,”for wanting her share of the credit and renumeration, and not “transformational,” because, you know, women don’t have the capacity for *real* vision, only men do. That’s why we’re supposed to be the worker bees, the support staff. And bizarre that Powell says he respects HRC, and thinks of her as a friend, then rips into her so nastily. That is very telling. It always surprises me how many men of color still can’t “see” gender issues, despite their own experiences with discrimination, as if the hierarchy of Otherness puts “man” before anything else. Very disappointing. But he is a man of his generation. Maybe it’s to be expected.
I feel the opposite about word usage. Describe men and women with the same terms. Just pick the words and use them. I’m tired of soft footing and everyone being in their feelings about worthless stuff. I get described in stereotypical ways and I choose to keep stepping.
Fine. Colin Powell has shown himself to be full of hubris and unbridled ambition, as well as greedy and self-serving.
hahahaha! WhoAreThesePeople, Bravo!
That stood out to me as well and made me lose respect for him. As entertaining as some of the content of those emails might be, the fact that this hack is for a very obvious specific purpose, to hurt Hilary’s chances, make me both sad and angry.
I agree. Why is she being picked apart for having ambition? A lot of the words and arrows thrown at Hillary have a very sexist angle. She doesn’t look like a president ? And Trump does? Gets shit for wearing pant suits, etc. Comments about her looks? If you’re gonna be that way, at least be equal. Cause Trump damn sure isn’t a pretty boy. The sexism in this election is appalling.
Yes times 100% – love this comment!
Good point.
Thank you! That’s what struck me about Powell’s language in describing Clinton. If this is how he desccribes a “friend”, what would he say about other women that are as ambitious? Would he support or has supported any women’s careers.
You can like someone as a person and think they’re bad at their job.
“Overly ambitious” doesn’t hit my ear right at all. I’m sure Hillary Clinton has wanted to be president for years/decades even, but “overly ambitious” makes it seem like she’s trying to reach above her station, and this is coming from a guy who served under GWB, who should have never made it near the white house.
I agree.
Agree.
Yeah it’s like calling bright, hard-working students “over-achievers.” Over what?
I can’t imagine anyone who would want to be President NOT being overly ambitious. It’s the highest office in the country, you better damn well be ambitious to want it!
I agree.. No one ever called President Clinton or President Obama or President Bush ambitious. President Obama wanted to be PResident before he was senator but we think that’s admirable, but for Hillary Clinton with all her qualifiations, it’s unbridled, greedy ambition…
Indiana’s Senator Lugar said he wanted to be President way back in high school, and kept trying to wrangle into it but the Republicans kept choosing other people to promote. Lugar was probably too smart… He actually would have made a decent President (much better than What we got instead) although I would have been busy protesting many of his policies. Anyway, I never heard anybody say his ambitions were out of line.
I’m intrigued by Clinton’s “d–ing”. Is it simply “doing”? Or “dicking”? “Dildo-ing”? Am I missing out on some new sex act that starts with a d?
Dicking
Based on Colin’s age, I assumed it was “d” for “diddling”. But Colette is right, it’s apparently “dicking”.
I’m somewhat surprised, is that common American slang?
My late father (WWII veteran) would use the term “dicking”, like the brits now use “faffing”. As in, “He needs to stop dicking around with those estimates and make up his damned mind.” I very rarely heard him use the term, though, since it wasn’t suitable for either children or women’s ears.
Ewww. “Dicking”. Does that mean Tay Tay is “vag-ing” Zac Efron?
It has both meanings in American slang. As @graymatters said, “dicking around” is a somewhat coarse term (wouldn’t say it in front of my grandmother) for lots of thought or activity with no actual decisions or results. But it also has a sexual connotation — which Colin was using. “Messing around” and “screwing around” also have the same double meanings for indecision/inaction and sex. (And somewhere in that correlation is a thesis waiting to be written….)
