So What Does Colin Powell Really Think?
Pretty interesting article about Colin Powell’s email that were hacked and released recently. It is amazing he was willing to say these things on email, but here is one of the critical things he says about Hillary Clinton:
“I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect,” Powell wrote to Leeds on July 26, 2014. “A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home (according to the NYP).” [Washington Examiner]
Here is what he had to say about Donald Trump:
“Yup, the whole birther movement was racist,” Mr. Powell wrote in one email. “That’s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn’t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim. As I have said before, ‘What if he was?’ Muslims are born as Americans everyday.”
Powell also called Trump a “national disgrace” and an “international pariah.”
You can read much more at the link.
My husband has an audiobook written by Powell. The one on “Life and Leadership”.
He’s a very interesting guy. I’ve always liked him. More now that I’ve read his e mails.
“Racist!”
…says the Affirmative Action General… who knowingly lied America’s way into a decade and a half of meanigless war and unimaginable debt.
The birther movement is really about how little the public really knows about president Obama… inaccessible records, obviously fraudulent records, sealed records, inconsistant records, claims that seem not to have any basis in reality, a lack of witnesses (classmates), odd media deflection, guided advancement without accompishment, etc.
Any one of these things would be ignorable… but very little in Obama’s murky history make much sense… and EVERYTHING in his past is odd.
“Racism” is simply a noisy claim to deflect scrutiny.
As for “Muslim”… well… yes… Muslims are born in America every day… but Muslim is a political system as much as a religion… as it is the only “religion” that advocates overthrowing a secular government and replacing it with a Muslim government… so… as good as it is to keep church and state away from each other, it is even better to keep mosque and state even farther.
…and it is very reasonable to fully understand if the president has any Muslim influence… though it appears most of his influence was an anti-American/anti-whitey “church” as well as the afrocentric influences of Sharpton and Jackson, etc.
In the end, Powell dares to criticize Trump for imaginary actions and theoretical future actions when he has done terrible and destuctive things…
…and is (sorta) backing Hillary with all her known flaws.
So… fade away, general.
You should read his book CH. (okay, get it at the library)
What you think about him (which is based on the media and a half truth can be a big lie, h/t Ben Franklin) isn’t correct.
1. Where are the Iraqi WMDs? He ran the powerpoint and left his boss dangling at the end of the rope.
2. What criteria other than skin color did Powell use to choose Obama? Hint: none.
3. Powell’s word choices show him to be gormless and venal, not statesmanlike at all.
4. Obama had books written for him, too.
He is quoted above as saying [Hillary Clinton] “is a friend I respect”. With four dead in Benghazi, that removed any lingering respect I had for Powell.
Liz,
I have not read Powell’s book and my opinion of him is based on history (as I understand it)… so I am likely underinformed about him.
However, NOTHING in his leaked emails demonstrated him to be different from my previous opinion.
He clearly says Hillary is a devious self-centered screw-up yet supports her as a “friend”. Experience shows people who make friends with sociopaths and support them even when they know them to be wrong are potentially dangerous bags of diicks.
He whines that Hillary beat him out of a payoff… er… speaking fee. The whole speaking fee scam is simply a way to buy influence while trying to appear honest. He is part of that racket… as ao many strive to be.
He is so blinded by race that he fails to consider if something is done for legitimate reasons other than race. At least 2 emails touch on this.
He supported Obama seemingly based on race rather than Obama’s great love of the military or Obama’s experience… or… uh…
…and if Powell was able to spend decades with the military as his prime concern and then easily throw it under the bus to support an anti-military presidential candidate due to race… well… once again… bag of diicks.
It seems Powell knowingly lied about Iraq… as his speaking is public record and his briefing is now public record… though he was clever enough to switch his support from Republican to Democrat at the right time to insure he was not a liberal media target… or a conservative media target. Very clever.
That is what I noticed in my (very brief) consideration of who Powell is. I may not see a larger picture.
