John McCain's Favorite Living Hero...

Politico.com posts Roger Simon's assessment of Colin Powell's Sunday endorsement of Barack Obama. He notes that our man Tom Brokaw had the good sense to keep his mouth shut and let the ex-general explain his reasoning clearly and fully for seven uninterrupted minutes of network airtime. Simon then recalls his experience on the Straight Talk Express in 1999, when a rather different John McCain was running for President:

The scene is the Straight Talk Express, the old Straight Talk Express, in 1999 — the one stuffed with reporters asking John McCain question after question and getting answer after answer, hour after hour. McCain is enjoying himself, even when the reporters, having exhausted all serious topics, turn goofy and play “favorites” with him, asking him his favorite tree (cottonwood), favorite breakfast cereal (Raisin Bran) and favorite toothpaste (Colgate).

And then there is this exchange that I recorded for history:

Favorite word, a reporter asks.

“Principle,” McCain says.

Favorite dead hero.

“Uh, Julius Caesar,” McCain says.

Favorite dead hero within the last 2,000 years.

“OK, off the top of my head, Lincoln,” McCain says. “Although the more I read and study, the more intrigued I am by Teddy Roosevelt.”

Favorite living hero.

“Colin Powell,” McCain says instantly. “Served his country. A wonderful man.”

[Roger Simon, "Powell Drops the Hammer on McCain," Politico.com, 2008.10.21]

Uff da.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

Former general and Secretary of State Colin Powell has just endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President.



Powell says:

• Obama is a "transformational figure."
• Obama can handle our economic troubles better than Senator John McCain can.
• Obama will improve America's standing around the world.
• Obama's rhetorical skills are actually a good qualification for a President, not a liability (but Rebecca's readers already know that!).
  
• McCain's campaign has been too negative.
• Governor Sarah Palin is not ready to be President.

Says Powell of both candidates: "Both of them are distinguished Americans, who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. Either one of them, I think, would be a good President."

Powell sees the last several weeks, especially the ecconomic crisis, as a "final exam," and he was put off by McCain's apparent uncertainty in how to respond to the crisis. He also says that Palin's performance over the last several weeks has shown her not to be ready for the job and has thus called into question McCain's judgment. Powell feels Obama has shown "intellectual vigor" and chosen a VP who is ready to take the reins on day one. While McCain has shown a "narrower and narrower" approach, Obama also offers a "more inclusive broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people." Powell sees the Bill Ayers situation as irrelevant to the problems that really matter and wonders why the McCain campaign would focus on him when McCain himself says Ayers is just a "washed-up terrorist." Powell says McCain's focus on Ayers is "inappropriate." Powell also is uncomfortable with the potential for a further rightward shift on the Supreme Court.

Powell is also offended that the GOP has been pushing the lie that Obama is a Muslim:

The correct answer is he is not a Muslim, he is a Christian... but the really right answer is, What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be President? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing things in America.

So, anyone want to call Colin Powell an unpatriotic socialist? The comment line is open....