I have no respect for Powell, he was a lackey who fed lies to the UN to start a hugely destructive war. The only thing I found interesting in the above is his comment about Trump basically implying that he wouldn’t like winning. Does Trump genuinely want to be president? Because it reminds me of all that Brexit stuff in the UK . The Leave leaders liked being in the news, they liked the idea of opposing the people in charge but the moment they had actual responsibility they ran for the hills. They neither expected to win nor in truth wanted to be in charge.
I have no respect for your comment or any of the other people in here witch-hunting he and Condi after all of these years. There are many of us that would rather he and Condi had been president and vp instead of Bush and Cheney. I think the aftermath of September 11th would have been different. Instead they had to deal with a bunch of a-holes neither of them likes or respects to this day. Perhaps because they were used as “fall guys” for the war.
+1
Me too. He was my write in vote when it was Bush and Gore, and, heck, just may be again. I know it will have no affect, but I will not vote for Trump or Hilary.
“they had to deal with a bunch of a-holes neither of them likes or respects to this day.”
Welcome to life? Don’t we ALL have to do that? Come on.
Gore as POTUS is what would have changed everything.
Witch hunt? That is simply rubbish – total, utter rubbish. Both Powell and Rice have engaged in revisionism since 2003. I suggest you read up properly on everything leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
He was no fall guy, he went along with things just fine to further his own ambitions.
Rice was ill-equipped for her job as National Security Adviser given the lack of attention to the many warning signs about bin Laden and his plans to attack the USA.
They really are not heroes, just bright people with conservative ideologies & weak consciences. And Eisenhower was the rare military man who made a decent president, maybe because after liberating the concentration camps he took in the lessons about Nazi Germany’s military-industrial complex and applied them to the United States.
@Who, please remind me if it was Gordon Libby was charged for something, can’t remember what, and C Powell knew he was not the person, but C Powell knew he was not the one and allowed him to take the fall without saying a word. I cannot remember the details, I believe you may know what I’m talking about. This imo shows that CP does not really has clean hands.
I don’t know, but can try to look it up. You’re referring to C. Gordon Liddy. Here’s what ABC News said about him in 2014, for our general historical education:
“Gordon Liddy…was head of the White House Plumbers unit, the oh-so cleverly named group tasked with plugging leaks in the executive branch. Most notably, Liddy orchestrated the break-in at the Watergate hotel. After refusing to testify before the Senate and being convicted of burglary and conspiracy, he spent four years in federal prison, the most jail time of anyone involved in the Watergate Scandal.
Since Watergate, Liddy has remade his image entirely. Liddy hosted a radio show on Sirius XM for 20 years, and has even been featured in commercials pitching gold investments to Fox News viewers.”
OK, that was fun. He’s kind of amazing.
I Must once again refer to The Bodega Boys Podcast referring to Colin as “he IS our Jamaican Uncle Barrinton that don’t give a F*ck while drinking Red Stripe”
THAT IS THE GREATEST
I have no idea what that means but it sounds very poetic.
I’m in love with that description.
…its only Thursday but I must have still worked too hard cos for a while I cogitated “Who is this Obama White?…” …anyway doesnt sound bitchy to me…very respectful gossip it sounds..particularly since theres no expletive deleted…are you telling us theres someone in govt who doesnt curse?….sadly the starting point for Benghazi surely should be “it shouldnt have happened..”
Well, there was one deleted expletive…and honestly, adults curse, especially in private. To me that’s fine, when it is on the public stage, that’s a different story.
What’s baffling to me is that many more Embassy personnel died in attacks in the previous administration and nobody seems to care. Assignments in such places are known to be quite dangerous. Hillary’s sworn enemies tried repeatedly to find something to pin on her for Benghazi but finally, after repeated and lengthy attempts, had to admit there was nothing she could have done about it. The Republicans had blocked calls for spending on increased security in the area, but even that might not have helped. Stuff happens.
