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(Image Source: Flickr/Charles Haynes)
BY CHRISTIAN BRYANT
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell openly condemned the Republican Party during an interview
Sunday, accusing some party members of intolerance.
Powell told Meet the Press’ David Gregory the past two presidential elections and comments
from extreme right members of the party show a dire need for change.
“There’s also a dark... a dark ‘vein’ of intolerance in the party... When I see
a former governor say the President is ‘shucking and jiving’, that’s a racial-era, slave
term.”
That former governor is Sarah Palin and that comment came after she accused the Obama administration
of inconsistent statements on the consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya.
Powell — who has endorsed Obama twice, yet still identifies as a Republican — didn’t
stop there...
The retired four-star general said the GOP faces an identity crisis with the so-called
birther movement serving as just another distraction: “The whole birther movement: Why do senior
Republican leaders tolerate this kind of discussion within the party?... I think the party has
to take a look at itself.”
Powell made his comments on the whole of the GOP after defending former Republican Senator
Chuck Hagel, who was nominated by President Obama as the new secretary of defense. Hagel’s
nomination has drawn the ire of some Republicans because of his stances on Israel.
According to CNN, Powell has said he believes Hagel will get the nomination, despite disapproval
from some GOP members.
Powell named health care, immigration, poverty and climate change as issues needing attention
from GOP leaders for the party to be successful in the future.