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Why Aren’t Other Republicans Joining Colin Powell? |
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I agree with Ruth that Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama is a little bit late, to say the least. But I do think it’s the very least that a Republican can do. If the Democrats ever run a campaign as divisive and extreme as the McCain-Palin campaign, I hope I will cry foul. It’s only fair to ask why so-called moderate Republicans like Sens. Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter, and others haven’t joined Powell. As Powell noted, the McCain-Palin campaign has gone way over the line. Accusing one’s opponent of “palling around with terrorists” is not politics as usual. It’s time for moderate Republicans to speak up.
What has the Republican party become? It is a party that can nominate a breathtakingly unqualified extremist like Sarah Palin for national office (Palin just displayed, for at least the second time, her failure to understand what the Vice President of the United States actually does). It is home to one member of Congress who wants to start a second McCarthy era, another who accuses liberals of hating “real Americans“, and another who is calling Obama a communist.
This is a party focused on dividing the country between real and fake Americans. Palin is setting the tone, with her suggestion that small towns are “the real America”, while other (more liberal) places are not. McCain is doing the same, with his deeply irresponsible robocall essentially accusing Obama of collaborating with terrorists.
There comes a time when reasonable people reject an extreme party. Powell has done it, as have others–former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, former Congressman Jim Leach. The question for other supposedly reasonable Republicans is: if you won’t call out your party now, when would you ever do so? This is the real “Country First” test–being able to criticize your party when it sets out to divide Americans.
Why is Obama allowing a war criminal on his wagon?