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Fri 17 Oct, 2008 02:32 pm
Colin Powell might endorse Obama
By MIKE ALLEN
Retired Gen. Colin Powell, once considered a potential running mate for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), now may endorse his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), according to Republican sources. But an air of mystery surrounds Powell's planned live appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," and no one is sure what he will say.
Powell’s unassailable national security credentials could sway voters who are vacillating about whether Obama is ready to be commander in chief, and his endorsement of the Illinois senator would make a national security emphasis by McCain in the election's closing days extremely difficult.
Powell, 71, a professional soldier for 35 years, has advised the last three Republican presidents.
The general’s camp is being coy about what he might or might not say on Sunday. But some McCain advisers suspect, without being sure, that Powell will endorse Obama.
“It’s going to make a lot of news, and certainly be personally embarrassing for McCain," a McCain official said. "It comes at a time when we need momentum, and it would create momentum against us.”
Powell has consulted with both Obama and McCain, and the general’s camp has indicated in the past that he would not endorse.
On “Meet the Press” in June 2007, Powell said: “I’ve met with Sen. Obama twice. I’ve been around this town a long time, and I know everybody who is running for office, and I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me."
Asked by moderator Tim Russert if he would come back into government, Powell said: “I would not rule it out. I’m not at all interested in political life, if you mean elected political life. That is unchanged. But I always keep my, my eyes open and my ears open to requests for service.”
Asked about an endorsement, he said: “It’s too early.”
NBC’s ‘Andrea Mitchell broke the news of Powell’s surprise “Meet the Press” appearance on the “Today” show Friday.
“In what promises to be a dramatic moment Sunday, Colin Powell " a lion of the Republican establishment, whom McCain and Obama both have courted for months " will finally speak out on a variety of issues, appearing exclusively on ‘Meet the Press,’” Mitchell said. “Of course, years ago, he was talked about as the possible first … African-American nominee of a major party.”
Its a black thing, you wouldnt understand.
@edgarblythe,
I 'd be awfully surprized -- shocked -- if he failed to endorse Obama.
That was a forgone conclusion.
@farmerman,
True; I don't understand who he will endorse.
I 'd have expected that he 'd endorse Obama
the day after the convention,
or during the primaries.
Maybe thay thought it woud look like
more dramatic strategy, if he waited
(as if anyone woud be naive enuf to believe
that there was a chance he 'd not support Obama).
That 's humorous.
@OmSigDAVID,
Quote:I 'd have expected that he 'd endorse Obama
the day after the convention,
or during the primaries.
Maybe thay thought it woud look like
more dramatic strategy, if he waited
(as if anyone woud be naive enuf to believe
that there was a chance he 'd not support Obama).
That 's humorous.
Apparently Thomas Sowell and Ken Blackwell are going to join Powell during this show and endorce Obama as well.
It's a black brotherhood thing.
@blatham,
Bernie, Where are you getting this information on the support of Obama from Powell and Sowell? Is there a poem out there that I haven't seen?
@cicerone imposter,
Merely a logical extension of omsig's brilliant unstated premise.
@snood,
Morning, snood.
That Powell would go against the Republicans to do this speaks well of him. It raises him a notch in my eyes.
@edgarblythe,
Me, too. But then - he needed some 'raising', after how far he fell, in my view, by propping up the bogus rationale for Iraq.
@snood,
No way I would have voted for him for president. But, hopefully, he has been learning a lesson or two.
@edgarblythe,
Fox has the evidence
Quote:Colin Powell showed off his hip-hop moves at an 'Africa Rising' celebration in London Tuesday, fueling speculation that the former secretary of state is about to endorse Barack Obama for president.
something just a tiny bit 'off' about the way they're presenting what everyone is speculating is about. I think Fox could use a Nanny 911 intervention.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/15/colin-powell-fuels-speculation-possible-endorsement/
and of course they picked the most flattering pic they could find
Nanny Stella, where are you?
hi snood...how are ya? Things are looking pretty friggin nice, aren't they?
Powell has this thing about loyalty which is a double-sided blessing/curse. But unlike so many Bushies, he appears to have a sense of right and wrong within his character. I really hope he does openly give his support here as it will help to undermine the truly disgusting hatred that's been cultivated in the modern right.
@blatham,
blatham wrote:I really hope he does openly give his support here as it will help to undermine the truly disgusting hatred that's been cultivated in the modern right.
He's already become a target of the 'modern right'. Kinda like having a hangover without having a drink first.
powell has zero credibility with me.
@dyslexia,
Quote:powell has zero credibility with me.
That's the main reason I worhip the man as if he were unto the very savior himself (with approiate capitalizations, of course).
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