Powell Says He Disagrees With Bush on University of Michigan Affirmative Action Case

tbo.com ^ | 1-19-02 | ap

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Mr. Belefonte will be happy

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[clintonh8r]

Day-o!

[Wphile]

Colin should have kept his mouth shut on this one.

Sometimes I really dislike Colin Powell. Now is one of those times.

[joesnuffy]

Powell is just leaving all his options open...doesnt matter to him one lick...whether he services a republican or democrat as long as he's got his. imo

[Senator Pardek]

Although Powell is of course wrong, it's again the media that sickens me.

Those lefties see Powell as a black man first, and as Secretary of State somewhere down the line.

Why should a Sec. of State ever be asked such a question?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[jwalsh07]

Powell looks at life a bit differently than I do and while I think he is wrong here, I can understand where he is coming from.

[junta]

I'm glad two black millionaires could come down this side of Mugabe on racial preferences.

[cynicom]

I thought Powell was Sec. of state???? Since when is internal affairs part of his province???

[Maynerd]

I am looking forward to the day he departs this administration. He is terminally infected with the political military/pentagon CYA, be all things to all people disease. No one rises into the JCS (regardless of pigmentation) without being a craven political manipulator. AMF.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Yes, I agree. I have read some of Powell's position papers on leadership and he clearly is not an "afirmative action general", however he believes he benefited in his early career from those policies and has the integrity to admit it. I am sorry that he does not see that a points system based on race is injurious to the candidate being admitted and to those who lost out due to the race delta however small a factor it was.

[No Truce With Kings]

You know, adults can disagree on policy and still work together. I have had strong disagreements with my boss on stuff, but when it was over I saluted, said "yes sir!," and did what I was told to do. At the same time, if anyone asked me if I thought I was doing the right thing, I would say that my boss and I disagreed, but he told me to do things this way. I respected him, and would not have thought of quitting because we disagreed. He respected me, and would not have thought of firing me because I disagreed. (He often said that is why he kept me around -- he did not want yes men.)

Similarly Bush and Powell often disagree. But when time comes to implement policy, Bush's policy is implemented. The two respect each other, and Bush values the fact that the two have different viewpoints. Thus, that Bush does something with which Powell disagrees, and that Powell is willing to acknowledge such disagreements strikes me as big nonstory. That is how adults work.

Now, if the story was that, say . . . Albright disagreed with a Clinton policy and was willing to say so publicly, while not (a) resigning immediatedly after doing so, (b) being fired immediately after doing so, or (c) becoming a victim of Arkancide immediately *before* doing so, that would have been news. But that is the difference between children in the White House and adults.

[TLBSHOW]

You should hear what Rush says about it.

[ArcLight]

Oh no! You mean...GW Bush surrounded himself with black folks who are not yes-men, but think for themselves and say what they think? Ye gods! What's the world coming to?

[Republic of Texas]

No socialist would ever hire a person who thinks for themselves.

[Norman Arbuthnot]

Does anyone know if the Univ. of Michigan admissions formula awards 20 points to black applicants regardless of their economic background? Is a black student who comes from an upper middle class family and who has attended a prep school still given the extra 20 points? I'm just curious. If UM awards extra race points to affluent blacks that would be so unfair that I doubt even Powell could support it.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

I have no problem with colin saying what he believes but I do not see how he fits in this administration and it agenda affirmative action is wrong and he opens his mouth which hurts the agenda

[ArcLight]

I'm a black guy who certainly has benefited from affirmative action. Yet I think it must be halted--at least the form which is based on race and sets lower standards for minorities.

Is that inconsistency? Not at all. And here's why. To the extent that this form of AA makes sense, it's as a tactic to give a boost to first-generation "strivers." I mean, minority folks who come from deprived backgrounds and didn't have all the opportunities of middle-class whites. That description covers me pretty accurately.

But it doesn't at all apply to my kids, who have a nice middle-class existence, go to good schools and get good grades. Why should they be treated as "deprived," and in need of extra help? They'll do fine.

Treating my kids as cripples because they're black is frankly insulting. I don't want that to happen to them. And that's why I think Bush is right.