Politics | 12/12/2008 7:25 am

Powell Blasts Palin for Polarizing, Endangering Republican Party (Video)

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

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Sarah Palin helped push the Republican Party farther to the right this election – a polarization which could lead to the downfall of the party, insists Colin Powell.

Oh, and he also says Republicans should stop listening to conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and we need to rethink the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“Gov. Palin, to some extent, pushed the party more to the right, and I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small-town values are good,” Powell told CNN in an interview that will air Sunday. “Well, most of us don’t live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx.”

He adds: “It was that attempt by the party to use polarization for political advantage that I think backfired.”

If the GOP doesn’t wake up and realize the far-right wing can’t carry the rest of the party, Powell – who created shockwaves throughout the political establishment when he endorsed Barack Obama for president, albeit, late in the game – thinks they could become obsolete.

“There’s nothing wrong with being conservative … but if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities,” like it has to woo blacks and Hispanics, who are quickly becoming the majority in this country.

“I think the Republican Party needs to stop shouting at the world and the country … the party has to take a hard look at itself.”

Here’s video from the aforementioned interview.

70 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Right, the situation is dire and those idiots are handing out quickie unregulated bailouts left and right. Kerry - oh boy- Kerry - remember when that happened - the switcheroo to Kerry orchestrated by Ted Kennedy (who incidentally was also behind the ousting of Hillary.) I couldn’t believe how it had been launched from within the party. I mean, he is a Skull, isn’t he? Just like Dubya. I always figured he was taking one for the team.

By Buh- Bye on 12/14/2008 10:21 pm

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Pi LOL —OMG The Skulls, I forgot all about that. Boy, Teddy Bear Kennedy can pull a lot of strings. Isn’t he the most senior democrat after Byrd? I don’t know if his health issues will curtail his influence or not, but if he is not able to participate fully, it may foster even more change. I wonder if Bill Clinton will regain more control. We shall see. I have been reading conflicting conclusions about Pelosi’s performance. I am trying to understand her actions better, and give her more benefit of the doubt, but even with a majority, it doesn’t seem she has exercised all of the influence possible to straighten out ethics issues. She leaves people that are under investigation on committees so there seems to be some conflicts of interest, and she is kind of shooting herself in the foot because they are ineffective. I would like to see her be more effective. When repubs screwed up, other repubs would request that they be removed. I don’t get this. This bailout BS is really chapping my hide - LOL. Sorry, I don’t know where that expression came from. So they get all this money, give it to banks who just sit on it. I was so glad to see the factory workers protest until BofA acquiesced and would extend credit to their company to pay their vacation salaries and benefits and yearly bonuses. There is more to come. Appalling.

By Frannie Em on 12/14/2008 11:08 pm

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Banks didn’t sit on it. They distributed it - salary bonuses & dividends. This has already been reported. I said it was pre-planned profit taking before Bush’s exit way before the passing of the Bailout. Do you have any idea of how painful it is to be right all the time? ;{

By Buh- Bye on 12/15/2008 9:41 pm

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Pi I don’t get mad at too many things except of how congress handles our tax dollars as well as the upper incomers and their bonuses and dishonesty of public officials. OOOHHHH!!!!!!!

By Frannie Em on 12/15/2008 9:50 pm

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Good for you (the not getting angry part.) I get angry over injustice primarily, and dirty tricks. Don’t like ‘em. Anybody who reads my posts will know what I am most enraged at. the isms. Sexism, ageism, racism, homophobia, and every other ism going. Inner moral compass pointing to fairness. Fighting corruption. Fighting for Democracy too. I hate this move towards voter nullification. I wouldn’t ever have wanted Bush in office, but had he won fair and square, then okay. Democracy in action. Same feeling about Obama. If it had been a fair election, fine. But… corruption lives in Washington. It’ll all come out eventually. Mark my words. — By the way, on another topic… I saw that someone has started a mail-your-shoes-to-Bush protest campaign on a blog! Go to Google and menu down to Blogs. It’s the second one that comes up. Sort of made me laugh.

By Buh- Bye on 12/15/2008 10:38 pm

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Pi I think I have just gotten so used to the dirty deals, stupidity, isms and corruption that some things just seem common now, and I know that is wrong. I don’t want to slip into that abyss. I guess I am a little tired of it all, but I am not going to give up. Common sense must prevail. The last 10-12 years have been constant challenges, health wise and kid going off to war 3 times. I just got news that one of my dear sweet friends since childhood, a foster sister, is in hospice care in North Carolina and will not be here much longer. It hit me kind of hard, so sometimes I look at all those stupid politicians and think what a waste of my time. I will be posting here and just speaking matter-of-factly, and people take it for sarcasm when I honestly don’t mean it that way, and then I end up more direct and pointed. LOL, Oh well (shrug). After all the vitriol that has slithered across the threads, I figure I get to express a little bitchiness now and then. Oy. I accept it from others, and then let it go. Live and let live. Yes, there are some things that get me, especially when a mess as big as this happens, I feel appalled at our public servants, or maybe I should call them public predators.