I’m trying to spot the lie but I can’t seem to find it
Most high level government men I know are gossip bitches, messy and have the most fragile of egos. Like a band of über sensitive, self absorbed toddlers, they are. These emails are funny, but they are horribly sad. Can you imagine what this place will be like if Trump wins? I am black, highly educated, liberal, middle class, and sick of the Clintons. I was a Bernie supporter, but once he lost, there is no doubt that the status quo Clintons are miles better than Trump. I get more and more nervous as time passes because I know angry white voters, poorly educated whites, closet Trump lovers of all races who do not see the world outside of themselves, racists, and misognyists will go for Trump. Anything anti Hilary at this point can only keep her from getting elected.
I got a good chuckle from Powell’s snark, and I love to read good intellectual banter. However, with that being said. I get it is an election year, but every four years, I get thoroughly annoyed. Every-time election season begins, I am subjected to people whom really don’t read or follow any political or international news normally, suddenly think they know everything about everything. But really they are spewing out the same annoying negative propaganda that either party releases to the general public. Then the incessant meme’s for whatever party affiliate they back. Then the political arguments, because 95% of people can’t have a conversation about politics without the express intent of trying to persuade someone whom doesn’t agree with their opinion, to agree to it by the end of the discussion. People can’t just listen and take in other people’s political opinion without wanting to tell them they are wrong to have them. Or people telling other people whom they should vote for. I will vote for what I vote for, and I really don’t need to announce to the world whom I will be voting for. Talking about politics and religion annoys me.
“His assessment of Hillary: ‘I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect. A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still d—ing bimbos at home (according to the NYP).'”
She’s a friend he respects but he thinks that she screws up everything she touches and doesn’t want to vote for her because of her unbridled ambition and greed, along with her personal relationship with her husband? That’s some friendship.
Also, what is wrong with “unbridled ambition”, if she was a man he would be called driven I guess. A woman has to work twice as hard to measure up to a man. He also mentioned that she is greedy because she got a better speaking fee than he did. I only, Powell is not a friend of anyone just himself and keeping his legacy squeaky clean. Now, not so much.
He accepts her as she is. That is a true friend )).
I can’t say I disagree with his opinion. Hillary is a status quo candidate.
And I think she was a complete and utter disaster as a secretary of state, she was so tone deaf.
I agree with you. I’m no fan of Hillary’s, but I don’t see how he can say he respects her and then turn around and point out things about her that he clearly finds to be not worth respecting.
I would have voted for Colin Powell for President in a NY minute. Connie Rice, too. They are too smart to run.
@who, thank you for replying to my inquiry. I have to go and do some research to remember the name of the person CP let took the fall for something he did not do. Now I’m not sure if it was G Liddy.
Colin Powell is one of the few Republicans I can stomach.
THIS HAS MADE MY DAY.
I would like for Colin and Tim Gunn to have a talk show. Can anyone make this happen? STAT.
Colin Powell was my neighbor growing up (im from Mclean, VIA right outside DC) and I can tell you from firsthand experience what a delightful man he is. As I have told him in the past, he is the ONLY republican I would ever, enthusiastically vote for.
Please tell him I’m still angry at his lies to the UN over WMDs?
Thanks!
🙂
General Powell (as ive always known him) was lied TO by the intelligence community who assured him of their certainty of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq. He will tell anyone willing to listen that his blind trust of these people is his greatest regret
I always thought Condoleeza Rice was Colin Powell in drag. They are different people?
LOL! I can understand. They were both so far up Daddy Bush, Dubya and Cheney’s azzes, it was really hard to tell.
His insights are amusing, however I cannot get the image of him with that glass vial of faux Anthrax at the UN our of my head. He has a lot to atone for.
Skip the “delicious” and I’ll agree.
I’ve been blessed with his company many years ago. He struck me as a dull man whose manners leave a lot to be desired.
I know the article is all about Powell and the US election, I know, I know it´s very important but I can´t pass the “a guy named Llosa”… he´s a Nobel prize winner writing since the 60s and very engaged in politics in his country and he refers to him like that. Sorry, can´t help myself.
Still, the emails are great but the hacking is something to worry about. I wouldn´t feel sure using the electronic vote.