After Criticism From Cheney And Limbaugh, Powell Returns Fire

By: Igor Kossov
Topics: Republicans

(NBC)

Infighting within the Republican Party continued yesterday when former Secretary of State Colin Powell fired back at former Vice President Dick Cheney and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for criticizing him, the Boston Globe reports.

"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell told the a crowd of 1,500 business leaders in Boston yesterday.

Both Cheney and Limbaugh have attacked Powell for endorsing President Obama and saying that "Americans want more government in their lives, not less."

"What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party," Limbaugh said on his show. Cheney seconded the comment, saying "I think my take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn't know he was still a Republican."

Republicans have struggled to keep from appearing marginalized in the wake of the 2008 elections that gave the Democrats control over the presidency and Congress. A recent Gallup poll shows that fewer Americans than ever identify as Republican and that support for the GOP has dropped from everyone except frequent churchgoers, self-identified conservatives and seniors.

Powell said that the way for his party to recover is for it to become more moderate and appeal to a broader base.

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by Nikos_Retsos May 21, 2009 11:58 AM EDT: Sure, there is another version of the republican party that counts on Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney to recover
its fortunes lost on November 4, 2008. But if Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh were the ideal leaders the Americans were proud to look upon, John MaCain would have been elected president on November 4, 2008. Now, with the republican party in complete disarray, the right wing media guided by Luah Limbaugh has appointed Dick Cheney as its electoral disaster recovery captain. And given the disasters he had created for his boss that gave George Bush upon leaving office a negative 68% public approval rating, and a "good riddance" label (CNN, January 18, 2009), republicans looking for a new direction for the party may be in need for some better introspection.

Let's not forget who Dick Cheney really is. Here are some samples of his career highlights as a torture proponent - in addition to having said that waterboarding "is a no brainer." ABC news reported on May 3, 2004, that "torture, rape, sodomizing, and 24 deaths of Iraqi detainees during U.S. harsh interrogation. Another report by ABC on April 30, 2004, revealed not only torture of detainees, but
that they "were forced to masturbate publicly." On May 7, 2004, Donald Rumsfeld admitted before Congress
that "some treatment of the Iraqi detainees [by the U.S. military] was blatantly sadistic." On December 21, 2004, BBC reported that classified information revealed to the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act confirmed "U.S. torture of Guantanamo detainees who were chained to the floor for long periods, and had to defecate and urinate on themselves, and that during interrogations the interrogators stuck lit cigarettes on prisoners ears." The above are just a small sample from Dick Cheney's tenure as Vice President that have established him as the premier advocate of torture as "a saving American lives" mechanism. And if the republicans want to worship him for his kind of patriotism, and follow him as their shepherd of the republican party, it is their right.

However, I believe that the November 4, 2008 election clearly established that the soul of most Americans is not comfortable resting on brutality by our government - even when is dressed in our flag and patriotism. After all, our forebears taught us that "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" (Samuel Johnson), and that "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious" (Oscar Wilde). Obviously, the patriotism of most Americans is not related to the vicious patriotism of Dick Cheney.

Is Dick Cheney a goldmine for the fortunes of the new version of the republican party, or a minefield under the dark shade of his patriotism? The law abiding Americans would certainly like to believe that the republicans see Dick Cheney as a goldmine, and keep mining their "denial" until their thinking is tested again in the next elections. Nikos Retsos, retired professor; Reply to this comment


by scyouth May 21, 2009 8:11 AM EDT: The republican Party has devolve into an aggressively paranoid extremist group that embraces an anti-government ideology with a extreme messianic view of Christianity. Add racism, bigotry and a pro-torture platform to the mix and it's over. They're toast.
Posted by thebob-bob

Colin Powell is a racist. He supported Obama because Obama is 1/2 black. How do I know this ? Powell admitted it. Powell is not wanted in the rebublican Party.
Posted by one_2258

Quod Erat Demonstrandum.; Reply to this comment


by earlysaid May 20, 2009 11:39 PM EDT: Colin Powell has conducted himself with honor and integrity. That has been lost by the attack dog republicans who rabidly go after their own fellow republicans who have good ideas and common sense on America's issues. Powell was one of the few who had any sense in the Bush administration. He and Paul O'Neil were booted out because they wanted to do a good job. That was not something wanted in the Bush administration. They only wanted like minded yes people.; Reply to this comment


by sjc_1 May 20, 2009 11:02 PM EDT: Powell is a member of the Republican Party that I used to know and even respect. Ever since Reagan and Gingrich got hold of it, I hardly recognize it any more.; Reply to this comment


by novamba May 20, 2009 9:57 PM EDT: This just cracks me up. A draft dodger and a bloated, big-mouthed, drug addict, want Colin Powel, who has spent a lifetime honorably serving his country, to get out of "their" party. Priceless.
Posted by kansas1946

Now this is an epic comment. I could not be any more in agreement.
Brankt1, I agree with you on principle but for different reasons that are more closely tied to economic policy than the "so-called gay movement" you mention.; Reply to this comment


by novamba May 20, 2009 9:51 PM EDT: When John McCain was villified by the big guns in GOP media, The GOP lost its last hope for a republican president. Limbaugh does such a good job about being an idiot, that his words get lost, and somehow, after everyone drank the kool aid, the words Bush and McCain became synonimous. How is it that Limbaugh could dislike McCain so much, and the nation not see that was a good thing? McCain and Bush are not now, nor have they been friends for years. Colin Powell is the only man in the GOP that the dems will listen to, and yet, the powers that be keep trashing him. The GOP is running out of steam, and are alienating themselves by pushing principles that most americans no longer subscribe to.; Reply to this comment


by mrzerato May 20, 2009 9:06 PM EDT: Colin Powell is a racist. He supported Obama because Obama is 1/2 black. How do I know this ? Powell admitted it. Powell is not wanted in the rebublican Party.
Posted by one_2258

LMAO Out of the mouth of rush to the pages of the CBS web site via the mr2258. Another one of Rush's ditto heads. I guess he got tired of calling for armed insurrection.; Reply to this comment


by DefendLiberty May 20, 2009 6:54 PM EDT: If the GOP keeps eating their own, there will only be about 10 of them left. Fortunately, Rush can eat a WHOLE LOT of them himself. Would not add that much to his massive girth. Hasn't so far. The GOP will be left with Rush, Hannity, Billo, Cheney, and about 6 Southern Senators. Good riddance. Fake News will have to start doing fictional dramas and comedy. Oh, wait...; Reply to this comment


by ubrew12 May 20, 2009 6:32 PM EDT: whosaid1:
have a constructive counter-argument to what I said?

I didn't just claim that the right often falls to fascism (especially in hard times), I listed the large number of countries for whom this has happened, who lived to regret it.

And your response is?; Reply to this comment


by whosaid1 May 20, 2009 6:05 PM EDT: Will they, as so often happens to the right, fall to Fascism? To see how this plays out, refer to the histories of Italy, Spain, Germany, and just about every country in South America. Eventually, these countries returned to the center-left, but not before, in every case, unleashing decades of murder, torture, mass-killings, civil war, and ethnic violence. Not to mention murdering their countries economies. That's what Fascists do. They, like Limbaugh and Cheney, would rather see their countries burn to the ground than compromise one iota from their 'superman' mythology that is, frankly, unachievable for ordinary people. And they always end up, like Hitler, crying crocodile tears for the country that 'let them down' as it and they are destroyed by the sheer rage they unleashed.
Posted by ubrew12

Is it because you are "on" something very powerful...that you?ve developed such an imagination....or, have you always been this way ?; Reply to this comment