Spinning the Powell Endorsement
By DAVID ORTEZ on October 20, 2008
So, a day later after Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, how did the right spin the endorsement? They used the race card and claimed that Powell did it because Obama is black.
Rush Limbaugh, who said, "Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race... OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."
Pat Buchanan, who told MSNBC's audience, "All right, we gotta ask a question. Look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal Democrat..."
Steve Benen states, “In their drive to dismiss the significance of Powell's support for Obama, though, emphasizing race is even worse than ridiculous.”
You may be wondering why the heck would they attempt to use such a crazy argument. The answer is simple. They wanted to divert attention from the substance that Powell used to justify his endorsement.
In other words, instead of entertaining a political discourse over Powell’s assertion on the McCain faults … they distract the dialogue by speculating on the role his race had.
Powell not only endorsed Obama yesterday, he was extremely critical of the McCain camp. It is this second tidbit that the right is attempting to down play by bringing up race.
As, Alan Stewart Carl admits, “It wasn’t a good Sunday for McCain.” No … no, it was not. McCain has had better days.