By Frannie Em on 12/16/2008 12:46 am

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Pi ps I wonder if there will be a huge truck load of shoes delivered to the White House lawn, like the broccoli in Pres Bush Senior’s term? LOL

By Frannie Em on 12/16/2008 1:50 am

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I fully expect so. If mothers with children in the war like yourself alone did so, he would be inundated. Hang in there Em.

By Buh- Bye on 12/16/2008 11:22 pm

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He’s right… but it’s not just Palin and Limbaugh… it’s the mentality that would use a financial crisis as a means to attempt to break a union. If the Republican Party only stands for the extreme right wing fundamentalists and the very wealthy, the only way it can win elections is to polarize the voters so that a block of voters are willing to vote against their best interests, and to break unions and destroy the middle class because the middle class is a strong political force for the people.

By DeBúrca obj on 12/13/2008 8:54 am

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Republican Party only stands for the extreme right wing fundamentalists By DeBúrca obj on 12/13/2008 9:54 am Many Republicans such as Powell, McCain, Buckley and others want to turn the party back to the true conservative values - but people like Sarah Palin ,Rush Limbaugh and others continue their destruction. The middle class american people are a force to be reckoned with as evidenced by the last election. Conservative organization can try to put a spin on the Obama victory however the “fact” that we won can not be ignored. . Media Bias- is in the eye of the beholder. Right wingers “cling” to hope that proof will be found confirming obama is a good bud of Ayers and is a non-citizen born of Arab muslim parents. Right wingers now fault Colin Powell with the war and the downfall of the Republican party. I know Powell is powerful but wow.

By starry Nite on 12/14/2008 4:08 pm

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Colin Powell is guilty of helping Bush lie to invade Iraq—-he’s not stupid—he knew the intelligence was trumped up & not reliable—he knew he was lying. Hell, even the Democrats knew Bush was lying, that’s why they’ve refused to impeach Bush, because if they do—all the facts will come out & prove they were guilty too. What other legitimate reason can there possibly be for not impeaching the biggest criminal cabal running our country we’ve ever had? They have proof, even: Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) officially said on the floor of the Senate during the Congressional debate re Iraq, that he KNEW the intelligence Bush & Cheney were saying was cause to invade Iraq was not true & was a lie. Durbin said that he was on the Senate Intelligence Committee himself (along with 5 Repubs & 5 other Dems, I think it was), he claims he could not say anything because he was sworn to silence when he became a member of the Intelligence Committee. (Bull. If he “can’t” tell us when our president & VP are lying—then why be on the damn Senate Intellgence Committee? Why have one at all if you can’t prevent a phony WAR?!!) This statement Durbin made was quoted & put in the paper, both locally, because he’s a local representative, & nationally, it was in the Wash Post & other papers. Durbin voted NO on the war, but most of the other Dems & ALL the Repubs on the Committee voted YES. So if Democratic State Senator Dick Durbin knew it was all a lie—-& his statement is on record—then so did Colin Powell!!! Powell didn’t make a mistake, nor an error in judgement. He LIED. Powell’s fat ass little son, Michael I think it is, was made head of our FCC also, thanks to daddy, & he srewed us too. He pushed for even more media consolidation than we have now & other dirty things everyone knows is not good for our media. I’m mad at that too. We all should be. I think Powell is just positioning himself to get some plum job from Obama—or for his son, etc., that’s why he waited so late, to make sure Obama would win first, before he began “supporting” him. Powell was asked to run for President by his party a long time ago & refused. He doesn’t really want to be in charge & responsible—he just wants to gobble up the scraps from someone else’s efforts. Palin did polarize the party, which can’t be good because how can a party reach consensus if they are more & more polarized? They need to feel they are not so far apart that they can’t solve differences & come together, not be made to see how different they are & then each side dislike the other all the more. Not to mention she whipped the crowd up to hate Obama with her phony crap about Obama hanging with a terrorist—to the point of Repub dummies yelling “Traitor!”, & “Kill him!” Palin should have been arrested for “inciting to riot” or “inciting to violence”. She & McCain led a low life campaign & deserved to lose. McCain got a huge pass from the media on all his dirt—while Obama got drilled for every single thing & drilled over things they made up, including weeks of speculation re how his LAPEL PIN shows he’s un-American! Cripes. If Palin is the new face of the Republican party, then they’re still morally & intellectually bankrupt.

By Char Star on 12/14/2008 9:55 pm

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This comment has been removed at the request of management.

By Jim Henley on 12/15/2008 2:02 pm

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I read the 4 comments you’ve made on wowowow so far, Jim Henley, & all 4 are childishly stupid. There was a reason your teachers urged you to read & try to comprehend in school. I see no point in talking to you.

By Char Star on 12/16/2008 12:02 am