More Colin Powell Rumors

(Political Animal)  MORE COLIN POWELL RUMORS....The last time I read about the possibility of Colin Powell supporting Barack Obama, I clicked the link and was disappointed. He's said some diplomatically encouraging things about Obama in the past, but in the latest go-around all he said — again — is that he'll vote for the best man when November rolls around. Eh.

Today, though GOP gossipmonger Robert Novak resurrects the rumors:

The prototypal Obamacon may be Larry Hunter, recognized inside the Beltway as an ardent supply-sider....Explaining his support for the uncompromisingly liberal Obama, Hunter blogged on June 6: "The Republican Party is a dead rotting carcass with a few decrepit old leaders stumbling around like zombies in a horror version of 'Weekend With Bernie,' handcuffed to a corpse."

While he never would use such language, Colin Powell is said by friends to share Hunter's analysis of the GOP. His tenuous 13-year relationship with the Republican Party, following his retirement from the Army, has ended. The national security adviser for Ronald Reagan left the present administration bitter about being ushered out of the State Department a year earlier than he wanted. As an African American, friends say, Powell is sensitive to racial attacks on Obama and especially on Obama's wife, Michelle. While McCain strategists shrug off defections from Bruce Bartlett and Larry Hunter, they wince in anticipating headlines generated by Powell's expected endorsement of Obama.

So here's an interesting question: how would the liberal blogopshere react if Powell endorsed Obama? Powell remains broadly popular, and there's no question that a Powell endorsement would be a huge boost for Obama. On the other hand, lefty bloggers as a group mostly loathe Powell and would groan at the possibility of him having any influence in an Obama administration. That's sure not change we can believe in.

So: yowls of protest, or a collective shrug because the world isn't a perfect place and you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to win a presidential election? My guess: it all depends on just how bitterly Powell denounces the Republican Party in his hypothetical endorsement speech. If he sounds a bit like Larry Hunter, liberals will break out the balloons. If he plays the diplomat, expect some grousing.