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As Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, a self-professed man of simple tastes, often stayed at Holiday Inns while traveling the globe to confab with world leaders. As such, he has a personal list of gripes and suggestions for Holiday Inn owners. Gen. Powell rattled off that list ...when he was at State he had professed his affinity for cheeseburgers and the Holiday Inn. His points elicited chuckles and nods of agreement: “I don’t want to go to astronaut training to figure out how to set a clock radio,” Gen. Powell said, adding later, “I’m only there for the night....

Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way. On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy. The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks...

Colin Powell appeared on CNN's Larry King Show on Tuesday evening. In the wake of his endorsement of Barack Obama, some conservatives have suggested that he leave the Republican Party. Powell's response to King was defiant, "I decide what party I am going to be in." He then offered advice to the Republican Party for improving its electoral prospects. When one takes to the national airwaves and asserts his allegiance and offers his wisdom to the Party, this assumes both political and moral standing. There must be a perception in the audience of good faith that has been earned and...

"I got mad when I, as a national security adviser to the president of the United States, I went down to meet somebody at Reagan National Airport and nobody recognized -- nobody thought I could possibly be the national security adviser to the president. I was just a black guy at Reagan National Airport. And it was only when I went up to the counter and said, 'Is my guest here who's waiting for me?' did somebody say, 'Oh, you're General Powell.' It was inconceivable to him that a black guy could be the national security adviser."

Via Mediaite, something to start the conversational ball rolling at that not-all-awkward White House drink-up on Thursday. Mediaite has obtained a transcript from former Sec. of State Colin Powell’s interview on CNN’s Larry King Live tonight, in which Powell comments on the Professor Gates story, as well as Sarah Palin and more… “I would say, the first teaching point is when you’re faced with an officer trying to do his job and get to the bottom of something. This is not the time to get in an argument with him. I was taught that as a child. You don’t argue...

General Colin Powell, one of the nation's most prominent African-American leaders, put some of the blame on Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. for the confrontation that has become a raging controversy. Asked in an interview airing on CNN's "Larry King Live" tonight whether Gates was wrong to confront Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley before being arrested in his own home, Powell replied, "I'm saying that Skip, perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer, and that might have been the end of it. "I think he should have reflected on whether or...

The poll is running 2-1 in favor of Colin with about 3,000 votes, so your vote can affect the outcome.

Does anyone with a few brain cells to rub together believe that the likes of Christopher Buckley, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, or that paragon of Republicanism, Colin Powell, represent anything other than the elitist (read as: liberal) northeast establishment that spawned them? These are the people who will lead the “New Republican” Party? The very people who voted for Barack Obama? I guess I’m just one of those out-of-touch conservative throwbacks that haven’t gotten the news that the age of Reaganism is dead.

Could Colin Powell run against Barack Obama as a Republican and win? The idea is more than a little fanciful. Alma Powell, Colin Powell's wife, has long opposed her husband's political forays. And of course a presidential campaign would be an ordeal for a man Powell's age, his robust health notwithstanding. It doesn't help that there is no clamor for a Powell presidential campaign. Back in 1996, he was seen as an Eisenhower-like figure who could unite Republicans and independents to defeat Bill Clinton. Since then, Powell has alienated Republicans with his sharp criticisms of social conservatives and his support...

He coulda been a contenda! He coulda been the first Black President instead Colin Powell is a discredited Republican armchair political pundit whose opinion is just as valuable as the “Obama-sexual” Chris Matthews. Listening to Chris Matthews talk about Barack Obama is like listening to your father talk about having sex with your mother, Yuk! And listening to Colin Powell speaking for Republicans is like listening to Benedict Arnold speaking for America (yeah… that’s just not working Mr. Powell!). So after his much ballyhooed endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama it seems that Powell is showing buyers remorse...

Concerned.

WASHINGTON – Colin Powell says the U.S. took too long to strengthen its forces in Iraq after Baghdad fell early in the war. Powell, the nation's top military officer under President George H.W. Bush and secretary of state for President George W. Bush, said the decision to use a lighter force to defeat the Iraqi army was correct. But he said in a television interview broadcast Sunday that the younger Bush's administration should have realized the initial success in 2003 was only the start of a longer fight.

From CNN's State of the Union with John King, the topic turns to Rush Limbaugh...Clearly Rush is getting to Powell...

ormer Secretary of State Colin Powell says President Obama's agenda may be too ambitious, and costly. "One of the challenges that President Obama has now is that he's got so many things on the table, and these are issues that the American people find important, health care and so many other issues," said Powell in an interview slated to air Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union with John King." "But I think one of the cautions that has to be given to the president -- and I've talked to some of his people about this -- is that you...

