I appreciate what he's saying, but the fact that Colin Powell was down with the Bush/Cheney administration sort of ruins his credibility on the issue. McCain and Romney were both more moderate than the guy he worked for.

Much thanks!!!!

In reply to this comment by Boise_Lib:
*promote

>> ^DuoJet:

>> ^bareboards2:
Surely this guy can't get elected?

Surely he can get elected. George W. Bush was elected twice.


I think you just highlighted exactly why he couldn't get elected. The system is not designed to attract the best and the brightest and the statesmen who wish to serve and to put the country's interests ahead of their own or ahead of their party.

Left and right both have adopted the lesser of two evils approach In 2004, the left said, "anyone but Bush", and in 2012, the right said, "Anyone but Obama" When you don't really care about your own candidate, you're just voting against the other guy, you've got a broken system.

The first past the post system is a dud. Abolish all parties, vote for the person, not the party. If that means we have 42 candidates instead of 2, then fine. If that means the guy with most votes only represents a small fraction of the total vote...tough. We already have shitty turnout in our elections and presidents are already elected by a small fraction of the populace so really, what's the difference?

and lastly. eliminate all private funding from elections. money is not speech. speech is speech, that's why we have two different words for them. Every candidate gets a publicly funded website to do what they want with it. That's all you fucking need in today's world. no stupid billboards and lawn signs, no commercials. Just a website and a series of debates. That's all we fucking need to make a choice.

It's shit like this that make me wonder if Heinlen isn't right. You can't lead unless you've served. There has to be some demonstration that you're willing to sacrifice. I'm not just talking about military service either, there are plenty of ways of demonstrate selflessness and willingness to serve than just the military. We just have to identify them and ensure that our wannabe leaders abide by it.

[EDIT] Ooops, I thought you were referring to Powell, bareboards and Duo

Colin Powell remains one of the few coherent voices in politics, certainly one of the most rational voices from the right-wing. Nothing but respect for him.

If he were to run for presiden, the problem is he would never make it through the GOP primary system, and that's a fault of the primary system itself - specifically, the limited demographics that actually show up to them. Still, if he were to run as a Republican, he'd be one of the few I'd consider voting for in the big show.

Don't get me wrong I don't think Obama has done a bad job but he really hasn't done a good one either he seems more like a figure head to me he just does whatever his cabinet tells him to do. He always comes across to me as a really good guy who has no idea how to run a country. He has a lot of good ideas but he can't ever seem to implement them.

>> ^MycroftHomlz:

I would also like to see him run. But I don't think Obama has done a bad job.
>> ^Auger8:
I think we really missed out on a great President when Colin Powell decided not to run. That would have been a slam dunk win for him but I respect his decision to concentrate on his family. Still he's a very smart man with a strong military background and a born leader. He would have whipped this country into to shape years ago. He at least would have done a much better job than Obama.

I would also like to see him run. But I don't think Obama has done a bad job.

>> ^Auger8:

I think we really missed out on a great President when Colin Powell decided not to run. That would have been a slam dunk win for him but I respect his decision to concentrate on his family. Still he's a very smart man with a strong military background and a born leader. He would have whipped this country into to shape years ago. He at least would have done a much better job than Obama.

>> ^bareboards2:
Surely this guy can't get elected?


Surely he can get elected. George W. Bush was elected twice.

I think we really missed out on a great President when Colin Powell decided not to run. That would have been a slam dunk win for him but I respect his decision to concentrate on his family. Still he's a very smart man with a strong military background and a born leader. He would have whipped this country into to shape years ago. He at least would have done a much better job than Obama.

>> ^bareboards2:

slap down on Willard R-Money
Surely this guy can't get elected?


As if character or identity was the motivation behind elections... Sadly, much of it is due to $$$ and the post-primary republican base will rally behind whichever non-Obama candidate is on the ticket.

In the last ten seconds of this video Colin Powell outlines how to run a nation. Concise and well done.

@GenjiKilpatrick

To me, this is just a video about culture. I think we can identify with whatever culture we like, and I have plenty of black role models who I've learned a lot from: Barack Obama, Herman Cain, Thomas Sowell, Colin Powell, Will Smith.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

Hey @gwiz665, why the downvote?
Does this offend your delicate sensibilities?
He voted for Sara for president and for Bristol on dancing w/ the stars

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I hope this was manufactured for the show, because otherwise it's just sad. Regardless of how lame a public figure may be, you don't take it out on their kids. Advantage: Bristol
In this case I have no pitty for her. Bristol made herself a public figure riding a wave of her mom's popularity. How many other public figure's kids are as big of an attention whore as her?
For example, do you know who Colin Powell's daughter is? Probably not. You don't see Chelsea Clinton on TV or news all the time either.
Whereas this one is nothing more than an attention whore and any negativity she gets is deserved.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Colin Powell, Al Jazerra, Iraq, WMD' to 'Colin Powell, Al Jazeera, Iraq, WMD, al qaeda' - edited by xxovercastxx

I agree with the trial westy, but to say the CEO should have vetted information and seen through the lies of professionals is a bit much.

If the sources know one thing, it is how to manipulate--even one of their own.

>> ^westy:

So he is admitting that he himself didn't do his job in vetting what was in the document and checking that the sauces were correct , WASN'T IT HIS JOB TO CHECK THAT THE SOURCES WERE CORRECT ( ie not coming from one guy that was waterboarded). sure he has other people to go over the document but you cannot just say OH THEY TOLD ME SO I BELIEVED IT.
evan if he is or was inosent Why are we still not having a high profile trile of the people that presented the intelligence as being of value ?
Also the Neo-conservatives just wanted an excuse to go to war with these countries the intelligence didn't even matter they had and still have an agenda we dont know about and they simply used the events of 911 and bullshit inteligence as a way to get what they want , they have no intrest in doing whats best for "the people" they are only intrestead in whats best for them and "there people" which is probably 200,000 or so super ritch people.
I dont see why we dont try governments that go to war with people and fail , they are guilty of the killing of many people us troops and people on the other side. If we don't have triles and understand how this can happen then it will happen time and time again.

I always thought republicans should have seriously considered supporting Colin Powell for president. It is sad that he was thrown to the wolves.