Posted by
Bob Siegel on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 1:19:15 AM
I honor Colin Powell's military service. There. I said it. That was the
obligatory disclaimer, right? Everybody knows the rules. We can't be critical of a general unless
we first say we honor his service. Well, OK then, I said it. I honor
it. Now then, let's move on, because after he served heroically as a general, he went on to serve in our State Department.
I consider the US State Department to be the United Nations' embassy to
America and I love our State Department about as much as I love the
United Nations.
It was no surprise that Colin Powell decided to support Barak Obama.
Supposedly, this is huge news since Colin Powell is a Republican. Yeah,
he's a Republican and many have called him a Conservative but he's
Pro-Choice, he supports radical Gay Rights causes and he is very much in favor of Israel making
deals with those wonderful Palestinians who teach their kindergarten
children that Israel should be annihilated. With Conservatives like
him, who needs Liberals?
Not to say that Powell's announcement didn't come with some surprises.
Evidently, he felt incapable of expressing his support for Obama without
also exhibiting utter disgust for the McCain/Palin campaign. He began
by criticizing their negative remarks as if the Obama election machine has done
nothing but describe McCain as some kind of male Mother Terresa.
First, he brought up the accusation that Obama is a Muslim, making it
clear that the man is a Christian. This was a non sequitur. McCain has
made no such comment; indeed, he has rebuked those who have done so.
Powell actually admits this but says he still hears it from
Republicans. Oh, so that's the standard. Anything spoken by a member of the same party is fair game. And yet when Democrats compare George Bush to Hitler and
the entire Republican Party to Fascists, Powell's conscientious concern
is no where to be found. Neither did he rebuke the Obama campaign for
accusing McCain of making race an issue, even though McCain's people have not
brought up race even one time. The only one who who keeps resurrecting this subject is Obama himself. Maybe he's disappointed that McCain has not talked about race. Maybe he's been counting on it as a wild card.
By the way, I agree that Obama is not a Muslim but make no mistake; he's no Christian
either, even though he claims to be. One who does not believe in
salvation through Jesus alone is not a Christian. One who does not believe in the inspiration of scripture is not a Christian. Sorry Powell. It's
just the truth. Some people may not like that definition of a Christian, but what can I say? If we cannot accept Jesus' definition of a Christian,
whose are we going to accept? Rev Wright's? Please understand, Christianity is not a litmus test with me. It's just that Obama points to his Christianity to assure us that he is more moderate and less liberal than we suspect. And so, if he is going to make Christianity an issue, I as a Christian, will feel free to scrutinize him through that lens.
Powell was also angered over the fact that Obama's tie to terrorist,
Bill Ayers was brought up. Personally, I think this subject says more about Powell than it does about McCain. It is shameful that a former general would
not be concerned about a self confessed, unrepentant terrorist, who
solicited Obama's help in raising funds for the revolutionary
indoctrination of college students. Yes, shameful for a military man, but, not altogether surprising from a former Secretary of
State.
Powell then criticized McCain and Palin for calling Obama a Socialist.
Hmm...Well, Mr. Powell, how shall I put this? It seems Obama is a Socialist. He's finally
admitted what many of us knew all along. He wants to see wealth
redistributed. If that is not a kind of Socialism, exactly what is
Socialism?
Rush Limbaugh has come under much criticism for suggesting that Powell
supports Obama only because he's African-American. But the truth is,
Colin Powell has practically said that in so many words. He is on record for having mentioned, a while back, how important it would be to
have a black president and he said it in reference to Obama's campaign.
Limbaugh asks a fair question: What other Liberal has Powell ever
supported? There do not seem to be any. Rush may be on to something,
although as I already mentioned, Powell himself is pretty liberal in his
own right so who knows what is true motive is here?
Bottom line: We cannot read Powell's mind and he has a right to support
whomever he chooses. But when he suggests that the negative campaigning
is only coming from one direction, he's showing some kind of bias.
Either way, his insinuations were cruel and uncalled for. Gee, that sounded rather harsh of me. Did I mention that I honor his military service?
Also by Bob Siegel:
Any Other Candidate Would Have Been Out of the Race