Colin Powell, one of the nation's most prominent African-Americans, is going after people who attacked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor because of her stand in favor of affirmative action. Powell, who's from the same Bronx neighborhood in New York as Sotomayor, said she should face "a spirited set of hearings" in the Senate. But he said the federal appeals court judge, who would be the first Hispanic justice, shouldn't be condemned for ruling against white firefighters who contended they suffered reverse discrimination. "What we can't continue to have is to have somebody like a Judge Sotomayor ... called a racist,...

Snip"And I (Powell) never would have believed that we would have budgets that are running into the multi-trillions of dollars, and we are amassing a huge, huge national debt that, if we don’t pay for in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great grandchildren will have to pay for it.”WASHINGTON — Colin Powell worries that President Barack Obama is trying to tackle too many big issues at one time and he offers this advice: Take a hard look at costs and consider the additional red tape that will be created. “The right answer is, ‘Give me a government that...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Colin Powell worries that President Barack Obama is trying to tackle too many big issues at one time. In an interview to be aired Sunday on CNN, the former secretary of state says he's worried about the huge national debt that's piling-up. Powell says that while the needs of the people must be met, the size of the government, and the tax burden, need to be kept as small as possible. He says the president has to start taking a "very, very hard look" at the cost of all he wants to do and at whether the...

Add Colin Powell to the ranks of Americans waking up from the Obama induced stupor. The Washington Times is reporting that Mr. Powell has voiced serious reservations in a CNN interview about Obama’s big government agenda and its consequences for our nation and our children. In the CNN interview to be aired Sunday on “State of the Union with John King” Powell cautioned Mr. Obama about "budgets that are running into the multi-trillions of dollars" and "a huge, huge national debt that, if we don't pay for in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great-grandchildren will have to pay...

Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern publicly for the first time Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much. "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an interview with CNN's John King. It was released by the network Friday. Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. Army general who rose to political prominence after a long and...

n a wide-ranging interview set to air Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, one of President Barack Obama's most prominent Republican supporters says he is 'concerned' about the new president's ambitious agenda and the high price tags accompanying many of Obama's initiatives. "I'm a little concerned," former Secretary of State Colin Powell says. "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them." Powell also seems to sound a note of warning to the young president. "I think one of the...

Because I posted the news diggs so late for yesterday, tonight's list is going to be relatively short. And we're going to take a holiday for the 4th of July weekend, so this will be your last digg list until Monday. Happy independence day, and God bless those who fight to keep this country safe and free! http://diggsandburies.blogspot.com/

Correction: He’s a “little concerned.” This from a guy who, not two months ago, declared that “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less” and who even here responds to a clip of him speaking at the 1996 GOP convention by announcing, “I don’t like slogans anymore like ‘limited government’” — before proceeding to voice his worries about “additional government.” Exit question: How seriously should we take someone who makes Mark Sanford sound coherent?

Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much. "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN's John King, released by the network Friday morning. Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. army general who rose to political prominence after a long and accomplished military career,...

Washington—Having had enough of Limbaugh’s criticism of Colin Powell, Tom Ridge laid down the gauntlet on Rush Limbaugh, and evicting him from the Republican Party. The event took place after the interview on CSPAN’s Washington Journal where Ridge took a strong stance, supporting Colin Powell and blaming Limbaugh and Dick Cheney for having “a mindset,” that doesn’t foster unity.

I hate the word shrill. I mean I have a visceral reaction to it. I'm sure there is a legitimate use for the adjective that denotes a "high-pitched or piercing tone or sound"—like dog training. But I never hear that use of it. Since my radio is more often turned to political than canine news, I get to hear shrill as an ad -hominem, and it makes my skin crawl. "Ridge Calls Limbaugh 'Shrill'" is the silliest headline I have read in ages. It crystallizes all the reasons I find better things to do than follow politics. I picture the...

Twittering nabobs of the drive-by media are salivating to front Colin Powell as some sort of "spokesman" for Republicans (though certainly not conservatives). The publicity-hungry Powell has taken the bait, jumping on every talk show or media outlet he can to blast conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh. He, not they, he suggests, should be the "voice of the Party." I might actually go along with the old general if, in fact, he were the general of old. Consider Colin Powell at the 1996 Republican Convention: "President Reagan will always be the president who restored the fighting strength and spirit of...

