Chronicling trends in entertainment, pop culture, politics, the arts, and the uncategorized et cetera.

Shallow Nation

October 19th, 2008 at 10:48 am

Video & Photos: Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama on Meet the Press 10-19-08

General Colin Powell on NBC Meet the Press, October 19, 2008

Former U.S. Secretary of State General Colin Powell endorsed Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama on NBC Meet the Press on October 19, 2008, ending months of intense speculation. Powell served under the Bush administration from 2001-2005 and to date, he is the most high profile Republican to endorse Obama. His remarks were eloquent and thought provoking, as well as a strong rebuke to the McCain-Palin campaign.

“He has both style and substance. I think he is a transformational figure,” Powell said.

“Obama displayed a steadiness. Showed intellectual vigor. He has a definitive way of doing business that will do us well,” Powell said.

Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.

Powell said he questioned Sen. John McCain’s judgment in picking Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate because he doesn’t think she is ready to be president.

He also said he was disappointed with some of McCain’s campaign tactics, such as bringing up Obama’s ties to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.

Source: Colin Powell Endorses Obama

General Colin Powell on NBC Meet the Press, October 19, 2008

Powell discussed at length the divisiveness of the McCain-Palin campaign. He questioned why the campaign was trying to disparage Muslims in general and, in trying to depict Barack Obama as a Muslim.

After stating that Obama is a Christian, Powell then said, “The really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That’s not America. Is there anything wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be President?” Powell went on to criticize senior members of the Republican Party for these Muslim equals terrorist smears.

He then referenced a photograph he saw in a recent magazine photo essay — presumably a New Yorker photo essay from the photographer Platon — showing the mother of a fallen Muslim-American soldier clutching her son’s grave. (See the photo HERE.)

The reference was to Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan (1987 – 2007) who earned the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star in Iraq, and was killed at age 20. Learn more about Khan HERE & or HERE.

General Colin Powell on NBC Meet the Press, October 19, 2008

Source: More On That Colin Powell Endorsement

After the taping of the program, Powell took questions from reporters and reiterated these points.

“I think that Senator Obama brings a fresh set of eyes, fresh set of ideas to the table. I think that Senator McCain, as gifted as he is, is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and a maverick approach to it, and he’d be quite good at it, but I think we need more than that.”

Mr. Powell told the reporters outside the studio that he still considers himself a Republican, despite his decision to vote for Mr. Obama, but he said the tone of the McCain campaign troubled him.

“We have two wars. We have economic problems. We have health problems. We have education problems. We have infrastructure problems. We have problems around the world with out allies,” he said. “And so those are the problems the American people want to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who is a Muslim and who is not a Muslim.

Source: Powell endorses Obama