And, of course, I have not read his self-propaganda which will likely make a wonderful case for every decision he ever made… and which I would find to be less credible than private emails he never inteneded to become public.
But… if you think I am misguided, misinformed, or have misinterpreted the situation (which is very possible with my lack of in-depth knowledge of him) kindly explain away the points I made.
Powell too mentioned unmentionables in unclassified email.
“He clearly says Hillary is a devious self-centered screw-up yet supports her as a “friend”. Experience shows people who make friends with sociopaths and support them even when they know them to be wrong are potentially dangerous bags of diicks.”
Context: These are private exchanges between Powell and Jeffrey Leeds, (Democratic donor a hedge-fund founder who serves on the board of the Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York).
“I respect her as a friend but don’t think I can vote for her because here are her flaws…” is about how a person who is trying to retain an important contact/donor/contributor/associate is going to criticize his (or her) choice for president.
Powell’s book wasn’t about self-congratulatory (at least, not in my estimation) it was about his life and the influence of people in his life. The book was primarily about leadership and he talked about great leaders he has seen who have influenced him, and he talks about his screw ups and what he learned.
At any rate, I think if anyone took the private e mail exchanges between most of us during different months and years and sliced and diced them, and threw them out without context and chose the worst, most of us would probably look a lot worse than this.
And I think the assertion that stating, “Tehran knows that Israel has 200 nukes pointing at it” ten years after leaving office in a private e mail exchange is a “disclosure of classified intel” is a little absurd. He hasn’t had a clearance in ten years they don’t just hand clearances out to keep retirees fresh. Good grief my husband actually wrote a book that’s in a vault somewhere (classified) and it took them six months to clear him so that he could attend a briefing on the book HE WROTE.
But think what you want about Powell I won’t argue further.
Guess I should explain, when he wrote it he had a clearance.
It had expired in the meantime.
Some of us like Powell. Some of us think he should be in the same cell-block with Hillary and others. 🙂
Oh…oh…oh… I think Liz is a Powell fanboi!
I might even suspect they have met.
Settle down, girlfriend.
I wasn’t really at the point of arguement… as I am not well-informed about Powell… and in no position to argue much of anything.
I was only at the discussion stage… throwing out what I believe based on news, pro and con commentary, and his place in the way history seems to fit together… and hoping, if I was wrong, somebody better informed could clearly tell me why.
But I don’t think my opinion has changed at all.
He still seems like a careerist… putting his personal advancement over any greater good.
(Who am I kidding? Nobody makes it to 4 star without that trait)
Anyway…
It would seem stuff like “unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational” about Hillary is not out of context. It seems like a really honest appraisal of Hillary from someone who knows her well… which completely agrees with my opinion based on distant observation of her actions.
…and, as the entire email rather than a simple quote was released, the context was there.
In the end, Hillary is a turd and everybody knows it… but everybody stays on the bandwagon of support… which is not doing well for them. Powell is part of the problem in this situation. It seems he has been a toady yes-man to anyone who could advance him his entire career… from Vietnam to Iraq to Obama.
As for classified information, how can anyone say this is no big deal no matter how long he has been out of office?
Israel has a policy to neither confirm nor deny their nuclear capability. America has gone along with that.
Powell, who certainly had access to this still-classified information, has not only confirmed this (even if everybody already “knew”) but also put a number on it. This is not useless information… and it should not have been shared in insecure communication with those not authorized to know… regardless of how long he has been retired or an expired clearance… neither of which suddenly make it OK to blab about classified material.
I don’t know, Liz… your defense of Powell didn’t sound like you… all emotion, few facts, no logical rebuttles.
This leads me to believe you are emotionally invested in Powell rather than acting as an unbiased outside observer sharing your opinion based on clear reasons.
That’s fine… I won’t push it further… but I wish it didn’t have to be that way. I would like someone to clearly guide me to a good opinion of him… if he is truly deserving of it.