Personally, Colin Powell’s endorsement of a political candidate doesn’t move the dial for me one bit. That being said, I love when Colin Powell unleashes his inner bitch and tells it like it is. His endorsement, on Meet the Press, of Barack Obama in 2008 is still one of the most interesting and moving political moments I’ve ever seen – Powell discussed honestly how he felt about the McCain-Palin ticket’s rhetoric around Islam, and Powell invoked the Muslim-American soldiers who fight and die for this country. Powell made those points as a larger argument for Obama’s potential for inclusiveness, to be a transformational president (and Powell was right).
Following the hack of Powell’s emails last month, we already knew that Powell thinks Donald Trump is a disgrace, but Powell didn’t mince words when slamming Hillary Clinton’s “hubris” and “unbridled ambition.” Still, in those private emails, it was clear that Powell was never going to vote for Trump, so maybe this is just a formality at this point: Powell announced yesterday that he is absolutely going to vote for HRC.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told a crowd of more than 1,000 Long Island business and political leaders Tuesday that he will vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, citing her experience, temperament and in a jab at GOP nominee Donald Trump, the “stamina.” Powell, speaking at the Long Island Association fall luncheon in Woodbury was harshly critical of Trump, arguing that the New York businessman was “not qualified” and had sold Americans a “bill of goods” that he cannot deliver.
“He insults us every day,” said Powell, who served as Secretary of State under Republican President George W. Bush. “He has insulted America in one way almost every day. He has insulted Latino Americans. He has insulted African Americans. He has insulted women. He has insulted his own party. He has insulted our allies around the world one by one. He has insulted veterans.”
The people Trump has most insulted, Powell said, are his own supporters “because they are being sold a bill of goods.”
Powell, who has been critical of Clinton for her use of a private email server while as Secretary of State, said he considers the Democratic nominee a “friend” whom he has known for 20 years.
“She is smart; she is capable; she was a good Secretary of State,” Powell said. “She is balanced, she has temperament and no matter what anyone says she has stamina … I think she is fully qualified to serve as the president of the United States and will serve it with distinction.”
While I wish this had happened on camera, this isn’t bad at all and props to Powell for not sitting it out like so many of the old-guard Republican guys. It’s not like Powell wants to stump for Hillary now, but his full-throated public endorsement is something that should add to the conversation. Of course, the die-hard Trump supporters won’t care. They’re sticking with the p-ssy groper, come hell or high water.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
A rare breed, a Republican that always follows his conscience. I look forward to the orange douches response/tweets to try to undermine his support.
Follows his conscience? Wasn’t he part of the Bush administration during the Iraq invasion?
That he knew those CIA reports about being in Iraq were faked by Bush?
Exactly. I don’t trust Colin.
@Maya
Exactly what I was going to say. Zero respect for Powell. But, I’ll take his endorsement, as he’s a Republican military man. Of course, it won’t sway Trump’s deplorables, because, Powell’s black…they’ll have none of that. Maybe, just maybe, his endorsement could speak to people on the fence. (FWIW…anyone undecided at this point is a moron. At least, the deplorables know what they stand for….even if it is racism, misogyny, homophobia, violence, assault, annihilation of the constitution and our democracy).
I knew some would take exception to my characterization but I stand by it. He didn’t uncover the amped up evidence until after he testified. He was the one advising the President against invasion ( ” you break it you own it “) but was over ruled. While his testimony was a tipping point he was misled by Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Anniefannie, I agree and this is why I have respect for Condi Rice when others on here have had nothing but condemnation for her. I put the war solely on Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush43’s shoulders and believe Cheney either pocketed a massive profit or helped Halliburton pocket a massive profit.
Lama Bean- Cheney was financially invested in Halliburton. He never divested from it or put things in a blind trust etc. when he became VP (aka the real President). So he was directly benefitting from the cushy contracts those thieves were getting for the war. They were routinely charging the government for goods and services never delivered, even the Pentagon complained about it. Bush 2 took some steps to try to avoid at least the appearance of conflict of interest, but it was difficult to seriously do that considering how immersed in the oil business he and his family were. And the Gulf Wars were really about oil primarily. The US didn’t care what Saddaam Hussein did to anybody until he started giving oil contracts to people other than the American companies. When he started talking about moving to petroeuros rather than petrodollars when the dollar was less stable than the Euro – that’s what really sealed his doom. Follow the money always.
People with real business interests that can be affected by government policy are a big problem in the Presidency. It is ironic that Trump (the king of conflict of interest) tries to pin that on the Clintons, when actually they made their fortune by speaking engagements and books. They are actually relatively free of the kind of conflict of interest that business people who work internationally are likely to have. Collecting donations for a real charity doesn’t really count in any realistic assessment of such things, but of course we are not living in reality any more.
I want to wake up tomorrow and read that he is campaigning for Hilary with Khizr Khan.
Please Dog make it happen.
On a totally fashion side note.
Hil’s emerald green suite/necklace combo in the top photo is FIRE.
Too little too late.
And yes he was involved with setting us on this disastrous course of invading Iraq. He knew better but pleaded the case for War anyway. If he had any integrity he would’ve resigned once it was clear that the intel was wrong.
He did speak against the first Gulf War while it was being decided. He was still in the military, though. And once the Commander in Chief decided for war, he complied. He had quite accurately described the rather rag tag bunch of soldiers that the US would really be up against rather than Bush’s fantasies. My guess is that he did speak against the second one in private, but once he figured out the lies he had been told – he really should have resigned and denounced it. But he might have thought he would do more good on the inside. It can be a tough decision in many contexts: stay and be a voice of reason, or leave to tell the truth to the rest of us?
if I was a US citizen, my concern about Trump would be his lack of ability to sustain attention on the job of being the President. I agree his temperament is an issue but I think his lack of willingness (ability) to sustain the actual job of governing the country is a bigger deterrent
He loves the big crowds and the TV/call in appearances, but that isn’t what the President spends their time doing. He hasn’t helped other downballot GOP races (thank God) , he doesn’t hunker down to learn policy, engage in meetings that aren’t about him and he gets side-tracked so easily. There is no way he is sitting through intelligence briefs, policy negotiations or G8/G20 summits.