WILKES-BARRE - Attorney Robert J. Powell came wired to his meetings with two judges who demanded kickbacks for helping his juvenile detention centers flourish, recording "incriminating conversations" that were "instrumental" in bringing the judges to justice, federal prosecutors say in a legal document obtained Wednesday by Times-Shamrock Newspapers. That cooperation could earn Mr. Powell, who has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an accessory to the Luzerne County judges, a shorter prison sentence than the 21 to 27 months he would normally face under federal sentencing guidelines. The legal document, prepared by federal prosecutors with input from Mr. Powell's...

SCRANTON – Attorney Robert Powell thought he had a great business idea when he approached two Luzerne County judges in 2001 about building a new juvenile detention center. The county-run facility was deteriorating, and judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella quickly agreed to support Powell’s plan for the Pa. Child Care juvenile center in Pittston Township. What Powell didn’t know, federal prosecutors now say, was that Ciavarella and Conahan would demand to be paid for that assistance. They would collect more than $2.6 million over five years before the scheme was uncovered. The depth of the judges’ involvement and the...

Former House Speaker And Potential 2012 GOP Candidate Rallies Party Loyalists At Fundraiser In Washington. (AP) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday urged some 2,000 Republican party loyalists to stand up for GOP principles but to be inclusive as the party tries to retake the majority. “I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican,” Gingrich said at the annual Senate-House fundraising dinner. “I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican.” Cheney, the former vice president under President George W. Bush, and Powell, who was Bush's secretary of state, have feuded recently over the approach of the...

Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd...

The latest polling data released from Zogby and McLaughlin polls suggest Americans want Obama to keep his promise to raise taxes only on those earning more than $250,000 and govern under a system of checks and balances from the Congress. Zogby’s sample of almost 4000 people, who voted last November, was apportioned to reflect Obama’s 53/46 victory over McCain. When he asked for a reaction if Obama dropped his promise not to raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000, 20% said it would make them less likely to vote for him. Since Obama drew 69.5 million votes this is...

The Republican Party of late has been on a listening tour, asking people for recommendations about what the party should do to revive itself after the last two disastrous election cycles. Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has offered his opinions and in the process may have done more to further divide the party he claims to support. Appearing Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Mr. Powell said if Republicans "don't reach out more, the party is going to be sitting on a very, very narrow base." Mr. Powell said his "model" for this outreach effort is the late...

“I’m still a Republican” says guy who voted for a pro-infanticide, Marxist radical for President. http://www.mofopolitics.com/2009/05/24/video-colin-powell-im-still-a-republican-52409/

In reporting on the contretemps between former Vice President Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, The New York Times continues its longstanding agenda to get the Republican Party to move to the left. In yesterday’s paper, The Times reported on Powell’s Sunday appearance on “Face The Nation,” where the former Secretary of State boldly declared “I am still a Republican” (despite having endorsed Barack Obama) and called for an “after-action review” of GOP losses in the last election. “Mr. Powell’s appearance underlined an extraordinary public struggle among Republicans over the future of the party,” The Times informed us in the hushed...

I don't think we can "win" this (after all, it's on the clintoon news network), but maybe we can level the playing field a bit? Look for the poll down the right side...vote away!

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich backed Dick Cheney’s critique of the Obama administration’s anti-terror policy Sunday, calling it one of several ‘big mistakes’ being made in national security by the Democrats. But he broke ranks with the former vice president over Colin Powell, saying that the former Secretary of State belonged in the party and that Republicans should be the party of the ‘big tent’ even if fights broke out in that tent from time to time. “I don't want to pick a fight with Dick Cheney, but I think, the fact is the Republican Party has to be a...

Colin L. Powell challenged Dick Cheney on the legacy of the Bush administration and the future of the Republican Party on Sunday, declaring that Republicans should not bow to “diktats that come from the right wing.” Skip to next paragraph Blog The Caucus The latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion. More Politics NewsReaders' Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (131) »The remarks by Mr. Powell, a former secretary of state, amounted to a public rebuttal of Mr. Cheney, the former vice president, and Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator, who have...

The year is 2003. Tom Ridge is chatting, explaining what’s going on with Homeland Security, having a seemingly good time. His good natured counterpart in the conversation lets Ridge run with the conversation. The other party in the conversation is Rush Limbaugh. Ridge had called into Rush’s show. Over the past twenty years Rush has been on the air, people like Powell, Ridge, and others have had no problem using Rush to air their policy views, defend themselves, and chat. And in those twenty years, as anyone who has regularly listened to Rush can tell you, the substantive coverage of...

Colin Powell is a Republican. It doesn't bother me as much as it grates on the nerves of a number of movement activists who feel a sense of betrayal. I certainly don't want Republicans like Powell as a leader of the GOP since moderates of his caliber do not embody the best of conservative ideology. But I do believe in not shrinking the party by purging it of RINO/CINO "infiltrators". The real story, however, is not the media sensationalism that wishes to egg on the Powell-Cheney-Rush bickering and GOP uncivil war. NewsBusters points out the real scoop from Powell's Face...

