Powell shoots down Democratic convention talk (says Obama doesn't have experience...)

AFP ^

[mnehring]

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell denied Wednesday that he was to appear at the upcoming Democratic convention, in what would have been a coup for White House runner Barack Obama...

...Powell told ABC News in a telephone interview: "I do not have time to waste on Bill Kristol's musings. I am not going to the convention. I have made this clear."

.."He (Obama) doesn't have experience at the senior levels of national government...Last quote removed by source article for some reason.

[Paul8148]

Maybe he is McCain veep and the McCain camp is leaking him false info.

[Enchante]

You need to work on your reading comprehension, if this statement is all that you are going on to say that Powell has disparaged Obama's experience. This article says that the reference to Obama's lack of "experience at the senior levels of national government" came in the context of Powell REBUFFING attacks on Obama's lack of experience. Powell first compliments Obama on how well he ran his primary campaign despite lack of national campaign experience, and then says high-level federal experience is not necessarily a prerequisite for being President. You are twisting Powell's point 180 degrees to make him say the opposite of what the article says he said.

"Rebuffing a key line of attack by Obama's critics, Powell told ABC in April: "He didn't have a lot of experience in running a presidential campaign, did he? But he seems to know how to organize the task. "He doesn't have experience at the senior levels of national government. But I've seen other individuals who have come along that didn't have that breadth of experience," said the former top official under President George W. Bush.

[ProfoundMan]

[LRS]

Kristol also said that Lieberman was going to be McCain’s Veep. I hope he is wrong on that as well!

[pabianice]

Krafty Kristol Kills Konvention Kontroversy

[Carley]

On the contrary. Kristol forced Powell to show his hand and it was a smackdown of Obomba!

[mkjessup]

A McCain/Powell ticket would be hard to beat. Not my cup of tea, but would be a solid ticket nationally.

I cringe at the idea of McCain/Powell but when I think about other possibilities such as:

McCain/Giuliani

McCain/Crist

McCain/Rice

McCain/Graham

THEN, McCain/Powell doesn't look so bad. Doesn't look that great (from a conservative perspective) but it still beats having Obama-lama-ding-dong and perhaps somebody like Wes Clark in the White House.

[plangent]

Nah! Just Bill Kristol causing mischief and forcing a statement out of Colin Powell. Lots of mind games being played here, folks. Keep your powder dry and fire when you see the whites of their eyes.

[rfp1234]

Maybe getting the denial and the diss to Obama was the whole point of Kristol’s report.

Yup. Perhaps Kristol took one for the team.

[giobruno]

Right answer, like him or not, he does not have any meaningful experience running anything to be president.

[Carley]

Oops, I should have kept reading posts before I made my post.

My thoughts mirrored yours. This may have been a brilliant maneuver by Kristol.

[Petronski]

Definitely a smackdown of Obama.

[counterpunch]

Bill Kristol, the brains behind Dan Quayle, is now persona non grata.

[mnehring]

You are combining two quotes and reading into it too much. He said specifically that Obama “didn't have experience at the senior levels of national government. “ Saying he was impressed with how he ran his campaign doesn't negate this. IMHO, because of the order, it seems he is saying, even though he ran a good campaign, he doesn't have experience....

[LRS]

I should stress, that the Lieberman claim was during the same Cavuto interview today...

[McGruff]

But I've seen other individuals who have come along that didn't have that breadth of experience

I'm trying to think of who ran for president with less experience than Obama.

[Friendofgeorge]

Only problem is this....in 4 years people would get used to the idea of a President Powell. There goes the Supreme court, wide open abortion/homosexuality would soon follow.All President Bush`s progress with Alito and Roberts would be down the drain.

I do not like Powell because he is pro abortion! He has a charity for kids, yet is pro abortion?????

McCain/Powell would be a loser.

The left would love it also. They would loop the footage of Powell talking about WMD. Liberal blacks would also call Powell uncle tom.

On the other hand if he endorsed Obama they would saint him.

[mnehring]

I think he was trying to make the connection to President Bush, which, to Obama followers and possibly Powell, would be another dis on Obama. He is saying basically, see what you get when you have someone who can only run a campaign but with no high level government experience...

[Enchante]

I don’t doubt that Kristol was trying to smoke out Powell but this is not any smack-down of Obambi (yet). So far as I have seen, all Powell has denied is that he will be physically present at the DNC. That does not mean he won’t endorse Obambi and it does not imply that he won’t make some kind of statement or speech away from the DNC, possibly beamed into the convention or possibly not.

So, if Kristol is trying to smoke out Powell it hasn’t worked (yet) and Powell’s non-denial denial does not mean squat (yet). We’ll have to see how it plays out.....

[TheDon]

Agreed.