Posted on Oct 2, 2015
"Powell: I stay Republican 'because it annoys them'"
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From: The Hill
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell joked that he identifies as a Republican to annoy the GOP’s right-wing.
“Yes, I’m still a Republican,” he said about his party affiliation during the Washington Ideas Forum in Washington, D.C., according to the Daily Mail.
“I want to continue to be a Republican because it annoys them,” Powell quipped to host Walter Isaacson.
“I think the party has shifted much further right than where the country is and it should be obvious to party leaders that they cannot keep saying and doing the things that they were doing and hope to be successful in national-level election in the future, not just in 2016,” he added.
Powell said a small faction in the GOP is alienating voters with their rhetoric on immigration.
“I think most Republicans understand that we need immigration, we are an immigrant nation [and that] it is in our best interest to do it,” he said.
“But there are pockets of intolerance within the Republican Party [and] the Republican Party had better figure out how to defeat that."
Powell also disputed the notion that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump represents the Republican message on immigration policy.
“I don’t agree that it’s the Republican position on immigration,” he said of Trump’s stance.
“If I was around Mr. Trump — Donald, who I know rather well — I would say, ‘You know, Don, let’s see what happens — let’s tell all the immigrants working in Trump hotels to stay home tomorrow,” Powell said. “Let’s see what happens.”
Powell urged listeners to look at their fellow Americans and take pride in the immigrant backgrounds they might find.
“There are first-generation American immigrants who will raise children who will go up to higher things,” he said.
“It’s that immigrant tradition — get started and the next generation will be better and the generation after that will be even better.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255501-powell-i-stay-republican-to-annoy-gop
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell joked that he identifies as a Republican to annoy the GOP’s right-wing.
“Yes, I’m still a Republican,” he said about his party affiliation during the Washington Ideas Forum in Washington, D.C., according to the Daily Mail.
“I want to continue to be a Republican because it annoys them,” Powell quipped to host Walter Isaacson.
“I think the party has shifted much further right than where the country is and it should be obvious to party leaders that they cannot keep saying and doing the things that they were doing and hope to be successful in national-level election in the future, not just in 2016,” he added.
Powell said a small faction in the GOP is alienating voters with their rhetoric on immigration.
“I think most Republicans understand that we need immigration, we are an immigrant nation [and that] it is in our best interest to do it,” he said.
“But there are pockets of intolerance within the Republican Party [and] the Republican Party had better figure out how to defeat that."
Powell also disputed the notion that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump represents the Republican message on immigration policy.
“I don’t agree that it’s the Republican position on immigration,” he said of Trump’s stance.
“If I was around Mr. Trump — Donald, who I know rather well — I would say, ‘You know, Don, let’s see what happens — let’s tell all the immigrants working in Trump hotels to stay home tomorrow,” Powell said. “Let’s see what happens.”
Powell urged listeners to look at their fellow Americans and take pride in the immigrant backgrounds they might find.
“There are first-generation American immigrants who will raise children who will go up to higher things,” he said.
“It’s that immigrant tradition — get started and the next generation will be better and the generation after that will be even better.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255501-powell-i-stay-republican-to-annoy-gop
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 16
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I think we often forget that the "left" and the "right" aren't binary. POwell is definitely Republican, but he's not far right leaning. There's nothing wrong with that and I think a lot of what he's saying is true, the fringe of (both parties actually) the GOP is pulling the bulk of the moderate conservatives in a direction many don't want to go.
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Colin Powell may identify himself as a Republican but he is no more Republican than Bruce Jenner is a woman, Rachel Dolezal is black, and Obama is a Christian.
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SSG Michael Hartsfield
I beg to differ, COL. GEN Powell is very accurate in his assessment of the current GOP and it's position on immigration AND how they are poised to never have the White House in this election cycle and potentially the next two. I feel that it does annoy the GOP that someone like GEN Powell doesn't "go with the flow" like others are doing and yet still choses to identify himself as a Republican.
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COL Jean (John) F. B.
SSG Michael Hartsfield - I did not comment on whether his comments about the ideas of some in the Republican Party are right or wrong. I simply commented on his assertion that he is a Republican. All one need do is look at his past record and support of President Obama to ascertain that, if he is Republican, as he states, it is in name only. He is no more Republican than I am Democrat.
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SSG Carlos Madden
He is a Republican just a Republican from a different era with different values, one that does not align with current shift within the GOP. You're definition of Republican means that in order for one to be a member of the GOP they have to oppose the President ("All one need do is look at his past record and support of President Obama to ascertain that, if he is Republican, as he states, it is in name only"). Isn't it this type of partisanship thinking that has made congress so ineffective?
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