In the latest round of the increasingly heated intra-GOP feud, former Secretary of State Colin Powell Sunday defended his Republican credentials and fired back at radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney, saying the party had to expand beyond its conservative base. “Rush will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney was misinformed – I am still a Republican,” Powell said in a much-anticipated interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” two weeks after Cheney suggested on the same show that the retired general had left the party by endorsing Barack Obama last fall. Powell outlined his party...

New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica has decided, in white liberal-guilt fashion, to defend a former Army general against the savage attacks by two partisan Republicans who dare criticize a black so-called Republican. Lupica asserts that since neither Rush Limbaugh nor Dick Cheney has served in the military (and military issues aren't even the topic here), they have no right to challenge Colin Powell on anything, let alone what it is to be a Republican.

This was at 166th St. and Boston Road in the Bronx Sunday morning, in front of the amazing old building that was still called Morris High School when Gen. Colin Powell graduated from there more than 50 years ago and began a life of service to his country. This was an hour before Powell would appear on "Face the Nation" to discuss comments made about him by former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose most famous moment carrying a gun came when shooting a lawyer once instead of quail. [Snip] A week ago Cheney - whose idea of a foxhole is...

Amid much ballyhoo, Colin Powell, former Secretary of State in the Bush administration, went on "Meet the Press" last October and endorsed Barack Obama for President. His move was no real surprise and had been anticipated for at least a year but he timing and manner of it seemed designed to wreak the maximum political damage to his old friend John McCain. So why does Powell now seem to think he has the right or credibility to lecture Republicans on how their party should be run? Just as he did not just go quietly into the polling booth and vote...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party needs to broaden its base rather than move farther to the political right to make gains against President Barack Obama's Democrats, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday. "Let's debate the future of the party. And let's let all the segments of the party come in," Powell, a Republican who served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet but endorsed Obama last year, told CBS's "Face the Nation."

POWELL FIRES BACK AT CHENEY, LIMBAUGH... Having been involved in establishing the missile tracking system used in the "Desert Storm" and the teleconferencing systems used to coordinate logistics in that same war, I paid close attention to what Powell was doing and saying. What bothered me from the very beginning of Powell's entrance onto the public stage during Desert Storm I noted that he was always involved (verbally) but nothing was ever stated what he did or accomplished.

WASHINGTON (May 24) -- The conservative vs. moderate split threatening to rupture the Republican Party played out across the airwaves Sunday, with Colin Powell and Tom Ridge denouncing shrill and judgmental voices they say are steering the GOP too far right. Karl Rove challenged Powell to lay out his vision and "back it up" by helping elect Republicans. At stake is the GOP's status as a major party, Powell and Ridge suggested "I believe we should build on the base because the nation needs two parties, two parties debating each other. But what we have to do is debate and...

Reporting from Washington -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Sunday that ideological conservatives, particularly radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, have gained a hold over the Republican Party that risks driving the GOP into an extended exile from power. Powell's warnings were cast in unusually personal terms as Powell answered recent charges from two champions of the Republican right -- Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney -- that Powell was no longer a Republican. "Rush will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney was misinformed," said Powell, whose resume includes military advisor to Ronald Reagan, chairman of the Joint...

Gen. Colin Powell was on Face the Nation today, trashing the Republican Party again, as if he has some particular moral authority. I beg to differ. Colin Powell has almost as little moral authority as did the bystanders in the Kitty Genovese rape case. While his own administration, and especially a very good man named Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was being raped by Patrick Fitzgerald's out-of-control investigation into the Valerie Plame leak, Powell and his top aide Richard Armitage stoo by silently even though both knew that Armitage had been (without malice aforethought) the actual source of the leak.

Time for another round of increasingly tedious GOP big tent/small tent navel-gazing, this time with moderates on the offensive. Powell’s point about Limbaugh not being above criticism is fair enough but I don’t know what he expects from big shots like Steele who’ve been forced to grovel to him. As the GOP shrinks, it relies more heavily on the base for fundraising; the base adores Rush, so as a matter of simple politics, party leaders can’t afford to take him on. It’ll necessarily fall to moderates like Powell who are outside the process and have nothing to lose by antagonizing...

"I am still a Republican. I'd like to point out that in the course of my 50 years of voting for presidents, I have voted for the person I thought was best qualified at that time to lead the nation. Last year I thought it was President-now Barack Obama."